EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Luke 21, 12-19

'But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of my name

-and that will be your opportunity to bear witness.

Make up your minds not to prepare your defence,

because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.

You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death.

You will be hated universally on account of my name,

but not a hair of your head will be lost.

Your perseverance will win you your lives.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Gospel text, which gives us Jesus’ discourse on the end of time, uses Scripture’s typical apocalyptic language to describe, precisely, the "last days." Reading, anyway, this page of the Gospel, all that continues to occur even at the beginning of this 21st century comes to mind: tragedies, wars, genocides, incredible acts of violence, famine. And the witnesses of the Gospel continue to be killed. They seem to be words written precisely for our days! The number of martyrs, of every Christian confession, but also from other religions, there were in the twentieth century is incredibly high. And at the beginning of this new millennium, too, Christians who witness their faith courageously continue to be killed violently. They are before our eyes as most precious witnesses. And they entrust us with a most precious legacy of faith to guard and imitate: while we are as if deafened and softened by a culture that pushes us to always be more enslaved to materialism and consumption only in order to have individual well-being, they tell us with their own life that the Gospel of love is the most precious treasure that has been given to us, and it is the strongest and most effective witness that we can give to human beings today. Evil, with its terrible and cruel violence, believed it defeated them, but they, with their sacrifice, with their blood, with their resistance to the evil one, continue to help us to defeat evil with love and faithfulness to the Lord. It is a message which does not vanish with the passing of time: truly not one hair of their story of love will perish. Their testimony impels us to immerse ourselves, together with them, in this movement of love which saves us and the world. The Lord goes with us as he accompanied them, and will sustain us with his strength when, because of the Gospel, those closest to us - Jesus speaks of parents, siblings, relatives and friends—can betray us. Perseverance in love will save our life.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
 The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR