Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Song of Songs 1, 5-6
BELOVED: I am black but lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the pavilions of Salmah.
Take no notice of my dark colouring, it is the sun that has burnt me. My mother's sons turned their anger on me, they made me look after the vineyards. My own vineyard I had not looked after!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
These few verses bring back the voice of the woman who says to the "daughters of Jerusalem", the aristocratic women of the city, "I am black and beautiful." For most of the society of that time, tanned skin was considered a sign of lower social status because it meant that one worked in the fields. The aristocratic "daughters of Jerusalem," the ladies of aristocracy seem to reproach her for her condition and belittle her claim of love as being too lofty. Instead of resigning to their judgement, she defends herself, "I am black and beautiful". Moreover, she says that her brothers (in the Middle Eastern societies, brothers administered discipline on their sisters) had found fault with her (perhaps for her infidelity as would suggest the following admission: "my own vineyard, I have not kept!") and made her work in the family vineyards. Her tanned skin is therefore indicative of an offence and not of social status. Nevertheless, while their negative judgement weighs her down, it does not stop her. Indeed, she does not resign herself to ideals of beauty established by the majority. The extraordinary love that she has for her lover enables her to overcome every obstacle. She does not accept their judgement and proudly affirms that her punishment does not diminish her beauty. On the contrary, she is beautiful because she is black: her punishment has made her even more beautiful. Clearly, she extols a conception of beauty that is far from that of the aristocratic women of Jerusalem. The comparisons that she makes on the one hand seem disconcerting and on the other, enable us to intuit the criteria of beauty that she extols: she boasts of her darkened skin by comparing it to the tents of the nomadic tribe of "Chedar" and to the curtains of Solomon. The woman undoubtedly evokes the tent of that nomadic tribe but also evokes the "tent" in the desert in the presence of God. The reference to the curtains of the temple of Solomon leads us to think also of God’s dwelling. Yes, beauty for this woman is the bond with the king, that is, the Lord. Her beauty consists in the passionate desire to be embraced by the Lord. The desire for God overcomes every weakness and infidelity; even more than passionate love transforms everything into something beautiful and salvific. The Targum paraphrases with these words in verse 5, "When the people of the house of Israel made the calf, their faces turned black like the sons of Cush who dwell in the tent of Chedar but when they repented and were pardoned, the splendid glory of their faces became like those of the angels since they made their tents for the tabernacle and the Shekinah came to dwell with them." We can conclude by saying that beauty is found not in riches and satisfaction but in the poverty that welcomes the Lord. When visited by God, our weakness becomes strength; when God dwells in us, our ugliness caused by sin is transformed into beauty. Our salvation is raised up by the Lord, from the dust to the heights of heaven.
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!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
