Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Orthodox Churches. Read more
Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Orthodox Churches.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Proverbs 5, 1-23
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen carefully to what I know;
so that you may preserve discretion and your lips may guard knowledge. Take no notice of a loose-living woman,
for the lips of the adulteress drip with honey, her palate is more unctuous than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death, Sheol the goal of her steps;
far from following the path of life, her course is uncertain and she does not know it.
And now, son, listen to me, never deviate from what I say:
set your course as far from her as possible, go nowhere near the door of her house,
or she will hand over your honour to others, the years of your life to a man without pity,
and strangers will batten on your property, and your produce go to the house of a stranger,
and, at your ending, your body and flesh having been consumed, you will groan
and exclaim, 'Alas, I hated discipline, my heart spurned all correction;
I would not attend to the voice of my masters, I would not listen to those who tried to teach me.
Now I have come to nearly every kind of misery, in the assembly and in the community.'
Drink the water from your own storage-well, fresh water from your own spring.
Even if your fountains overflow outside, your streams of water in the public squares:
let them be for you alone, and not for strangers with you.
May your fountain-head be blessed! Find joy with the wife you married in your youth,
fair as a hind, graceful as a fawn: hers the breasts that ever fill you with delight, hers the love that ever holds you captive.
Why be seduced, my son, by someone else's wife, and fondle the breast of a woman who belongs to another?
For the eyes of Yahweh observe human ways, and survey all human paths.
The wicked is snared in his own misdeeds, is caught in the meshes of his own sin.
For want of discipline, he dies, led astray by his own excessive folly.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Before we examine this passage we must first understand about whom it is talking. According to the Italian translation, the text warns against marrying a "foreign woman" (verses 3 and 20). We can read this warning in the context of the explicit concern, as expressed, for example, in the Book of Ezra, Chapters 9 and 10, about marriage with foreign women, which was considered a threat to the fidelity due to the God of Israel. It was understood that such marriages were to be ended immediately. In any case, this concern did not arise from a xenophobic attitude, but from a desire to preserve the purity of one’s faith. But, if we read Proverbs 2:16-17, 6:20-23 and 7:5, which also speak of a "loose woman", we would do better to interpret the text as speaking about a prostitute. Through this lens, Proverbs would be more comprehensible and so would be the following verses: "Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house; or you will give your honour to others, and your years to the merciless, and strangers will take their fill of your wealth." Who is this merciless man? It can’t be the husband of this woman, but rather the man who earns profit from her services. The text then warns against abandoning oneself to seeking pleasure in prostitutes. The prostitutes end up putting such an unfortunate person in the hands of merciless men who care only about profit. The consequence of this would lead this unfortunate person not only to ruin, but also to an early decay of his body. For this reason, verses 18-19 exalt the love of one’s wife as the one, unique love for which a man must continue to rejoice in and enjoy. How do we live this fidelity? It is important not to follow our instincts, but comply with the wisdom and instruction that come from God. Only thus will a man be able to make the choices that will guarantee him a joyful life far from evil.
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
