Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the ancient Churches of the Orient. (Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Assyrian) Read more
Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the ancient Churches of the Orient. (Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Assyrian)
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 6, 1-19
My child, if you have gone surety for your neighbour, if you have guaranteed the bond of a stranger,
if you have committed yourself with your lips, if through words of yours you have been entrapped,
do this, my child, to extricate yourself -- since you have put yourself in the power of your neighbour: go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbour,
give your eyes no sleep, your eyelids no rest,
break free like a gazelle from the trap, like a bird from the fowler's clutches.
Idler, go to the ant; ponder her ways and grow wise:
no one gives her orders, no overseer, no master,
yet all through the summer she gets her food ready, and gathers her supplies at harvest time.
How long do you intend to lie there, idler? When are you going to rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little drowsiness, a little folding of the arms to lie back,
and poverty comes like a vagrant and, like a beggar, dearth.
A scoundrel, a vicious man, he goes with a leer on his lips,
winking his eye, shuffling his foot, beckoning with his finger.
Trickery in his heart, always scheming evil, he sows dissension.
Disaster will overtake him sharply for this, suddenly, irretrievably, he will be broken.
There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that he abhors:
a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil,
a false witness who lies with every breath, and one who sows dissension among brothers.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This passage gives advice and makes suggestions regarding details of daily life. It also warns against everything that distances us from wisdom. The passage is made up of four separate parts. The first part begins with a call to fatherly authority: "My child." It continues by advising against making a pledge to anyone. It then suggests a way, by seeking with humble insistence, to be released from any obligations, without failing to fulfil them and without ending in ruins. "Go, hurry, and plead with your neighbour. Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler." Do not be afraid to ask humbly for help in difficult situations. Arrogance serves no purpose when one is trying to face and resolve problems. The second part (verses 6-11) dwells on laziness, taking as an example the industriousness of an ant. The exhortation is connected, in part, to what was said just before. Faced with economic difficulties, we need to accept work as a way of escaping from a lazy and disengaged life-style. Humility, therefore, must be combined with hard work so as to avoid falling into poverty. Why does the text then move on to the third part (verses 12-15) to talk about the wicked? Wicked people are the opposite of humble and hardworking individuals who know that good is the prize and result of hard work. On the contrary, the wicked show a malicious spirit and behaviour (he "goes around with crooked speech, winking the eyes, shuffling the feet, pointing the fingers"), eager to provoke quarrelling and cause discord. As mentioned elsewhere, the wicked person’s behaviour will lead him to ruin instead of success. The final verses authoritatively and clearly conclude the previous sayings, and indicate the fullness and the totality of what had been said By mentioning the things that the Lord despises: haughty eyes, lying tongue, violent hands, iniquity, wicked actions, false testimony, and quarrels. We need to reflect on the link that runs through them. There is a complementarity among these attitudes: pride and quarrelling, lies and false testimony, violence and wicked actions. At their centre we find the iniquitous heart. It is necessary to keep vigil over one’s heart, because it is in the heart that every wicked act is born and grows.
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
