Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Churches of the Anglican Communion. Read more
Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Proverbs 6, 20-35
Keep your father's precept, my child, do not spurn your mother's teaching.
Bind them ever to your heart, tie them round your neck.
While you are active, they will guide you, when you fall asleep, they will watch over you, when you wake up, they will converse with you.
For the precept is a lamp, the teaching is a light; correction and discipline are the way to life,
preserving you from the woman of bad character, from the wheedling talk of a woman who belongs to another.
Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with the play of her eyes;
a prostitute can be bought for a hunk of bread, but a married woman aims to snare a precious life.
Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without setting his clothes alight?
Can you walk on red-hot coals without burning your feet?
Just so, the man who makes love to his neighbour's wife: no one who touches her will get off unpunished.
People attach but little blame to a thief who steals only to satisfy his hunger;
yet even he, if caught, will have to repay sevenfold and hand over all his family resources.
But the adulterer has no sense; he works his own destruction.
All he will get is blows and contempt, and dishonour never to be blotted out.
For jealousy inflames the husband who will show no mercy when the day comes for revenge;
he will not consider any compensation; lavish what gifts you may, he will not be placated.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In this passage, after a lengthy series of counsels, written in the language characteristic of the book, the author speaks about adultery. Also in our present time God feels the need to remind his people and each one of us of our condition as "children", and so the Lord presents himself again as a father and a mother who wants to teach us the path of good and of life. We seem to hear the echo of the words of Deuteronomy in the Torah: "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deut 6:6-9). The Lord’s teaching, his word, must be firmly fixed in our heart, should accompany our every action, influence our thoughts, and guide our feelings. This is why it must be read and meditated upon, to the point of becoming our companion through our days. The Word of God becomes a teaching and a command, it asks to be listened to and followed. It is a command. It asks for obedience in a world in which the only authority we accept is our own. In the darkness and disorientation, it is a lamp and a light, as the Lord says: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps 199:105). The Word of God protects us from making bad choices that may lead us not only far from the Lord but also to a senseless life of ruin. The text warns the man against allowing feelings for another woman to grow inside of him, because they will lead him to make bad choices. Although the text does not speak explicitly about the indissolubility of marriage, it is clear that the exhortation to conjugal fidelity and the condemnation of adultery are the text’s indispensible premise.
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
