EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, February 9


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Proverbs 16, 16-33

Better gain wisdom than gold, choose understanding in preference to silver.

To turn from evil is the way of the honest; whoever watches the path keeps life safe.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Better be humble with the poor than share the booty with the proud.

Whoever listens closely to the word finds happiness; whoever trusts Yahweh is blessed.

The wise of heart is acclaimed as intelligent, sweetness of speech increases knowledge.

Shrewdness is a fountain of life for its possessor, the folly of fools is their own punishment.

The heart of the wise lends shrewdness to speech and makes words more persuasive.

Kindly words are a honeycomb, sweet to the taste, wholesome to the body.

There is a way that some think straight, but it leads in the end to death.

A worker's appetite works on his behalf, for his hunger urges him on.

A worthless person concocts evil, such a one's talk is like a scorching fire.

A troublemaker sows strife, a slanderer divides friend from friend.

The violent lures his neighbour astray and leads him by a way that is not good.

Whoever narrows the eyes to think up tricks and purses the lips has already done wrong.

White hairs are a crown of honour, they are found in the ways of uprightness.

Better an equable person than a hero, someone with self-mastery than one who takes a city.

In the fold of the garment the lot is thrown, but from Yahweh comes the decision.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In this passage of chapter 16, we see a few aspects of the life of a wise man that we have already found elsewhere. Furthermore, we know very well that we need to hear the Word of God repeated so that it may penetrate our hearts instead of remaining on the surface, and so that we do not forget it, caught up as we are by our own selves, or overwhelmed by the many words we hear every day. Once again, this passage reminds us of the dangers of living with pride and arrogance as they lead to ruin: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." This is why we must be humble with the poor, because pride distances us from them and leads us to scorn them. The author in this chapter is very careful about language, as he is in chapter 15. He must have been living in a contentious and callow society in which words were not nourished by wisdom. Ignorance often leads us to speak in an arrogant and disrespectful way which leads to division and continuous quarrelling. Our society does not seem all that much better than the one in which the author, who had collected proverbs from its long history, lived. He underlines the importance of "pleasant speech" (v. 21) that improves knowledge and likens it to the sweetness of honey or to a medicine that heals: "Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." We know well how much a kind word can do good especially for those in need and can truly be like a healing medicine. Too many sharp, cutting words are spoken; words that cannot console but rather only injure, intimidate and silence others. The Word of God teaches us another "alphabet", one of kindness and respect, of love and consolation. Correction and rebuke join it, as we have seen many other times in this book. For a loving person knows how to correct any wrong by using the right tone, one that helps rather than condemns. Every day there is too much pride in our lives and we yield to it too easily. Sometimes we are frightened of opposing it, as if it were a law of our society, "A perverse person spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends." There is a spreading ill will that only provokes division and quarrels. The wise one is called to oppose it through words, kindness, patience and self-control: "One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city" (v. 32). We find strength in patient love and self-control, which is more valuable than the force of an army.

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