EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, April 26


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

Titus 3, 12-15

As soon as I have sent Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to join me at Nicopolis, where I have decided to spend the winter.

Help eagerly on their way Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, and make sure they have everything they need.

All our people must also learn to occupy themselves in doing good works for their practical needs, and not to be unproductive.

All those who are with me send their greetings. Greetings to those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

After having entrusted Titus with the tasks closest to his heart, that is, the organization of Christian life on the island of Crete (1:5-9, 2:1-3:7) and the struggle against errors (1:10-16, 3:8-11), Paul concludes the Letter with some personal advice (3:12-14), as well as his farewell and best wishes. He writes to his disciple that he will send one of his co-workers - either Artemas or Tychicus - to take the lead of the community. Titus can thus be relieved of that responsibility and will be able to reach him immediately in Nicopolis, where the apostle will spend the winter. He advises him in any case to take care of two brothers, Zenas and Apollos, who are probably bringing the Letter to Crete and will have to continue their journey, most likely onwards towards Alexandria. They are "to lack nothing." Paul urges Titus to encourage the generosity of the community of Crete towards those who have pastoral responsibility. Indeed, they should never let themselves be outdone in generosity, either by the Jews or the pagans, who help their travelling teachers with care and kindness. This love is the fruit of a true evangelical spirit. John Chrysostom comments, "Paul asks them not to wait for those who are in need to come to them, but to go themselves to seek out those who are in need...when someone does good, what is done profits the one who receives less than the one who does it: in fact, it permits him to hold his head high before God." Finally, Paul sends the greetings of his co-workers to Titus and the community, showing them the fraternity that overcomes boundaries and begins to create the first real globalization of love. When Paul writes his letters, he always has before his eyes the Christian communities that are spread out in the various regions. They are his first concern, and he wants to make sure they keep the Gospel that he preached strong. This is God’s "grace" that Paul asks for Titus and the brothers and sisters and the entire community.

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