EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Poor
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Poor
Monday, April 30


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

Galatians 2, 11-14

However, when Cephas came to Antioch, then I did oppose him to his face since he was manifestly in the wrong.

Before certain people from James came, he used to eat with gentiles; but as soon as these came, he backed out and kept apart from them, out of fear of the circumcised.

And the rest of the Jews put on the same act as he did, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity.

When I saw, though, that their behaviour was not true to the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, 'Since you, though you are a Jew, live like the gentiles and not like the Jews, how can you compel the gentiles to live like the Jews?'

 

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 opens with Paul’s rebuke directed at Peter, who, in Antioch, "stood self-condemned." Peter’s behaviour, in fact, had not been consistent. On one hand he "used to eat" - even in the Eucharistic table - with the Gentile Christians, and on the other, when the Jewish Christians arrived from Jerusalem, he kept himself away from the meetings with the Gentiles. Paul knew that Peter was acting "out of fear" and not conviction. But his attitude brought deep division to the Antiochean community and the Jewish Christians prevailed over others. In fact, even Barnabas was influenced by it, even though he used to have relationships with the Gentile Christians. Paul notes bitterly that even Barnabas "joined [Peter] in this hypocrisy." Fearing that the same thing that had happened in Antioch could be repeated in the community of Galatia, the apostle writes with deep conviction. If it had been enough to stigmatize Peter’s inconsistency in Antioch (2:14), in Galatia Paul had to show clearly that this kind of behaviour eroded the very heart of the faith. An ambivalent attitude like Peter’s rendered ineffective the work of Jesus himself, who had broken down the walls separating the Jews and the Gentiles. Christ, in fact, has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall and the hostility between us. Christ, in fact, "has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity" (Eph 2:14ff). The Christian community is no longer divided because of the law: the one Church of God is composed of Jews and Gentiles. The reconciliation of men and women, nations, and cultures is made thoroughly real in following Jesus. This is why Paul makes it clear to Peter that his ambiguous conduct would have disastrous consequences for all: "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"(2:14). There is no need to put heavy burdens on the shoulders of Christians coming from paganism, which would run the risk of keeping them from entering the Christian community at all. Christ is peace and so he builds peace among men and women.

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