EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, May 18


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

Ephesians 2, 1-10

And you were dead, through the crimes and the sins

which used to make up your way of life when you were living by the principles of this world, obeying the ruler who dominates the air, the spirit who is at work in those who rebel.

We too were all among them once, living only by our natural inclinations, obeying the demands of human self-indulgence and our own whim; our nature made us no less liable to God's retribution than the rest of the world.

But God, being rich in faithful love, through the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our sins, brought us to life with Christ -- it is through grace that you have been saved-

and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.

This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how extraordinarily rich he is in grace.

Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God;

not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit.

We are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

After having proclaimed the greatness of God's work accomplished in Christ for the Church, Paul reminds the Ephesians of their pre-baptismal state: they were dead, far from God, subject to sin and, therefore, destined to death. In fact, it is sin that leads to death. Transgressions and sins (for Paul the two terms are synonymous) are not seen just as specific acts but as a permanent state of disobedience. Only obedience to God frees humankind from sin. Before conversion, "all of us" - Paul remembers - lived according to the egocentric mentality of this world ("eon of this world"), subject to the "ruler of the power of the air," or evil. In Eph 6:1l it will be called the "devil". In fact, as we were subject to the spirit of evil, we behaved according to our own desires, acting upon the "passions of our flesh," obeying "evil" thoughts instead of loving God "with all of your heart, mind and soul." Therefore, we were "by nature" subject to the wrath of God; in other words, we were in a state that God could not tolerate because it was opposed to His plan of love. Nonetheless, in His great love, God intervened to save us: "But God, who is so rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even if we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." The Lord is merciful and turns His limitless love towards us. What is extraordinary is this: God turns toward a sinner, an enemy, and not towards a repentant person. Furthermore, He does not limit Himself with helping us out of a dead-end situation; God goes to the point of showing us true Life. In Christ, the Father revealed his merciful face. As members of the body of Christ, we are already risen with Him and are there, where he is, close to God. United in Christ and in his body, the Church, we are free from the blind fate of evil. We are free thanks to grace, repeats the apostle. To have faith is to welcome this love that makes us free. Believers are not free on their own merits, but thanks to the love of a God who came to us "while we were still sinners" (Rom 5:6.8.10). The apostle recalls the primacy of grace to counter the temptation of boasting that our own deeds are the cause of salvation. To have faith is to welcome God’s love into our hearts and allow it to operate according to its strength, as it is written in Galatians: "...for in Christ Jesus the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Gal 5:6).

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