EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for the sick
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for the sick
Monday, July 2


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

James 4, 13-17

Well now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.'

You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.

Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.'

But as it is, how boastful and loud -- mouthed you are! Boasting of this kind is always wrong.

Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The presumptuous security of the disciple is great foolishness, because it does not take into consideration the fragility and powerlessness from which we are made. The sentence reported by James was probably addressing the calculations of the rich, of his time as well as of ours, who were afraid of stopping and understanding their fragility and weakness. Like the fool in the gospel parable, they were looking for their own interest, they relied on it for their happiness and they thought they could use their lives and goods as they pleased. No, life is a gift from God’s hands and has meaning not in fretting but in losing oneself in love. James suggests that only God can give security and to him alone should we entrust our lives. A human being, far from being able to decide his future, does not even know what life has in store for him. Our false security and foolish superficiality only reveal our stupidity and the blindness of our eyes. "What is a human being?" James asks, and his response is severe: "For you are mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." He is referring not only to the vanity of life, but also to the poverty of humanity, and he is speaking in particular to those who do not seriously reflect on their existence. Today we flee from our weakness and fragility because we fear it. We almost have a sense of eternal youth and almightiness that leads us to despise the poor and the weak who instead of moving people to compassion cause fear and sadness. In fact people are sure of themselves and are not able to reflect on what they are because unable to stop. James invites his readers to turn to God and trust in the One who alone can give security. Following the Lord frees us from our toils and our restless "busyness". The Sermon on the Mount comes to mind: Jesus spoke about totally giving oneself over to the Lord who gives us everything, big or small. (cf. Mt 6:25-34). James puts the disciples on guard against presumption and pride in the same way that Paul did with the presumptuous Corinthians, "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as it were not a gift?" (1 Cor 4:7). Believers entrust themselves totally to God and put their present and future into God’s hands.

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