EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, September 12


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

1 Chronicles 1, 1-28

Adam, Seth, Enosh,

Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,

Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, the Medes, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.

Sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.

Sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, the Dananites.

Sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan.

Sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, Sabeteca. Sons of Raamah: Sheba, Dedan.

Cush fathered Nimrod, the first mighty warrior on earth.

Mizraim fathered the people of Lud, of Anam, of Lehab, of Naphtuh,

of Pathros, Casluh and Caphtor, from which the Philistines came.

Canaan fathered Sidon, his first-born, then Heth,

and the Jebusites, the Amorites, Girgashites,

Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,

Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites.

Sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram. Sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech.

Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.

To Eber were born two sons; the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth was divided into districts, and his brother was called Joktan.

Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

Ebal, Abimael, Sheba,

Ophir, Havilah, Jobab; all these are sons of Joktan.

Arpachshad, Shelah,

Eber, Peleg, Reu,

Serug, Nahor, Terah,

Abram, that is, Abraham.

Sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Today we begin our reading of the First Book of Chronicles. The text opens with a very long list of names that runs the length of nine entire chapters. With this opening, the author wants to underline that God carries out his plan for salvation in history, a history of people with names and faces. God chose the people of Israel to carry out his plan of salvation for all of humanity. In this perspective, the author of Chronicles uses the names already present in Genesis, Numbers, Joshua, Samuel and Kings, and subdivides the genealogies according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Among all of them, prominence was given to the tribe of Judah, from which King David would descend, and to the tribe of Levi, from which the Levites descend. The attention given to the tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul belonged, shows that the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin represent the true Israel, after the fall of the northern kingdom. The New Testament also opens with a genealogy to emphasize that the Lord did not choose to save humanity in a singular way, but places humans in a genealogy, in a people. It is not so much an individual person who has a personal relationship with God, but a community. A community, however, is not a crowd of anonymous people or, even less so, an interest group. A community is gathered by the Lord because its members feel part of a unique people of God. The listed names in the reading are of individuals, but their names are the names of peoples, as if to emphasize the bond between the fellowship among individuals and the fellowship between peoples. Besides, God’s choice of Israel among all other peoples is not meant to exclude others. On the contrary, Israel’s mission is to help all peoples to move toward the one and only Lord. One does not chose to be a part of this people; rather, one is chosen. And chosen by God himself. Likewise, when Jesus calls the twelve, he chooses each one and calls each by name (Mt 10:1-4). Obviously, we are asked to respond to the call and to respond to it wholeheartedly. The lengthy listing of the genealogies that opens the book of Chronicles shines a light both on the filial relationship (and by extension the sibling relationship among believers) as well as how each believer is called by name by the Lord. This genealogy continues all the way up to the Christian reader: at verse 28 each one can add his or her name, as the Apostle Paul writes: "if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise" (Gal 3:29).

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