Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Chronicles 3, 1-17
Solomon then began building the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where David his father had had a vision -- on the site which David had prepared -- on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
He began building it on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
These are the dimensions which Solomon fixed for the structure of the house of God: its length in cubits, according to the old standard, was sixty cubits and its width twenty cubits;
and the portico in front of the house was the full width of the house, that is, twenty cubits, and its height was a hundred and twenty cubits; on the inside he overlaid it with pure gold.
The Great Hall he lined with juniper, which he overlaid with fine gold and ornamented with palm trees and festoons,
and he decorated the hall beautifully with precious stones and with gold from Parvaim,
overlaying the hall, its beams and its thresholds, its walls and its doors, with gold and engraving the walls with great winged creatures.
He also made the Holy of Holies, the length of which corresponded to the width of the Great Hall, being twenty cubits, with a width of twenty cubits, and this he overlaid with fine gold weighing six hundred talents,
while the weight of the gold nails was fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.
In the Holy of Holies he modelled two winged creatures of wrought metal work and overlaid them with gold.
The total span of their wings was twenty cubits; one wing, being five cubits long, touched the wall of the house and the other wing, being five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature;
while one wing of the other, five cubits long, touched the other wall of the house and the other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature.
The spread of these creatures' wings was twenty cubits. They stood in an upright position, with their faces towards the Hall.
He also made the Curtain of violet, scarlet, crimson and fine linen, working a design of winged creatures on it.
In front of the Hall he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and on the top of each a capital measuring five cubits.
He made festoons, in the Debir, to go at the tops of the pillars, and made a hundred pomegranates to go on the festoons.
He erected the pillars in front of the Temple, one on the right, the other on the left; the one on the right he called Jachin and the one on the left, Boaz.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This third chapter is closely related to the fourth, both describe the construction of the temple, its interior furnishings and related decoration. The Chronicler wants above all to link its construction to the history itself of Israel. He notes in fact that the temple arises on Mount Moriah, “where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had designated, on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” It is the current forecourt of the mosque of Omar in Jerusalem. The link with David and with the preceding history of the people of Israel also Abraham came here to sacrifice his son Isaac is an integral part of faith and work of Solomon. The king is called to continue his journey within the history of the people that God himself has conquered. The presence of the Lord in human history is marked precisely by that of his people. There are not two separate histories, one of humanity and the other of God, but a single human history that the Lord visits through the happenings of a people, that of Israel, on which Christian history is grafted through Jesus. The continuity of the faith of Israel is included within the fidelity of God to his people. The construction of the temple is framed within this horizon: the faith of Abraham, that appeared in all its clarity on Mount Moriah, is at the root also of the temple, or better, of the faith of Israel. It is in this context that we understand the care with which the temple is constructed. And even if the author of Chronicles is more sparse in describing the measures and decorations than the parallel passage of the first book of Kings (chapters 6 and 7), nevertheless he wants to show forth the beauty of the temple. Scholars note that it is difficult to interpret the description made by the author because of words missing for completing the description and the burden of later additions. What is clear, however, is the desire to underline the splendour of the building. The description of the Holy of Holies pushes us to underline the centrality that the Ark had and the Word of God contained in it. Here we touch the heart of the faith of Israel, which in the construction of the temple becomes visible in architecture. The two cherubims, with wings protecting the ark, recall the construction of the ark as narrated in the book of Exodus: “He made two cherubim of hammered gold; at the two ends of the mercy-seat he made them They faced one another; the faces of the cherubim were turned towards the mercy-seat” (Ex 37:7ff). The Ark of the Covenant the Word of God is the most valuable treasure guarded by God through his angels. While there comes to mind the care with which the Holy Scripture ought to be exposed also in our churches, the Chronicler reminds us that only in an attitude of faith, of prayer and of humble waiting it is possible to remove the veil and approach the Word of God that saves.
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!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
