EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer of the Christmas season
Word of god every day

Prayer of the Christmas season

Memory of Saints Basil the Great (330-379), bishop of Caesarea and Father of monasticism in the East, and of Gregory Nazianzus (330-389), Doctor of the Church and Patriarch of Constantinople. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer of the Christmas season
Wednesday, January 2

Memory of Saints Basil the Great (330-379), bishop of Caesarea and Father of monasticism in the East, and of Gregory Nazianzus (330-389), Doctor of the Church and Patriarch of Constantinople.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 1, 19-28

This was the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'

He declared, he did not deny but declared, 'I am not the Christ.'

So they asked, 'Then are you Elijah?' He replied, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.'

So they said to him, 'Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?'

So he said, 'I am, as Isaiah prophesied: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord. Make his paths straight!'

Now those who had been sent were Pharisees,

and they put this question to him, 'Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet?'

John answered them, 'I baptise with water; but standing among you -- unknown to you-

is the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandal.'

This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Gospel we heard today brings us to the beginning of Jesus’ public life and introduces us to John the Baptist. He is the first person we meet in the fourth Gospel. A just and austere man, he lives in the desert, removed from the religious and political capital of Israel. And yet, many flock to him to receive a penitential baptism so as to be regenerated to a more serene life. Everybody esteems him, even to the extent of calling him the Messiah, Elijah, or some great prophet. There was an extraordinary need for hope at that time. Even today, we are overwhelmed by a hectic life that takes from us the ability to smile and to live serenely. Aren’t we in the same need for hope? We too need someone to help us; even more so in a time of crisis as the one we are living. But we must be advised that only Jesus, and not anyone else, is able to save us. The Baptist understood this. In fact, when people thought that he was the “saviour,” he humbled himself and insisted in saying, “I am not the prophet, I am not the Messiah.” He describes himself simply by saying, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” What does one voice matter? Little more than nothing. And yet, John the Baptist’s words are not in vain: they come from a just heart. They are true words that reach our hearts. This is his strength, a fragile strength that is able to touch the heart of whoever listens. John is a figure of the witnesses of the Gospel; we can say that he is a figure of the Church: a voice that shouts Jesus to men and women. John does not belong to himself. He is not, nor does he want to be, at the centre of attention. He points out the other, the Lord. The Church does not belong to itself either; nor does it live for itself. It lives to lead people to Jesus. This is also true for every disciple, whether a minister or a simple believer: we are all called to bring others to Jesus, not towards ourselves. The disciples are not protagonists who want to attract people to them; rather, they are believers who point out the Lord to others. This is both the disciples’ vocation and joy.

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