EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Memory of the death of Gandhi. With him we remember all those who, in the name of non-violence, are peacemakers. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, January 30

Memory of the death of Gandhi. With him we remember all those who, in the name of non-violence, are peacemakers.


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

Romans 12, 1-8

I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people.

Do not model your behaviour on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and mature.

And through the grace that I have been given, I say this to every one of you: never pride yourself on being better than you really are, but think of yourself dispassionately, recognising that God has given to each one his measure of faith.

Just as each of us has various parts in one body, and the parts do not all have the same function:

in the same way, all of us, though there are so many of us, make up one body in Christ, and as different parts we are all joined to one another.

Then since the gifts that we have differ according to the grace that was given to each of us: if it is a gift of prophecy, we should prophesy as much as our faith tells us;

if it is a gift of practical service, let us devote ourselves to serving; if it is teaching, to teaching;

if it is encouraging, to encouraging. When you give, you should give generously from the heart; if you are put in charge, you must be conscientious; if you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Nearing the conclusion of the letter, the apostle explains what the power of justice that has been revealed asks of believers. A Christian’s entire life should be spiritual worship offered to God; worship not made up of empty formulas and rituals, but carried out in concrete, daily life. This kind of worship renders believers even capable of transforming the world in which they live. Believers have the power to change things, but they often keep it enchained because of their laziness. This power comes from the love they have received as an abundant gift. By gathering men and women into a people, love has conquered the loneliness that gnaws at them. Of course everyone keeps his or her own identity. The Spirit does not abolish people’s different identities, but harmonizes them in a new communion that makes of the different members a single body. The Christian community is neither born from the various dispositions of its individual members nor from the homogeneity of its components, but only from the love of God, which makes of the many one and of those who are different a community. The image of a body helps us understand the close bond between the disciples and Jesus as well as the fraternal relationship between the disciples themselves.

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