EVERYDAY PRAYER

Sunday Vigil
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday Vigil
Saturday, June 15


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Hebrews 10, 1-10

So, since the Law contains no more than a reflection of the good things which were still to come, and no true image of them, it is quite incapable of bringing the worshippers to perfection, by means of the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year.

Otherwise, surely the offering of them would have stopped, because the worshippers, when they had been purified once, would have no awareness of sins.

But in fact the sins are recalled year after year in the sacrifices.

Bulls' blood and goats' blood are incapable of taking away sins,

and that is why he said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but you gave me a body.

You took no pleasure in burnt offering or sacrifice for sin;

then I said, 'Here I am, I am coming,' in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, God.

He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them;

and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second.

And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

To underline the uniqueness of the sacrifice of Christ the author highlights the insufficiency of the ancient sacrifices that were not able to eliminate sins: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Salvation, in fact, is not tied to the multiplication of actions and words, but to the heart, to the love with which we turn to the Lord. Jesus also had said something similar about prayer: “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words” (Mt 6:7). The author of the Letter brings us back to the centrality of the Christian mystery: there is no need to multiply our offerings because only the sacrifice of Christ saves. The love that brought him to give his own life until death on the cross is the reason for our salvation. Already the psalmist suggested this, foretelling the incarnation of Jesus: “Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me a body” (Ps 40:7). This citation refers to the Eucharistic “body” of Jesus. The apostle Paul describes the Supper of the Lord as the announcement of the “death of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:26) and of its salvific power. The ancient sacrifices did not save from sin because they did not transform the heart of human beings, whereas participation in the “body” of Christ in the Eucharist transforms the believer into the very body of Jesus, who, risen, is seated at the right hand of God. He, from his throne in heavenly glory, awaits that his enemies are made his footstool (Ps 110:1). With the resurrection, the Lord has defeated forever the prince of evil and death itself and waits for the full manifestation of the victory. And every time the Christian community gathers for the Eucharist, it celebrates this victory. We know, however, that we still await “perfection” to which we have been called, but the road is now clear and definitive: communion with Christ. Christians are invited to travel that road decisively every day, that is, with vigilance and prayer, being careful not to fall.

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