Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah 5, 1-19
Rove the streets of Jerusalem, now look and enquire, see in her squares if you can find an individual, one individual who does right and seeks the truth, and I will pardon her, Yahweh says.
Although they say, 'As Yahweh lives,' they are, in fact, swearing a false oath.
Yahweh, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck them; they have not felt it. You have annihilated them, for they ignored the lesson. They have set their faces harder than rock, they have refused to repent.
I thought, 'These are only the poor! They behave stupidly since they do not know Yahweh's way or the ruling of their God.
I shall approach the great men and speak to them, for these will know Yahweh's way and the ruling of their God.' But these, too, have broken the yoke, have burst the bonds.
And so, a lion from the forest will slaughter them, a wolf from the plains will despoil them, a leopard will be lurking round their towns: anyone who goes out will be torn to pieces -- because of their many crimes, their countless infidelities.
'Why should I pardon you? Your sons have abandoned me, to swear by gods that are not gods at all. I fed them full, and they became adulterers, they hurried to the brothel.
They are well-fed, roving stallions, each neighing for his neighbour's wife.
Shall I fail to punish this, Yahweh demands, or on such a nation to exact vengeance?
Scale her terraces! Destroy! But do not annihilate her completely! Strip off her branches, for Yahweh does not own them!
How treacherously they have treated me, the House of Israel and the House of Judah! Yahweh declares.
'They have denied Yahweh, they have said, "He is nothing; no evil will overtake us, we shall not see sword or famine.
And the prophets? Nothing but wind; the word is not in them; let those very things happen to them!" '
Because of this, Yahweh, God Sabaoth, says this, 'Since you have said such things, now I shall make my words a fire in your mouth, and make this people wood, for the fire to devour.
Now I shall bring on you a nation from afar, House of Israel, Yahweh declares, an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you grasp what they say.
Their quiver a gaping tomb, they are all of them fighters.
They will devour your harvest and your food, devour your sons and daughters, devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees, and demolish your fortified towns in which you trust -- with the sword!'
'Yet even in those days, Yahweh declares, I shall not annihilate you completely.
'And when you ask, "Why has Yahweh our God done all this to us?" you will give them this answer, "As you abandon me to serve alien gods in your own country, so you must serve aliens in a country not your own."
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In the passage, the prophet seems to be echoing Abraham’s prayer to God to spare the city of Sodom. No one there acted justly, and the city was destroyed (Genesis 19). Here in Jerusalem, everyone seems to be behaving foolishly. They follow themselves and do not listen to God’s voice. And they are headed towards a sad end, just like Sodom. These prophetic words make us question ourselves about the absence of just people, so that we too might learn to look for them. Is this not the vocation of Jesus’ disciples? God does not resign himself to injustice; he never stops looking for people who let themselves be moved: “Let me go to the rich and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God.’ But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.” Justice means not breaking the yoke, the sign of the covenant with the Lord, but also not “bursting the bonds.” Individualism leads to injustice because it breaks our bond with God and bursts our bonds with others, especially the poor. Today the world seems to be more and more dominated by individuals, men and women who are afraid of bonding with others or living with others in permanent relationships. The tendency is increasingly to live without taking other people into consideration, or worse, viewing other people as enemies. But the person of God knows that the secret of salvation is to listen to the Lord’s voice and follow it: this makes life fertile and makes it possible to build good bonds and relationships (Ps 1). Unfortunately, often the Word of God is not accepted as a spirit that gives life (Ez 37), but as “wind” that passes without penetrating the heart. Even the prophets, Jeremiah says, “are nothing but wind, for the word is not in them.” This is the risk we run when we do not listen with our hearts. We become arid, because we are full of ourselves. But God is like a Father who corrects his children and leads them to a life of mercy: “My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof.” (Pr 3, 11).The Letter to the Hebrews adds, almost as a commentary, “Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?”(Heb 12: 7). Pride is often a trap: it makes us feel like with are living in security and keeps us from noticing imminent danger. Like a sentinel, the prophet warns us to flee from evil and turn our hearts towards the Lord.
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
