Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah 12, 7-17
I have abandoned my house, left my heritage, I have delivered what I dearly loved into the clutches of its enemies.
To me, my heritage has behaved like a lion in the forest, it roared at me ferociously: so I now hate it.
I see my heritage as a brightly-coloured bird of prey attacked by birds of prey on every side! Go, assemble all the wild animals, make them come and dine!
Many shepherds have laid my vineyard waste, have trampled over my plot of land, the plot of land which was my joy, reducing my favourite estate to a deserted wilderness.
They have made it a waste; wasted, it mourns before me. The whole country has been devastated and no one takes it to heart.
The devastators have arrived on all the bare heights of the desert (for Yahweh wields a devouring sword); from one end of the country to the other, there is no peace for any living thing.
Wheat they have sown, thorns they reap: they have worn themselves out, to no profit. They are disappointed in their harvests, because of Yahweh's burning anger.
Yahweh says this, 'As regards all my evil neighbours who have laid hands on the heritage I granted my people Israel, look, I shall uproot them from their soil, (though I shall uproot the House of Judah from among them).
But having uprooted them, I shall take pity on them again and bring them back each to its own heritage, each to its own country,
and if they carefully learn my people's ways and swear by my name, "As Yahweh lives", as they have taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be re-established among my people.
But if any nation refuses to listen, I shall uproot it for ever and destroy it, Yahweh declares.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The prophets refer to the shepherds of the people on several different occasions. Jesus himself uses this image in the tenth chapter of John to show his concern for humanity. In an agricultural society devoted to raising livestock, the shepherd was a common figure, which clearly expressed the responsibility of a man completely devoted to his flock. The shepherd is a person who, in different ways, has responsibility for the people entrusted to him. Jeremiah identifies the irresponsibility of the “shepherds” of Jerusalem as the cause of the city’s devastation due to war and deportation: “Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my portion. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation.” Even though this image might appear archaic in our culture, it clearly describes many situations in which those who are responsible for the common good do not take care of others but instead pursue their own interests, transforming society into a desert, void of humanity. Jesus clearly says that we are either shepherds or we are hired hands, people who live to pursue their own interests with no concern for the flock entrusted to them. Sadly, we must admit that the words of the prophet are still true in today’s world. But God does not remain indifferent. As always, the prophet’s words are hard, almost difficult to understand and accept, but they call for a radical transformation. God does not allow his flock to be abandoned, “Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbours who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.” God does not just act against the foreign nations. His people, Judah, are not free from responsibility. But the Lord “will again have compassion” on his people. When faced with the most difficult situations, God chooses compassion. This is also the attitude of Jesus, the Good Samaritan of humanity.
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
