Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah 14, 1-16
The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah on the occasion of the drought.
'Judah is in mourning, her towns are pining, sinking to the ground; a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
The nobles send their servants for water, they come to the water-tanks, find no water, and return with their pitchers empty. Dismayed and bewildered, they cover their heads.
Because the soil is all cracked since the country has had no rain; the farmers are dismayed, they cover their heads.
Even the doe in the countryside giving birth abandons her young, for there is no grass;
the wild donkeys standing on the bare heights gasp for air like jackals: their eyes grow dim for lack of pasture.'
Although our sins witness against us, Yahweh, for your name's sake, intervene! Yes, our acts of infidelity have been many, we have sinned against you!
Yahweh, hope of Israel, its Saviour in time of distress, why are you like a stranger in this country, like a traveller staying only for one night?
Why are you like someone bemused, like a warrior who has no power to rescue? And yet, Yahweh, you are among us, we are called by your name. Do not desert us!
Yahweh says this about this people, 'They take such pleasure in darting hither and thither, they cannot restrain their feet! But Yahweh takes pleasure in them no longer; now he will keep their guilt in mind and punish their sins.'
Yahweh then said to me, 'Do not intercede for this people or their welfare.
If they fast, I will not listen to their plea; if they offer burnt offerings and cereal offerings I will not accept them. Rather, I shall make an end of them by sword, famine and plague.'
'Ah, Lord Yahweh,' I answered, 'here are the prophets telling them, "You will not see the sword, famine will not touch you; I promise you true peace in this place." '
Then Yahweh said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I have not sent them, I gave them no orders, I never spoke to them. Delusive visions, hollow predictions, daydreams of their own, that is what they prophesy to you.
Therefore, Yahweh says this: The prophets who prophesy in my name when I have not sent them, and tell you there will be no sword or famine in this country, these same prophets will meet their end by sword and famine.
And as for the people to whom they prophesy, they will be tossed into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and the sword, with not a soul to bury them: neither them nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. I shall pour their own wickedness down on them.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The prophet is speaking at a difficult time for his people. A severe drought has resulted in famine and death, and the people are broken, confused and dismayed: “Judah mourns and her gates languish; they lie in gloom on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.” The Word of God not only helps us deeply understand what happens in history, but it also places on our lips the words of prayer. In the midst of difficulty and pain, the people of Israel raise a prayer to God, asking him not to abandon them. In the words of Jeremiah echo the words of many of the psalms, where sick, suffering, or persecuted people invoke the power of God, who saves: “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of perdition assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears” (Psalm 18:5-7). In its anguish, Israel recognizes its unfaithfulness and sin, even if this knowledge is contradictory. God rebukes his people for having wandered far from him. We too wander, losing our way. The Lord says that he will no longer listen to the prayers of people who only follow themselves (“I do not hear their cry”) while listening to the reassuring words of the false prophets, who attempt to keep evil hidden (“The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them”). We should not keep evil hidden, but rather listen more closely to find the answers we seek. From this awareness comes an even stronger awareness that only God can help and save. In fact, God is not indifferent to the prayers of his people: “Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!”
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
