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
Jeremiah 14, 17-22
'So say this word to them: May my eyes shed tears night and day, unceasingly, since the daughter of my people has sustained a fearsome wound, a crippling injury.
If I go into the countryside, there lie those killed by the sword; if I go into the city, I see people tortured with hunger; even prophets and priests roam the country at their wits' end.'
Have you rejected Judah altogether? Does your very soul revolt at Zion? Why have you struck us down without hope of cure? We were hoping for peace -- no good came of it! For the moment of cure -- nothing but terror!
Yahweh, we acknowledge our wickedness and our ancestors' guilt: we have indeed sinned against you.
For your name's sake do not reject us, do not dishonour the throne of your glory. Remember us; do not break your covenant with us.
Can any of the nations' Futile Ones make it rain? Can the heavens of their own accord give showers? Are you not the one, Yahweh our God? In you is our hope, since you make all these things.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Faced with evil, the prophet does not look for justifications or people to blame; he does not flee, even if he recognizes the iniquity of the people of Israel. Jeremiah’s response, which is the response of the Psalms and of many other parts of the Bible, is prayer. Prayer leads to a new understanding of evil, pain, and disasters. Prayer is the first response of a person of faith. Even though they are aware of their weakness, believers do not give up, they do not remain without hope, but turn to God and entrust themselves to Him. Jeremiah describes a desperate situation, caused not only by the severe drought that is destroying the land, but also its consequences: hunger, death, and disorientation. We can hear echoes of the words of the lamentations made when Jerusalem was destroyed, or the many psalms that describe tragic situations of sickness, destruction, poverty, and persecution. The words of the prophet describe for us many situations of pain and help us notice the many tears that flow from the eyes of suffering men and women. It is God himself who weeps over the disasters that have struck his people: “Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughtermy peopleis struck down with a crushing blow, with a very grievous wound.” We must not continue to weep for ourselves. Many people are shedding tears of pain in the world. God weeps with them and teaches us to join in their weeping, not to remain indifferent. How many people are expecting peace, “but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.” Nonetheless, even in the midst of suffering and pain, or when evil seems to swallow up the life of the just (Ps 22), prayer opens a way for God to intervene. Prayer evens becomes an insistent question for God, “Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion?” In truth, it is not the Lord who has forgotten us. We are the ones, like the people of Israel in times past, who forget the Lord and live turned in on ourselves, forgetful of his presence and of the way he has taken up this world’s pain and wounds.
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
