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 22, 13-30
'Disaster for the man who builds his house without uprightness, his upstairs rooms without fair judgement, who makes his fellow-man work for nothing, without paying him his wages,
who says, "I shall build myself a spacious palace with airy upstairs rooms," who makes windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it vermilion.
Are you more of a king because of your passion for cedar? Did your father go hungry or thirsty? But he did what is just and upright, so all went well for him.
He used to examine the cases of poor and needy, then all went well. Is not that what it means to know me? Yahweh demands.
You on the other hand have eyes and heart for nothing but your own interests, for shedding innocent blood and perpetrating violence and oppression.'
That is why Yahweh says this about Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: 'No lamenting for him, "My poor brother! My poor sister!" No lamenting for him, "His poor lordship! His poor majesty!"
He will have a donkey's funeral -- dragged away and thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem.'
'Climb the Lebanon range and shriek, raise your voice in Bashan, shriek from the Abarim, for all your lovers have been ruined!
I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, "I will not listen!" From your youth this has been how you behaved, refusing to listen to my voice.
The wind will shepherd all your shepherds away and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will blush deep with shame at the thought of all your wickedness.
You who have made the Lebanon your home and made your nest among the cedars, how you will groan when anguish overtakes you, pangs like those of a woman in labour!
'As I live, Yahweh declares, even if Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, I would still wrench you off!
I shall hand you over to those determined to kill you, to those you dread, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to the Chaldaeans.
I shall hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country; you were not born there but you will both die there.
They will not return to the country to which they desperately long to return.'
Is he a shoddy broken pot, this man Coniah, a crock that no one wants? Why are he and his offspring ejected, hurled into a country they know nothing of?
O land, land, land, listen to the word of Yahweh!
Yahweh says this, 'List this man as: Childless; a man who made a failure of his life, since none of his offspring will succeed in occupying the throne of David, or ruling in Judah again.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah is primarily addressing the rich people of his time and those in authority, starting with the king, Jehoiakim, and his son, Jehoiachin, (given in an abbreviated form, Coniah, in verse 24). They share a characteristic common to those who have the responsibility of governing: “I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed my voice” (v. 21). Again, the decision not to listen to the Word of God is presented as the cause of the evil that is about to descended on Jerusalem, on Judah, and on the king. Power and wealth have become the centre of many people’s lives. As elsewhere, the prophet does not hold back in criticizing those who take advantage of their power and commit injustice, plundering the lives of the poor: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbours work for nothing, and does not give them their wages.” We do not need to point out how relevant these words are to our society, where the exploitation and even the enslavement of millions of men and women forced to work in harsh conditions for a meagre salary is still a reality. Wealth built on injustice will only lead to failure and a dishonourable death. Quite different was the fate of those who did “justice and righteousness [and]... judged the cause of the poor and needy.” For the man who did these things, Josiah, the father of Shallum and King Jehoiakim, “it was well with him.” A life lived with justice and love for the poor is a good life. But those how govern according to their own interests are rejected by God: “even if King Coniah son of Jehoiakim of Judah were the signet ring on my right hand, even from there I would tear you off.” There are no eternal bonds with the Lord that do not have to be renewed everyday in the context of a life spent in love, justice, and listening to the Word of God. We are all invited to ask ourselves every day how we can better listen to the Lord so that we can live with the attention for the poor that Jesus offered as the way to recognize him and to be his disciples.
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
