EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day

Memory of the Church

Memory of blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, September 5

Psalmody

Psalm 100

Antiphon

I will search for justice, O Lord.

My song is of mercy and justice;
I sing to you, O Lord.

I will walk in the way of perfection.
O when, Lord, will you come?

I will walk with blameless heart
within my house;

I will not set before my eyes
whatever is base.

I will hate the ways of the crooked;
they shall not be my friends.

The false-hearted must keep far away;
the wicked I disown.

The man who slanders his neighbour in secret
I will bring to silence.

The man of proud looks and haughty heart
I will never endure.

I look to the faithful in the land
that they may dwell with me.

He who walks in the way of perfection
shall be my friend.

No man who practises deceit
shall live within my house.

No man who utters lies shall stand
before my eyes.

Morning by morning I will silence
all the wicked in the land,

uprooting from the city of the Lord
all who do evil.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR