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 28, 1-17
That same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, a Gibeonite, spoke as follows to Jeremiah in the Temple of Yahweh in the presence of the priests and of all the people,
'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, "I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
In exactly two years' time I shall bring back all the vessels of the Temple of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from here and carried off to Babylon.
And I shall also bring back Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah and all the exiles of Judah who have gone to Babylon, Yahweh declares, for I shall break the yoke of the king of Babylon." '
The prophet Jeremiah then replied to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people present in the Temple of Yahweh.
'So be it!' the prophet Jeremiah said, 'May Yahweh do so! May he fulfil the words that you have prophesied and bring all the vessels of the Temple of Yahweh and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.
Listen carefully, however, to this word that I am now going to say for you and all the people to hear:
From remote times, the prophets who preceded you and me prophesied war, disaster and plague for many countries and for great kingdoms;
the prophet who prophesies peace can be recognised as one truly sent by Yahweh only when his word comes true.'
The prophet Hananiah then snatched the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it.
In front of all the people Hananiah then said, 'Yahweh says this, "This is how, in exactly two years' time, I shall break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and take it off the necks of all the nations." ' At this, the prophet Jeremiah went away.
After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke he had snatched off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah,
'Go to Hananiah and tell him this, "Yahweh says this: You have broken the wooden yokes only to make iron yokes to replace them!
For Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: An iron yoke is what I now lay on the necks of all these nations to enslave them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. (They will be enslaved to him; I have even given him the wild animals.)" '
The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, 'Listen carefully, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; and thanks to you this people is now relying on what is false.
And so, Yahweh says this, "I am going to send you off the face of the earth: you will die this year (since you have preached rebellion against Yahweh)." '
The prophet Hananiah died the same year, in the seventh month.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Hananiah, a member of the family of temple prophets, confronts Jeremiah. Unlike Jeremiah, who appears as a prophet of doom and disaster, Hananiah tries to come across as a prophet of better times, pleasant circumstances, and optimistic perspectives. So Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, broke it, and said to the people, “Thus says the Lord: This is how I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” And the text adds, “At this, the prophet Jeremiah went his way.” The path that runs through Jeremiah is the Lord’s way even if it means taking way the little hope that still glimmered. Jeremiah announces that Judah will be exiled, because it is God’s plan. Hananiah, based on his own calculations, promises victory over the king of Babylon. Hananiah’s obliging words earn applause, while Jeremiah is criticized so fiercely that some would like to see him dead. History will prove the contrary. No history, whether the history of a person or a nation, belongs to “diviners...soothsayers...or...sorcerers” (Jer 27:9). We certainly have to dream of peace and propose as a future for all, but peace comes through the hard and unrelenting effort of those who seek it and spend their life to make it a reality. Peace requires peacemakers, not words. And peace begins in the depths of a heart that is at peace. Only then can it be announced and made real. Jeremiah responds to Ananias, saying, “As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet” (v. 9). The word of the prophet will come true when it is the fruit of the Lord’s blessing, the fruit of the continuous and heartfelt prayer of many people, all invoking the gift of peace, which is needed and hoped-for by many, especially the poor. Ananias preached “rebellion against the Lord” (v. 16), not peace. The war against the Babylonian king that he wanted to start might have made sense according to human strategy, but it was certainly not inspired by God. Woe to those who preach lies and drag other people down that path. On the contrary, those who follow Jeremiah on the road of listening and conversion place themselves on the path to peace and salvation.
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
