Memory of Saints Cosmas and Damien, Syrian martyrs. The tradition remembers them as doctors who took care of the sick for free. Special memory of those who dedicate their lives to the treatment and healing of the sick. Read more
Memory of Saints Cosmas and Damien, Syrian martyrs. The tradition remembers them as doctors who took care of the sick for free. Special memory of those who dedicate their lives to the treatment and healing of the sick.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah 39, 1-18
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem with his entire army, and they laid siege to it.
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, a breach was made in the city wall.
The king of Babylon's officials, all having made their entry, took their seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sar-Sechim a high dignitary of state, Nergal-Sharezer the chief astrologer, and all the king of Babylon's other officials . . .
On seeing them, Zedekiah king of Judah and all the fighting men fled, leaving the city under cover of dark, by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls, and made their way towards the Arabah.
But the Chaldaean troops pursued them and caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the territory of Hamath, where he passed sentence on him.
The king of Babylon had Zedekiah's sons slaughtered before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also had all the leading men of Judah put to death.
He then put out Zedekiah's eyes and, loading him with chains, carried him off to Babylon.
The Chaldaeans burnt down the royal palace and the private houses, and demolished the walls of Jerusalem.
Nebuzaradan commander of the guard deported the remainder of the population left behind in the city, the deserters who had gone over to him, and the rest of the artisans to Babylon.
But Nebuzaradan commander of the guard left some of the poor people behind in the country of Judah, those who had nothing, at the same time giving them vineyards and fields.
With regard to Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given the following orders to Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard,
'Take him, look after him; do him no harm, but treat him as he may ask you.'
He entrusted this mission to (Nebuzaradan commander of the guard,) Nebushazban the high dignitary of state, Nergal-Sharezer the chief astrologer and all the king of Babylon's other officials.
These despatched men to take Jeremiah from the Court of the Guard and turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan for safe conduct home. So he remained among the people.
While Jeremiah was confined in the Court of the Guard, the word of Yahweh came to him as follows,
'Go and say to Ebed-Melech the Cushite, "Yahweh, God of Israel says this: Look, I am about to perform my words about this city for its ruin and not for its prosperity. That day they will come true before your eyes.
But I shall rescue you that day, Yahweh declares, and you will not be handed over to the hands of the men you fear.
Yes, I shall certainly rescue you: you will not fall to the sword; you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me, Yahweh declares."
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In Jerusalem, which has now fallen to the hands of the Chaldeans, there seem not to be room for hope anymore. The occupation makes the Chaldean the rulers. Indeed it is not like that. The God of Israel is still the only Lord of Jerusalem and of earth. It is He who continues to hold the threads of history and to guide it. In His hands is the destiny of each man and each woman. It is true, however, that Zedekiah, imprisoned and in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the new Babylon’s Empire, undergoes the cruel destiny that Jeremiah prophesied. Zedekiah did not listen to the voice of God but to the leaders of the people who decided to start war and rejected dialogue for peace. The tragic result has been the destruction of Jerusalem, now a place of death and desert of faith. The foolish resistance of the king of Judah led the country to slavery and to the destruction of Jerusalem. The beginning of the book of Lamentations, credited to Jeremiah according to the Greek tradition of the Seventy, expresses very well the condition of Jerusalem: “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! ... She weeps bitterly in the night the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions” (1:1-2, 5). Jeremiah and Ebed-melech, the eunuch, find salvation because they trusted in the Lord. The prophet and the servant of the king trusted God; therefore, their lives were spared. The Lord says, “For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have trusted in me” (v. 18). Those who entrust themselves to the Lord are saved from death, as the psalmist sings, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts” (Ps 28:7). The essence of faith is the experience of trust in the Lord, of trust in His hands. It is the faith that makes it possible what seems impossible to human eyes. Whoever trusts God will not be disappointed, reiterates the Holy Scripture.
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
