Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Maccabees 3, 1-9
His son, Judas, known as Maccabaeus, then took his place.
All his brothers, and all who had attached themselves to his father, supported him, and they fought for Israel with a will.
He extended the fame of his people. Like a giant, he put on the breastplate and buckled on his war harness; he engaged in battle after battle, protecting the ranks with his sword.
He was like a lion in his exploits, like a young lion roaring over its prey.
He pursued and tracked down the renegades, he consigned those who troubled his people to the flames.
The renegades quailed with the terror he inspired, all evil-doers were utterly confounded, and deliverance went forward under his leadership.
He brought bitterness to many a king and rejoicing to Jacob by his deeds, his memory is blessed for ever and ever.
He went through the towns of Judah eliminating the irreligious from them, and diverted the Retribution from Israel.
His name resounded to the ends of the earth, he rallied those who were on the point of perishing.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Judas takes command of the army immediately after the death of his father Mattathias and, with the help of his brothers, gets ready to take up arms on a larger scale: his objective is to battle against Hellenism and foreign domination. The author highlights that Judas and his supporters perform this task with enthusiasm. This was the logical consequence of those who knew they were struggling for a worthy cause, like taking back their land so that the entire people could live freely and fully the covenant with God. They were profoundly aware that they were sons and daughters of the only one God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth and they were distinct from other peoples with no possible confusion. The irrevocable paradox of their identity that needed to be lived and defended was very obviously clear to them. The covenant with God was the very reason for their life, also their strength. This people, unique among the neighbouring peoples, drew their strength from God’s name. Through the hymn to Judas, the sacred author seeks to describe the strength of the entire people of believers. Judas is presented as a giant who moves with surety in his battle armour; he looks like a lion “in his deeds,” and “like a lion’s cub roaring for prey.” The text refers back to the description of Judas, son of Jacob that we read in Genesis: “Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lionesswho dares rouse him up?” (Gen 49:9). Then, as with few and efficient brushstrokes, the author sums up his action: he chases out the traitors of the faith of Israel, defeated those who troubled the people and “burned those who troubled his people.” The author adds that “he embittered many kings”: not only the three kings that succeeded on the Seleucid thrones during Judas’ six years of reign but also the small heads of the tribes of Idumea and Transjordan. If Judas embittered his enemies, instead he allowed all of the twelve tribes of Israel indicated with the name of their chief, Jacob, to rejoice. He succeeded in assembling all of the dispersed. The Israelites, who before and at the beginning of the Maccabean revival felt as if they were lost and having no other choice but to find refuge in desert caves without a leader, now finally could gather together and live in peace through the protection and leadership of Judas.
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
