EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day

Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memory of Mary Salome, the mother of James and John, who followed the Lord to the cross and placed him in the tomb. Memory of Blessed John Paul II. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, October 22

Memory of Mary Salome, the mother of James and John, who followed the Lord to the cross and placed him in the tomb. Memory of Blessed John Paul II.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 21, 15-19

When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?' He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'

A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He replied, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Look after my sheep.'

Then he said to him a third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said, 'Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.

In all truth I tell you, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.'

In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, 'Follow me.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In this day, marking the beginning of the pontificate of blessed John Paul II, the Church celebrates his memorial as a believer and a pastor in difficult times. From a young age he saw the pain and poverty of many and answered the call of the Lord, giving his life for the Church and the world. He was a shepherd who lived intensely his relationship with God, and made of meeting everyone a life style. His testimony makes us understand even more the invitation Jesus gave to Peter to follow him. The Gospel brings us back to the days after the resurrection. Jesus returns once again to the shores of Lake Tiberias, where he had met Peter three years previously, calling him to mission. On that same shore, like a new beginning, Jesus questions Peter on the most important thing: love. Jesus knows that the only thing that will keep Peter forever tied to him is not a sense of duty or will power, but only the desire to reciprocate with his affection the boundless love he received. This is why Jesus asks him three times, as if to underline the essential question that we are faced with and are to ask ourselves every day. It is the question that sums up every word spoken by God: “Do you love me?” Peter’s response is at first proud and sorrowful because he thinks that the Lord does not trust him. But the insistence of the Master overcomes his resistance and exposes his weakness, making him feel a strong need to rely on Jesus once more, to learn how to love with all his heart, all his mind and all his strength. The words Jesus speaks to Peter give a glimpse on the future of the apostle. Peter will finally find his stability far from the self-sufficiency he imagined. He will rely totally on the Lord’s guidance that will allow him to reach where he never imagined. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of a fisherman who will manage to attract crowds of people to the Lord with the nets of the Gospel. The long pontificate of John Paul II, with the numerous crowds that he gathered and brought closer to the Lord, is the image of this total obedience to the Lord. This is the itinerary that every disciple is called to follow. We do not know where we will arrive, nor what the steps are in this itinerary behind the Lord, but the certainty of the master’s faithful love makes us capable of responding, from now and forever, to the invitation: “Follow me.”

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