EVERYDAY PRAYER

Liturgy of the Sunday
Word of god every day

Liturgy of the Sunday

Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, November 17

Homily

The liturgical year is coming to a conclusion; the liturgy exhorts us to reflect on “the last things,” on the “day burning like an oven” which is about to come, as Malachi the prophet writes. The gospel portion from Luke, also, underlines the theme of “the end of time.” But the eschatological language used by the evangelist is not meant to literally indicate the collapse of buildings and the end of the world. What is meant is the end of our world, the end of a certain way of conceiving of life, the end of certain behaviours which follow certain ideals, certain priorities which are far from those of righteousness and of the Gospel. From this point of view, each generation experiences a confrontation with the eschatological dimension of life, in the sense that it must face the end of the world in which it lives, thinks, works and makes plans. Here lies the message of Malachi’s prophecy, “The day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and evildoers will be stubble” (4:1), that is, they will be burned and nothing will remain of them but a handful of ashes. For the righteous, on the other hand, on that day “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.” These are serious-sounding words also for our time and for the work each one of us does: a judgment is impending. This is the essence of the theme on “the end of time.” We, already now, live in a time when “the sun of righteousness” will either burn us up like straw or will turn us into workers of a new day. It is not a question of allowing ourselves to be led to apocalyptic excitement or to panicked, unreasonable movements, as if carried away by a facile turn-of-the-century millenarianism.
We need to understand the gravity of the present time and to revitalize our gospel witness. The gospel portion (Lk 21:5-19), too, summons us today to a radical commitment to the Gospel. This is what Jesus did with his disciples, taking occasion from the disciples’ looking at the majestic beauty of the temple, which was meant to make them proud and sure: in that temple of marble and ornaments they felt a sort of guarantee for their future and that of the people Israel. But Jesus, with utter seriousness, says, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down” (v.6). The disciples, disconcerted at this pronouncement which ruined their security, ask when all that would take place, perhaps thinking that, even if it should occur, it would be in a distant future. Jesus does not answer the disciples’ question, but tells them to be vigilant, to not allow themselves to be deceived, and to remain faithful witnesses to the Gospel.
There is no doubt that we are living in difficult times: it is enough to consider what is happening to great nations, or the increase in wars, or the re-emerging nuclear peril (which no one seems to pay attention to anymore). Do these (and we could add others) not resemble the “signs” which Jesus speaks about in the Gospel? Let us listen to the Gospel again: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (vv. 10-11). These words are not projected unto a distant future. They describe today’s world. Perhaps it is more difficult to find the places where Christians are persecuted today. Jesus says, “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you” (v. 12). It’s true, the places where Christians today are persecuted are not many; nonetheless there is no lack of persecution against both Christians and non-Christians. We can read in this context the sad episodes of intolerance and racism which continue to rage in our cities.
In the face of all this, Jesus affirms, “This will be a time for you to bear testimony” (v. 13). That is, in these upheavals, the Gospel calls the disciples to a courageous and complete witness. This is not a time for compromises, adjustments, settlements, in order to salvage the salvageable. It is essential that the Gospel shine forth clearly on the faces of Christians. In this sense, we are living in the “last times,” the time in which one either burns like straw or a new day rises again.

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