EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, November 28


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

1 Maccabees 15, 25-41

Antiochus, meanwhile, from his positions on the outskirts of Dora, was continually throwing detachments against the town. He constructed siege-engines, and blockaded Trypho, preventing movement in or out.

Simon sent him two thousand picked men to support him in the fight, with silver and gold and plenty of equipment.

But Antiochus would not accept them; instead, he repudiated all his previous agreements with Simon and completely changed his attitude to him.

He sent him Athenobius, one of his Friends, to confer with him and say, 'You are now occupying Joppa and Gezer and the Citadel in Jerusalem, which are towns in my kingdom.

You have laid waste their territory and done immense harm to the country; and you have seized control of many places properly in my kingdom.

Either now surrender the towns you have taken and the taxes from the places you have seized outside the frontiers of Judaea,

or else pay me five hundred talents of silver in compensation for them and for the destruction you have done, and another five hundred talents for the taxes from the towns; otherwise we shall come and make war on you.'

When the King's Friend, Athenobius, reached Jerusalem and saw Simon's magnificence, his cabinet of gold and silver plate and the state he kept, he was dumbfounded. He delivered the king's message,

but Simon gave him this answer, 'We have not taken foreign territory or any alien property but have occupied our ancestral heritage, for some time unjustly wrested from us by our enemies;

now that we have a favourable opportunity, we are merely recovering our ancestral heritage.

As regards Joppa and Gezer, which you claim, these were towns that did great harm to our people and laid waste our country; we are prepared to give a hundred talents for them.' Without so much as a word in answer,

the envoy went back to the king in a rage and reported on Simon's answer and his magnificence, and on everything he had seen, at which the king fell into a fury.

Trypho now boarded a ship and escaped to Orthosia.

The king appointed Cendebaeus military governor of the coastal region and allotted him a force of infantry and cavalry.

He ordered him to deploy his men facing Judaea, and instructed him to rebuild Kedron and fortify its gates, and to make war on our people, while the king himself went in pursuit of Trypho.

Cendebaeus arrived at Jamnia and began to provoke our people forthwith, invading Judaea, taking prisoners, and massacring.

Having rebuilt Kedron, he stationed cavalry and troops there to make sorties and patrol the roads of Judaea, as the king had ordered.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The author continues the narration of Antiochus’ siege of Dor, which Simon took part in by sending a considerable amount of men and material. As an answer, the king sent Simon his envoy, Athenobius, to ask for the return of the sites conquered by the Jews, or at least for compensation: “Now then, hand over the cities that you have seized and the tribute money of the places that you have conquered outside the borders of Judea; or else pay me five hundred talents of silver for the destruction that you have caused and five hundred talents more for the tribute money of the cities. Otherwise we will come and make war on you” (30-31). Simon’s answer aimed at justifying the possession of the territories by identifying them as lands belonging to Israel and wrested by its enemies. In spite of the concrete necessities of the Seleucid policies, the Maccabees, like all the true Yahwists, had never granted possession of the holy land to foreign nations. Simon was available to pay a compensation, however, for Joppa and Gazara. The king was infuriated when his envoy returned with this response. Trypho in the meanwhile was able to escape the siege and reach the harbour of Orthosia, a fortified city on the Phoenician coast, north of Tripoli. While irritated by Simon’s answer, he was committed to hunt down Trypho, whom he finally found in Apamea, where he was captured and killed Antioch then called upon Cendebeus, an officer at court, to superintend the region on the Phoenician coast and make it his headquarters to attack the Jewish people. He therefore undertook to reorganise the area and strike attacks against the Jews: “So Cendebeus came to Jamnia and began to provoke the people and invade Judea and take the people captive and kill them. He built up Kedron and stationed horsemen and troops there, so that they might go out and make raids along the highways of Judea, as the king had ordered him” (40-41). The chapter ends abruptly, interrupting the narration, which continues in the following one. It seems increasingly clear, however, that the religious motivations for defending the people of Israel are softening, while a certain lust for power is penetrating among the ranks of the followers of the Maccabees and gradually prevailing.

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