EVERYDAY PRAYER

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

Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memorial of St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem. Prayer for Jerusalem and for peace in the Holy Land Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, March 18

Memorial of St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem. Prayer for Jerusalem and for peace in the Holy Land


Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Matthew 23, 1-12

Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said,

'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses.

You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach.

They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they!

Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader headbands and longer tassels,

like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues,

being greeted respectfully in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.

'You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you are all brothers.

You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.

Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Anyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Jesus is in the temple, place par excellence of the encounter with God, of the sacrifice that brings communion with the Most High. It is the last speech addressed to the crowds and Jesus lashes out violently against the “scribes and Pharisees.” They are not true shepherds of the people of the Lord. But Jesus, rather than directly attacking their doctrine – which he says is right and should be kept – lashes out against their behaviour, which is away from the true tradition. With their conduct, the scribes and the Pharisees manifest a cold and empty religiosity, made of exterior practices only - they widen their phylacteries (small cases containing rolls of parchment where some Bible passages are written, and which are tied at the left arm and on the forehead) but they do not comply with them. Phylacteries’ origin is evocative: the Word of God had to be remembered (forehead) and put into practice (arm). But it was just an exterior practice to the Pharisees. Jesus also says that they “lengthen their fringes”, i.e. braids of fabric fitted with a drawstring, purple and blue at the four corners of the outer garment. Jesus also wore them. But the ostentatious exterior kills the inner meaning of these signs, which should be a sign of listening to the word of God and obedience to it, as prescribed by Deuteronomy (6:4-9). A similar reflection should be done on their habit to search for places of honour at banquets and the first seats in the synagogues. Finally, Jesus enters into controversy with the ‘academic’ and official titles that scribes and priests demanded by the people and by the disciples. Among those, he emphasizes the most known, “rabbi”, meaning “my teacher”. Even in this case Jesus does not reject the mission of teaching; rather he emphasizes the uniqueness of God’s Word. All believers are subject to it, and should receive it with faith, communicate and live it always and wherever. Here is the origin of God’s paternity on our lives. The Gospel, and not our words or programs, should have authority over life. The temptation to accommodate the Gospel to our traditions and those of the world is looming. Jesus has already stigmatized this temptation, and he asks us to do the same. We will discover that true joy and true greatness lie in being servants to the Word of God, that is listening to it and communicating it to those we meet.

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