EVERYDAY PRAYER

Sunday Vigil
Word of god every day

Sunday Vigil

Memory of Saint Anthony the Abbot. He followed the Lord into the Egyptian desert and was father of many monks. A day of reflection on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday Vigil
Saturday, January 17

Memory of Saint Anthony the Abbot. He followed the Lord into the Egyptian desert and was father of many monks. A day of reflection on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Hebrews 4, 12-16

The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts.

No created thing is hidden from him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.

Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our profession of faith.

For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin.

Let us, then, have no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace when we are in need of help.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The author - this singular preacher - praises the Word of God, which is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It understands us much better than we understand ourselves. This is why believers are invited to entrust themselves to it if they want to understand the depths of their own heart. They are invited to listen to it if they want to experience peace and salvation for themselves and for the world. In Scripture, in fact, it is God himself who speaks to his people. And he continues to speak to us today. The Word of God is light for our steps and for the steps of all who let themselves be enlightened: “And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Of course when we listen to the Word of God and let it penetrate and cut our soul, it divides it, because it makes us see the evil that we do and the good that we do not pursue. But those who agree to become disciples of the Word and change their lives to make them more similar to the feelings of God find mercy, that is forgiveness, great joy, and friendship with God and others. The second part of the passage contains a statement made by the preacher to encourage his Christian readers, who are experiencing a difficult moment in their lives because of the fierce opposition of an environment that is hostile to the Gospel. The author points out that they “have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.” The title of “high priest,” which has already been ascribed to Jesus (2:17), is now developed more fully. Believers must strengthen their faith in God's help. This is why they are invited to approach the Lord faithfully and without fear: they are certainly heard, because they have a “high priest” who understands them; indeed he is full of compassion and knows how to present the lives of his disciples to God when they are more difficult. Jesus knows our difficulties and our weaknesses because “in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” His compassion for us, the Letter insists, comes from the fact that he came to live among us and experienced our weakness, other than sin, in his own flesh. But he has not scorned us. Rather, he took on our weakness in order to free us from it. We could say that he has understood our weakness from within. And, in his compassion, he brought it with his body into heaven. This is why the author says: “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness.” Not only will God hear us, he will help and aid us. The author places Jesus in the line of priests, who receive this ministry through their family. He does not place him among the descendants of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets, but among the descendants of Aaron. Jesus was established as priest by inheriting this ministry from God, by whom he was generated as son.

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