EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Churches of the Anglican Communion. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, January 21

Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Churches of the Anglican Communion.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Hebrews 7, 1-3.15-17

Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, came to meet Abraham when he returned from defeating the kings, and blessed him;

and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, 'king of saving justice' and also king of Salem, that is, 'king of peace';

he has no father, mother or ancestry, and his life has no beginning or ending; he is like the Son of God. He remains a priest for ever.

This becomes even more clearly evident if another priest, of the type of Melchizedek, arises who is a priest

not in virtue of a law of physical descent, but in virtue of the power of an indestructible life.

For he is attested by the prophecy: You are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In today's passage, the author emphasizes the connection between the priesthood of Jesus and that of Melchizedek, rather than the Levitical priesthood renewed by Aaron and his descendants. In the rest of the chapter, verses 4-14, he explains Jesus' relationship with Melchizedek, not Aaron. We are before a crucial question, which affected both the Christian community of Jewish origin and the people of Israel. The temple in Jerusalem had by this time been destroyed by the Romans, and with the temple had perished all of the worship practices associated with it: the various kinds of sacrifices and offerings prescribed by the law and enumerated in part in the book of Leviticus. What then was the point of the Levitical priesthood? What value can the sacrifices tied to the temple retain when they can no longer be offered? The letter to the Hebrews addresses these questions by directly connecting the unique and unrepeatable sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, in which he himself - as we have seen before - becomes victim and priest not to the descendants of Aaron and the sacrifices of the temple in Jerusalem but to Melchizedek. Thus, God's intervention in history becomes a new beginning that refers back to the promises made by God to Abraham, even before Aaron. But who is Melchizedek? He is the '“king of righteousness” (In Hebrew zedek means “justice”) and also “king of Salem” (Jerusalem), that is, king of peace. He is presented as someone from beyond the history of Israel, a forerunner of God's promises and of the priesthood of Christ. This is why Jesus is “another priest” (v. 15), different from the priests of Israel who were recreated with Aaron. The priesthood of Jesus is indestructible because it is not created through human offspring. In Psalm 110, the psalmist sings: “You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Jesus is a priest of humanity, a universal priest, who came for all. Therefore we are all part of this priesthood; with baptism, every Christian becomes “priest, king, and prophet. Together we are a people of priests, kings, and prophets, through the unique sacrifice of Christ, who has allowed us to participate in his own divine life. Let us remain a part of this people, so that we too can be bearers of God's promises: priests, because we are instruments of communion with the divine life received with baptism; kings, because we receive the royal power of the Lord through his grace, and prophets, because we are called to communicate the joy of the Gospel of Christ, who died and has risen for us.

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