EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Poor
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Poor
Monday, April 13


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 3, 1-8

There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,

who came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.'

Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.

Nicodemus said, 'How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?'

Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit;

what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above.

The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In this Easter time, the liturgy opens up the pages of the Gospel to the third chapter of the Gospel according to John and presents us with Nicodemus, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, who was pious and without prejudice. In previous chapters, the Evangelist introduced the theme of faith with the calling of the first disciples and the signs with which Jesus began to reveal his mystery. Now, the Gospel tells of Nicodemus, the first of a new generation, born not of the law of the flesh, but of the power of the Spirit. The Evangelist recounts the first encounter between him and the young rabbi from Nazareth. Nicodemus grew to hold Jesus in high esteem, but he was afraid to express it publicly. He chose, therefore, to meet him at night. For the Evangelist, the encounter at night conveys something more than just simply the fear Nicodemus had of being seen. In truth, it describes the journey of a man who wants to believe and who therefore passes from the night of unbelief to the light of Jesus. He is still in the darkness of night, but his “going toward Jesus” expresses his desire to hear a word spoken for his life. The Evangelist does not say anything about what Nicodemus wanted to ask Jesus. He had a religious respect for the young rabbi: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” The signs that Jesus performed amazed him. He knew full well that all of this came from God, even though Jesus had not been educated in the established rabbinical schools of the time. But in Nicodemus, a learned man and scholar of the law, there is a beautiful curiosity and he engages with Jesus as equals, rabbi to rabbi. After listening to Nicodemus, Jesus seems to interrupt him, without waiting for his question, and anticipates Nicodemus’ question to explain that the essential condition for salvation is being born “from above”. The Evangelist recounts Jesus saying two Greek words that have a double meaning: “from above” or “again”, and “to be born” or “to be generated”. In short, Jesus says to believe it is necessary to allow oneself to be born again through God because life comes “from above” not from oneself, not from tradition, even religious tradition, like that of Nicodemus. “To see the kingdom of God” means to see Jesus as one who saves and liberates us from the slavery of evil and from ourselves. Nicodemus, perhaps slightly irritated, responds, “How can anyone be born after having grown old?” Jesus does not enumerate a series of steps to take or precepts to observe, but maintains the need for a total change of life, all the way to the very core. To be reborn does not mean to do something more or thinking in some other way. To be reborn means to accept in their heart the Spirit of God that recreates life. His spiritual breath transforms hearts until they are new, able to love and to dare as never before imagined. The prophet Ezekiel writes, “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ez 11:19-20). That night the prophet’s words became flesh in the elderly Pharisee and gave him the energy of new life: he became a disciple of Jesus.

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