EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Poor
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Poor
Monday, June 22

Psalmody

Psalm 45

Antiphon

The Lord is our refuge and our strength.

God is for us a refuge and strength,
a helper close at hand, in time of distress :

so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,
though the mountains fall in to the depths of the sea,

even though its waters rage and foam,
even though the mountains be shaken by its waves.

The Lord of hosts is with us :
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

The waters of a river give joy to God's city,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within, it cannot be shaken;
God will help it at the dawning of the day.

Nations are in tumult, kingdoms are shaken :
he lifts his voice, the earth shrinks away.

The Lord of hosts is with us :
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Come, consider the works of the Lord
the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.

He puts an end to wars over all the earth;
the bow he breaks, the spear he snaps.
[He burns the shields with fire].

'Be still and know that I am God,
supreme among the nations, supreme on the earth!'

The Lord of hosts is with us :
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

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