Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Genesis 18, 1-15
Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day.
He looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed to the ground.
'My lord,' he said, 'if I find favour with you, please do not pass your servant by.
Let me have a little water brought, and you can wash your feet and have a rest under the tree.
Let me fetch a little bread and you can refresh yourselves before going further, now that you have come in your servant's direction.' They replied, 'Do as you say.'
Abraham hurried to the tent and said to Sarah, 'Quick, knead three measures of best flour and make loaves.'
Then, running to the herd, Abraham took a fine and tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.
Then taking curds, milk and the calf which had been prepared, he laid all before them, and they ate while he remained standing near them under the tree.
'Where is your wife Sarah?' they asked him. 'She is in the tent,' he replied.
Then his guest said, 'I shall come back to you next year, and then your wife Sarah will have a son.' Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah had ceased to have her monthly periods.
So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, 'Now that I am past the age of childbearing, and my husband is an old man, is pleasure to come my way again?'
But Yahweh asked Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, "Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?"
Nothing is impossible for Yahweh. I shall come back to you at the same time next year and Sarah will have a son.'
Sarah said, 'I did not laugh,' lying because she was afraid. But he replied, 'Oh yes, you did laugh.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It is not the most comfortable part of the day. ? Indeed, it is the hottest time of day. And yet Abraham does not close his eyes. He notices three men coming towards him. They could be enemies or merchants capable of anything, like the ones who bought Joseph and dragged him to Egypt as a slave (Gen 37). ?Abraham is not afraid. He gets up and goes towards them, considering their arrival a grace and consequently offering them the best that could be given to a guest at that time and in those circumstances. In truth, the Lord was hidden in those three strangers, as the Biblical text itself says, and as is depicted in the ancient icon of the Trinity, which sees in those three pilgrims the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. ?In that visit there was a promise of life for a man who had not hidden his uncertainty and fear, but who, unlike Sarah, had trusted in God. Those who joyfully open their hearts to all, even to strangers, encounter God and receive God’s promise of life. ?Echoing this biblical passage, the Letter to the Hebrews warns, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (13:2).
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!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
