Remembrance of Nunzia, a mentally disabled woman who died in Naples; with her we remember all the mentally disabled people who have fallen asleep in the Lord. Read more
Remembrance of Nunzia, a mentally disabled woman who died in Naples; with her we remember all the mentally disabled people who have fallen asleep in the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Exodus 40, 16-21.34-38
Moses did this; he did exactly as Yahweh had ordered him.
On the first day of the first month in the second year the Dwelling was erected.
Moses erected the Dwelling. He fixed its sockets, set up its frames, put its crossbars in position and set up its poles.
He spread the tent over the Dwelling and the covering for the tent over that, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.
He took the Testimony and put it in the ark, positioned the shafts on the ark and put the mercy-seat on top of the ark.
He brought the ark into the Dwelling and put the screening curtain in place, screening the ark of the Testimony, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.
The cloud then covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwelling.
Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, since the cloud stayed over it and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwelling.
At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the Israelites would resume their march.
If the cloud did not rise, they would not resume their march until the day it did rise.
For Yahweh's cloud stayed over the Dwelling during the daytime and there was fire inside the cloud at night, for the whole House of Israel to see, at every stage of their journey.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
God reveals his presence among the people, a presence that should guide their steps so that they will not get lost, give in the to the temptation of looking to the past, or, in the midst of difficulties, seek the reassuring but false presence of idols. God does not remain far off. He points to a place where people can feel his presence strongly. Moses and Aaron’s sons, like their father, will be anointed and will function as priests. It is not just any place. It is a presence that demands change and purification from evil (the washing). The cloud, the same cloud that we will encounter on Mount Tabor, is the visible manifestation of the greatness of God, the mystery that envelops Him, and of the difficulty of men and women, who, in their great weakness, cannot “see” God. The cloud envelops that place. It is near and yet it is much greater. We must never forget the greatness of God, because only by understanding God’s greatness can we understand the grace and the mystery of His manifestation among humanity. How easily do people in their selfishness reduce everything to their own, limited dimensions. How often to they think they know but in reality remain blind and deaf. The cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses himself could not enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud covered it and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The Lord Jesus will bring this manifestation and this glory to fulfilment, revealing them fully in his humanity, in which we see and recognize the omnipotence and greatness of God, without ever losing our fear at a love that is enormously greater than our poor humanity.
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
