Today the Byzantine Church venerates Saint Sabbas (+532), "the Archimandrite of all the hermits of Palestine." Read more
Today the Byzantine Church venerates Saint Sabbas (+532), "the Archimandrite of all the hermits of Palestine."
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Isaiah 30,19-21.23-26
Yes, people of Zion living in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious to you when your cry for help rings out; as soon as he hears it, he will answer you. When the Lord has given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, he who is your teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your ears will hear these words behind you, 'This is the way, keep to it,' whether you turn to right or left. He will send rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the bread that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. That day, your cattle will graze in wide pastures. Oxen and donkeys that work the land will eat for fodder wild sorrel, spread by the shovel-load and fork-load. On every lofty mountain, on every high hill there will be streams and water-courses, on the day of the great slaughter when the strongholds fall. Then moonlight will be bright as sunlight and sunlight itself be seven times brighter -- like the light of seven days in one -- on the day Yahweh dresses his people's wound and heals the scars of the blows they have received.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The prophet is trying to reassure the community of believers that their prayer reaches God, even though they have been tried by affliction: "O people in Zion...you shall weep no more. [The Lord] will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you." Of course it is possible that, although prayer does not drive away the time of trial immediately, it certainly forces the Lord to be close, to accompany, and to make himself present at his people’s side; as the prophet says: "Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher." The Lord is a patient God, full of love and mercy. He never stops speaking to us, ensuring that his word be sown in our hearts. He is the sower of whom the Gospels speak. He casts his seed everywhere, generously. He does not first decide whether the soil is good, ready to be sown, or full of stones or thorns. He does not decide first, as we often do, whether to cast the seed everywhere, even toward those who might not listen. God wants to reach everyone, because he knows the power of the seed, the strength of His word that changes and transforms those who welcome it. He has mercy on us; He is just because he is generous in loving. Blessed are those who hear his Word! We will not have to weep anymore, because the Lord hears the plea of those who cry out to him and is ready to heal the many wounds of this world, the wounds of those who suffer from war; the wounds of the sick, the imprisoned, and those who are condemned to death; and the wounds of the elderly, children, and the poor. He heals and transforms life deeply, as the prophet says. Faced with the wounds of this world and the strength of evil, which often frighten us, let us choose to follow the path set before us, because, with patience, we can also tend and heal the wounds of those we meet.
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
