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
2 Samuel 7,18-19.24-29
King David then went in, sat down in Yahweh's presence and said: 'Who am I, Lord Yahweh, and what is my lineage, for you to have led me as far as this? Yet, to you, Lord Yahweh, this seemed too little, and now you extend your promises for your servant's family into the distant future. Such is human destiny, Lord Yahweh. for you constituted your people Israel your own people for ever and you, Yahweh, became their God. 'Now, Yahweh God, may the promise which you have made for your servant and for his family stand firm forever as you have said, so that your name will be exalted for ever and people will say, "Israel's God is Yahweh Sabaoth." Your servant David's dynasty will be secure before you, since you, Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, have disclosed to your servant, "I am going to build you a dynasty." Hence, your servant has ventured to offer this prayer to you. Yes, Lord Yahweh, you are God indeed, your words are true and you have made this generous promise to your servant. What is more, you have deigned to bless your servant's dynasty, so that it may remain for ever before you; for you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken; and may your servant's dynasty be blessed with your blessing for ever.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
David is struck by God’s love and by His concern for him and for Israel. And from the king’s heart arises a humble and intense prayer: "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?" By now David knows very well that everything he is comes from God. David is unable to boast of any special merits and yet God chose him and placed him at the head of a kingdom that is conferred "for ever." David "went in and sat before the Lord." Before any actual movement, there is an interior attitude. At first, he does know how to find words to thank the Lord worthily, but he knows that the Lord is faithful and will never abandon him: "you are great, O Lord God; for there is no one like you." God’s faithfulness to his people establishes Israel’s existence and vocation: "Who is like your people, like Israel? Is there another nation on earth whose God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for himself?" Contemplating God’s greatness and generosity, David is taken by wonder. After passing through the Red Sea, Moses also sang of God’s love for Israel. (Ex 15:11). The Psalms (especially Psalm92 to 99) and the prophets (Jer 10:6) also sing of it. David’s words echo those of Deuteronomy: "For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him" (Deut 4:32-35). David implores the Lord to keep forever his promise made to Israel. It is a bold request (v. 26), so much so that David himself marvels at making it. But he confesses that his audacity in asking is motivated by God’s divine promise (v. 27). David does not tire repeating it (vv. 28-29). He knows well that God is the only Lord who can do everything, and who is faithful forever. David, having become family with God, can ask for blessings from heaven for himself and for his people.
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
