Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Samuel 24,2.9-17
The king said to Joab and the senior army officers who were with him, 'Now, go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and take a census of the people; I wish to know the size of the population.' Joab gave the king the census results for the people; Israel had eight hundred thousand fighting men who could wield a sword, and Judah five hundred thousand. But afterwards David's heart misgave him for having taken a census of the people. David then said to Yahweh, 'I have committed a grave sin by doing this. But now, Yahweh, I beg you to forgive your servant for this fault, for I have acted very foolishly.' When, however, David got up next morning, the following message had come from Yahweh to the prophet Gad, David's seer, 'Go and say to David, "Yahweh says this: I offer you three things; choose which one of them I am to inflict on you." ' So Gad went to David and said, 'Which do you prefer: to have three years of famine befall your country; to flee for three months before a pursuing army; or to have three days of epidemic in your country? Now think, and decide how I am to answer him who sends me.' David said to Gad, 'I am very apprehensive . . . Better to fall into Yahweh's hands, since his mercies are great, than to fall into the hands of men!' So David chose the epidemic. It was the time of the wheat harvest. So Yahweh unleashed an epidemic on Israel from that morning until the time determined; plague ravaged the people and, of the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand died. But when the angel stretched his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh felt sorry about the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, 'Enough now! Hold your hand!' The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was ravaging the people, he said to Yahweh, 'I was the one who sinned. I was the one who acted wrongly. But these, the flock, what have they done? Let your hand lie heavy on me and on my family!'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The passage reports the first census taken in Israel after the establishment of the monarchy. David wanted to test the political and social stability of his kingdom. And indeed census results seem to prove him right. But David’s distrust in the Lord lurks right in the search for an objective stability. The text opens with the notation: "Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them" (v. 1). The author does not give the reason for God’s anger; he emphasizes that it is God himself who incites David to take a census and go against the people. The statement "incited David" is to be understood in the ancient Semitic conception in which everything was traced directly to God, even temptations. The clearest example is found in Job, when we read that Satan asks God for permission to test Job and God bestows it. (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6). This way of presenting not only avoids the temptation to think that God is at the source of evil, but it shows that in allowing the temptation, God wants to show that with his help that he never fails to provide men and women, they can defeat the tempter. David then orders a census to be taken, which apparently seems not only justifiable, but also a wise administrative measure, because it allowed a more adequate organization of the kingdom. However, unlike the two censuses prescribed by God at the time of the exodus, that of David, has the full weight of a reprehensible challenge of power. The decision to count diligently his soldiers, his taxpayers, and his subjects shows that David relies more on his own strength and means than on divine strength and providence. This is why, as soon as the census is completed, "David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly’’’ (v.10). The prophet Gad, in the name of God, announce a very severe sanction for what happened (vv. 11-13). David, once again, shows the poverty of his faith, even if it appears covered with wisdom. In truth it was folly more than wisdom. Certainly God asks that we make every effort to care for his people, but only with the wisdom that is rooted in the "fear of God", that is, in total confidence in him. Aware of our misery, we realize that only this wisdom is really strong and wise. David finally understands that the strength of the people Lord has entrusted to him lies not only in numbers but only in faith in the Lord.
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
