EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, June 17


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

2 Kings 11,1-4.9-18.20

When Athaliah mother of Ahaziah learned that her son was dead, she promptly murdered all those of royal stock. But Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, surreptitiously rescued Jehoash son of Ahaziah from among the princes who were to be murdered, and put him with his nurse in the sleeping quarters; in this way she hid him from Athaliah, and he was not killed. He stayed, hidden with her in the Temple of Yahweh for six years, while Athaliah governed the country. In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the regimental commanders of the Carians and the guards, and had them brought to him in the Temple of Yahweh. He made a pact with them, put them on oath, then showed them the king's son. He gave them this order, The regimental commanders did everything as Jehoiada the priest had ordered, and each one brought his men, those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty on the Sabbath, and reported to Jehoiada the priest. The priest then issued the regimental commanders with King David's spears and shields, which were kept in the Temple of Yahweh. The guards then took position, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the south corner of the Temple to the north corner of the Temple, all round the altar and the Temple. Then Jehoiada brought the king's son out -- crowned him and gave him a copy of the covenant; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and shouted, 'Long live the king!' On hearing the people shouting, Athaliah joined the people in the Temple of Yahweh. When she looked, there stood the king on a dais, as the custom was, with the officers and trumpeters at the king's side, and all the people of the country rejoicing and blowing the trumpets; then Athaliah tore her clothes and shouted, 'Treason, treason!' Jehoiada the priest then gave the orders to the commanders in charge of the troops, 'Take her out under guard and put to death anyone who follows her.' 'For', the priest had already said, 'she must not be killed inside the Temple of Yahweh.' They seized her, and when she reached the horses' entry to the palace, she was killed there. Jehoiada made a covenant between Yahweh, the king and the people that they would remain Yahweh's people; and another one between the king and the people. All the people of the country then went to the temple of Baal and demolished it; they smashed its altars and its images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. The priest made arrangements for the security of the Temple of Yahweh. All the people of the country were delighted; the city, however, made no move. And Athaliah was put to death inside the palace.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The events in this chapter take place in Judah, the southern kingdom. After the death of Solomon and the division of the kingdom into two, the book of Kings has mostly followed the history of the northern kingdom. It makes only brief mention of the succession of the southern kings of that period, especially of Rehoboam and Abijah, who are judged negatively by the book’s author, then of Asa and Jehosaphat, who are instead judged favourably, and then of Jeroboam and Ahaziah, who are also deemed unworthy of governing the Lord’s people. The six years of queen Athaliah’s reign are considered so negative for Judah’s history that they are not even counted in the line of dynastic succession. When Athaliah learns of her son’s death, she decides to exterminate "all the royal family." But she is opposed by Jehosheba, Ahaziah’s sister who saves Joash, one of the king’s sons, from death by hiding him in the temple. The child stays in the temple for six years until the priest Jehoiada makes a plot with the guards and succeeds in having the child proclaimed king by all the people. The child’s age is not important to the sacred author, what counts is his investiture as king by the Lord. In reality the Lord governs his people, even through the weakness of a child. The queen Athaliah represents for Judah what Jezebel did for Israel; just as the Phoenician Jezebel had influenced the house of Ahad, so had Athaliah directed the history of the kingdom of Judah. Her decision to exterminate the king’s descendants, which appears to be her choice, would have broken God’s promise to his people to preserve David’s line for eternity. This promise had already been put in danger at critical moments in history, and at those times too the Lord guaranteed that there would always be a lamp burning before him in Jerusalem (1 K 11:36, 15:4, 2 K 8:19). Also at this juncture in the history of the kingdom of Judah, the hidden presence of the heir in the temple appears as the living representation of the image of the lamp of God’s promise that continues to burn. And there is no human decision, like Athaliah’s, that can break it. The theme of maternity that inevitably arises when talking about dynastic succession and the continuation of the house of David is not just about the biological transmission of life; it is also a spiritual continuity or even a spiritual maternity that depends on God. The law of the transmission of life in Israel is founded on another path, which the Lord himself controls: the path of the Spirit. It is the spiritual heredity that passes, for example, from Elijah to Elisha.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR