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
Ezekiel 37,1-14
The hand of Yahweh was on me; he carried me away by the spirit of Yahweh and set me down in the middle of the valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down and all around among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the floor of the valley; and they were completely dry. He said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'You know, Lord Yahweh.' He said, 'Prophesy over these bones. Say, "Dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. The Lord Yahweh says this to these bones: I am now going to make breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will know that I am Yahweh." ' I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a clattering sound; it was the bones coming together. And as I looked, they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, yet there was no breath in them. He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, "The Lord Yahweh says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead, so that they come to life!" ' I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army. Then he said, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, "Our bones are dry, our hope has gone; we are done for." So, prophesy. Say to them, "The Lord Yahweh says this: I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am Yahweh, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people, and put my spirit in you, and you revive, and I resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done this -- declares the Lord Yahweh." '
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The hand of the Lord "brings [the prophet] out" in spirit to show him a valley filled with dry bones. Who are these bones? "These bones are the whole house of Israel," the Lord tells the prophet, "They say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’" It seems like we are listening to the words of many people in our world, women and men who have lost hope, poor people whose lives have dried up in pain and a lack of love, elderly people left alone to die in a nursing home, people dried up by war and misery. Yes, this valley of dry bones does not seem very different from our world. Sometimes feelings dry up, mercy fades away, and hope fails. Pessimism and a sense of victimization take control of our hearts and the future appears dark. Is it possible for these dry bones to come back to life? We are often people of the impossible. We do not believe that the world can change, that what is dried out can rise, or that what is destroyed can be rebuilt. How often do we notice the dryness around us, even within our own lives, but we are almost afraid of it and pass by? Today the Word of God issues us an invitation, almost a command: "Prophesy to these bones...O dry bones...I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live." As in the story of creation, the spirit of God, can make dry bones come to life - it can restore life. The spirit comes from the four winds, from the four corners of the world, as if to say that the Word of God creates a new centre, a new life. But we need prophets, people of the Word, who know how to speak to those dry bones. And this dryness can be overcome in unity, communion, and encounter with that which was dry and scattered. The spirit gathers men and women into a people. It makes men and women who are dry because they are divided and distant from each other into one, living people. Indeed, division is like death, a tomb for oneself and for the world. In the Risen Lord we receive the Holy Spirit, which makes us prophets capable of bringing dry bones back to life to rebuild the holy people, of which the Lord has made us a part. We recognize that it is the Lord, as the disciples did after his death and resurrection. Lord, continue to give us your Spirit so that we can live again, leaving behind our dryness, and so that, through your Word, we can make the many dry bones around us live again as well.
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
