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
Psalm 27, 1.4.13-14
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
4 One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.
13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (v. 1). These first words of Psalm 27 express the psalmist’s rock-like trust in the Lord, a faithfulness that remains steadfast regardless of what difficulties may occur. The believer says to the Lord, “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident” (v. 3). His fidelity remains steady even if his parents forsake him or false witnesses testify against him. He does not crumble and fall, for he knows that that Lord will never abandon him. This trustwhich is more in the Lord than in his own strengthallows him to face adversity. As the psalmist boldly affirms, “Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me” (v. 6). Fear corrodes faith in the Lord because it leads us to turn in on ourselves and to rely on our own strength. But the Lord saves us; He is the one who is strong and powerful and who rescues us from ruin. Trust in the Lord makes the weak steady, and helps those who entrust themselves to God to resist evil. From faith arises the certainty that the Lord will intervene on our behalf: “Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!” (v. 9). The psalmist understands that trust in the Lord abides and grows in the Lord’s housethat is, in a community of believers. This is the gift that the Psalm puts on our lips, the single desire to have: “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (v. 4). Within a community of believers we are helped to cultivate an interior life that does not seek after itself, but seeks the Lord and all that belongs to him. Turned toward the Lord, the psalmist prays, “Come,’ my heart says, seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, so I seek” (v. 8). Faith dedicates the believer’s entire life to the search for God and the only true fear we should have is the same as the psalmist’s fear: that God will hide His face from us (v. 9). But this will not happen, because God is more faithful to us than a mother and father: “If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up” (v. 10).
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
