EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, December 14


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

Psalm 85, 9-14

8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
     for he will speak peace to his people,
     to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
     that his glory may dwell in our land.

10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
     righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
     and righteousness will look down from the sky.

12 The Lord will give what is good,
     and our land will yield its increase.

13 Righteousness will go before him,
     and will make a path for his steps.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

During this season of Advent, the liturgy once again has us sing this last part of Psalm 85, to remind us that “his salvation is at hand” (v. 9). It is good to be roused from the sleep to which we easily succumb because of our selfish habits. The season of Advent comes into our time to remind us that the Lord is “at hand.” We need to focus our hearts on the coming of the Lord. That is why we are asked to lift our gaze from ourselves, not to remain focused on ourselves, our problems, and our concerns. This is the time to wait for the Lord. We all need someone to save us from a world that continues to be wounded by wars and conflicts, by forms of injustice and violence, both small and great. Our prayer needs to rise to the Lord more strongly, asking him to come and change the face of the earth. The refrain for the psalm has us pray, “Come, Lord, king of justice and peace.” This generation of ours needs to listen to the Gospel again. It needs believers who, with greater daring and generosity, help the world become more peaceful and united. Believers are called to a new missionary season, a new planting. But this is only possible if we let ourselves be enveloped by the Lord and his dream. We must choose to do the same as the psalmist: “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak.” We need to listen to the Gospel again, to understand more deeply its urgent call for change and to communicate it with words and actions in our societies. With a splendid image, the psalmist shows us the fruit of this renewed witness to the Gospel: “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other” (v. 11). This is the society for which God dreams and which he entrusts into our hands. Even more than we do, God knows that our hands are poor and weak, but he does not hesitate to make us his co-workers. He gives us his strength and accompanies us on our path. The psalmist assures us that this work will bear fruit “The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase” (v. 13). And he will never fail to accompany us in our work to change the world: “Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps” (v. 14).

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