Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Psalm 89, 2-5.27.29
1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, for ever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I declare that your steadfast love is established for ever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 “I will establish your descendants for ever,
and build your throne for all generations.” ’
28 For-ever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
While we prepare to welcome the mystery of Christmas, the liturgy has us pray with psalm 89, which opens with a song to the loyalty and faithfulness of God: “With my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens” (v. 2-3). Many things can betray a person in his or her life, but God will never abandon him or her, as He himself says in the psalm, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David: I will establish your descendants forever’” (v. 4-5). The foundation of the historical covenant with David is seen in the context of the cosmic covenant, that is, God’s lordship over the whole of creation, which the Lord guards and governs. The mystery of Christmas should be understood in this cosmic context. Contemplating the immensity of the heavens and the beauty of creation, like the psalmist, we too are overcome with amazement: “who is like you?” (v. 9). God is incomparable (v. 7-8), the master of the world (v. 10-12), and the conqueror (v. 13-15). His power is spent for love, not domination; to give life and not to destroy: “Who is as mighty as you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you... Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you” (v. 9, 15). God’s power is love and justice, tenderness and faithfulness. His strength is for saving, not driving away. It is the people of Israel who keep betraying him. And the psalmist, using the human language of his way of thinking, underlines the fact that God cannot pretend that betrayal is not an evil. And so his words sound like a threat: “If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my ordinances, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with scourges” (v. 32-33). These words ought to provoke in us a healthy “fear” that shows the seriousness of our relationship with the Lord. A relationship with the Lord is a serious thing, always. Even for us today. But, contemplating the mystery of Christmas, we better understand the words that the psalmist reports in the middle of the psalm: “If his descendants forsake my teaching I will punish their crime with a rod But I will not take my mercy from him the promise of my lips I will not alter” (v. 31-35). The Lord’s faithfulness is stronger than the sins of his children and his goodness is greater than their betrayal. It is on this unbreakable faithfulness that the hope of believers is founded. Today the psalmist reminds us of the faithfulness of God’s love. He always protects his children, to the point of sending his “messiah”, the “anointed one” (v. 52). This is the Gospel of Christmas.
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
