European Day of Memory of the Shoah. Read more
European Day of Memory of the Shoah.
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 37, 3-6.23-24.39-40
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your vindication shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause like the noonday.
23 Our steps are made firm by the Lord,
when he delights in our way;
24 though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong,
for the Lord holds us by the hand.
39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their refuge in the time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The liturgy has us sing a few verses of psalm 37 as the reflection of a believer who, with the tone of a lesson, wants to explain to the “righteous” the true meaning of their life and aspirations. The wise man, who is elderly, (the psalmist himself), perhaps wants to put an end to the impatience of those who feel disappointed at the prosperity of the wicked. Once again we see the insistent objection that often appears in Scripture: if God punishes the wicked, why do the righteous suffer instead? The author, whose faith is strongly rooted in a God who justly rewards, offers his perspective as a spiritual man. He affirms that a life lived under the eyes of God is, in and of itself, a greater good than all the afflictions that the righteous suffer on earth, and is always preferable to the ephemeral and deceiving life of the wicked. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security” (v. 3). He can then urge his listeners not to envy those who do evil: the lives they lead, the success they obtain, or the wealth they accumulate. If we envy them it is a sign that we think as they do; that we value what the wicked value; that is, that the meaning of life and the value of a human being depend on the things that he or she accumulates. Men and women need to change their hearts, as Jesus himself will say, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). The “righteous” are called to radically change the way they see the world and things: “Take delight in the Lord” (v. 4) and again, “Better is a little that the righteous person has than the abundance of many wicked” (v. 16). Envying the wicked person means having a heart like his. And yet the righteous should not fret over the wicked: “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fretit leads only to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land” (v. 7-9). We should not be envious of or fret about the good fortune of the wicked. It is deceptive, and all that it builds collapses under its own weight. Indeed, the enemies of the Lord fade like the splendour of the fields and vanish like smoke. The wicked disappear, and those who look for their place cannot find them, the psalmist sings. The Lord will certainly do justice, but differently from our convictions. Those who follow the Lord need to let their hearts be purified by God’s thoughts and his limitless love. That is why the righteous do not grow angry or give in to envy: “Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers” (v. 1).
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
