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
1 Kings 17,1-6
Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'By the life of Yahweh, God of Israel, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain these coming years unless I give the word.' The word of Yahweh came to him, 'Go away from here, go east and hide by the torrent of Cherith, east of the Jordan. You can drink from the stream, and I have ordered the ravens to bring you food there.' So he set out and did as Yahweh had said; he went and stayed by the torrent of Cherith, east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening, and he quenched his thirst at the stream.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today we listen to the Word of God about the prophet Elijah, whose memory we will celebrate tomorrow. Elijah means “Yahweh is my God.” The Lord calls him at a time when the religious crisis of Israel was at its apex. The people had chosen to follow idols. Driven by his wife, Jezebel, the Phoenician princess, King Ahab supported the cult of Baal. He dedicated a sanctuary to him in the capital and campaigned against the faith of Israel to the point of killing prophets. Into this dramatic context the Lord sends Elijah. He appears suddenly, unannounced. He is not called a prophet but he claims to be in God’s presence and decrees a drought on the basis of his own authority. We could say his strength comes only from his word, that is, from his immediate and total obedience to the word of God. Only with the strength of the Word of God could Elijah challenge the abyss of disbelief into which Israel had fallen. His task appears in a crucial moment of Israel’s history, as did that of Moses. Perhaps for this reason he has represented prophecy alongside Moses who represented the Law (Mk 9:4). Elijah proclaims a hard drought upon the region: “There shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (v. 1). This is the sign of God’s struggle against Baal, who the Israelites believed was the god of rain. The prophet begins his struggle against this idolatry in a direct way. He knew the faith reported in Leviticus: “But if you will not obey me, and do not observe all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and abhor my ordinances ... I will bring terror on you; consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it...I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper. Your strength shall be spent to no purpose: your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit” (Lev 26:14-20). During this terrible scourge, the Lord sends Elijah to the canyons of the Cherit River. This place is more than a refuge. It signifies a place aside, far removed from ordinary worries, so that the Lord can transform the disciples’ hearts to grow in wisdom. It is not a coincidence that in the Life of Anthony, which had a notable influence in the west and east, Elijah is the archetype of the monk who dedicates his entire life to the Lord and who is completely sustained by the Lord. The prophet, like the disciple, is nourished by God. The text says: “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening” (v. 6). The ravens can seem a strange presence given that they are cited in Leviticus as impure animals (11:15) and yet they are the ones that bring food to the prophet. That which could seem inept is chosen by God to sustain His children.
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
