EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Poor
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Poor
Monday, July 24


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

Exodus 15,1-6

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
  ‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
  horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

2 The Lord is my strength and my might,
  and he has become my salvation;
  this is my God, and I will praise him,
  my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is a warrior;
  the Lord is his name.
 

4 ‘Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
  his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

5 The floods covered them;
  they went down into the depths like a stone.

6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—
  your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The canticle of Moses celebrates the liberation of Israel from slavery. In fact, as in the passage across the sea, this is much more than a simple crossing leading Israel to freedom from Egyptian bondage. In going across the sea, what happens is what is celebrated and sung at Passover: the passage from death to life. Israel was threatened by a deathly power (see Ex 2) that had assumed its symbolic expression in the description of the Pharaoh’s enemy and in nearing the sea in the14th chapter of Exodus. The passage happened at night. It is cosmic darkness, overcome by God’s presence in the column of smoke and clouds, which drives Israel to walk toward the light of the day. But we need to sing salvation, not just to live it. If we do not recognize that which has happened is the work of God and not of ourselves, everything is in vain. The meaning of prayer and liturgy is that we recognize what God has worked in our life, and with song and joyous ceremonial repetition we make it possible for it to happen again. The canticle proposes the force of evil that tries to submerge that small group. It speaks of an army and of an “abyss.” Often in the Old Testament God is represented as a warrior. This is to show the strength that overcomes the power of evil. St. Paul also invites Christians to wear “the armour of God” (Eph 6:13) to engage in combat and to be able to “resist in the evil day.” To celebrate and sing of the strength which comes from the Lord already contains a victory because, in prayer and in praise, we recognize that God never abandons his disciples who are threatened by evil even when that evil seems invincible. So when the strength of evil seems so strong and unforeseeable, we sing of the victory of our Lord during our evening prayer, so that it may reach every corner of the earth, especially where evil seems invincible.

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