EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, October 20


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

Acts 17,15-21

Paul's escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could. Paul waited for them in Athens and there his whole soul was revolted at the sight of a city given over to idolatry. In the synagogue he debated with the Jews and the godfearing, and in the market place he debated every day with anyone whom he met. Even a few Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, 'What can this parrot mean?' And, because he was preaching about Jesus and Resurrection, others said, 'He seems to be a propagandist for some outlandish gods.' They got him to accompany them to the Areopagus, where they said to him, 'Can we know what this new doctrine is that you are teaching? Some of the things you say seemed startling to us and we would like to find out what they mean.' The one amusement the Athenians and the foreigners living there seem to have is to discuss and listen to the latest ideas.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Persecution, for a specific plan of God, pushed the disciples to set off for other places where they also preached the good news of the kingdom. The Lord turned the harshness of some people who opposed him into an advantage for the Gospel. Paul, then, reached Athens as a fugitive. Although the city was not as prosperous as it was during Plato’s time, it was still an important capital city. In Luke’s narration, after Jerusalem, and before Rome, Paul was called to preach the Gospel in the cultural capital of the time. Once he reached the city, Paul did not face the Athenians immediately; he rather mixed in with the traffic of the agora and of the market, in order to understand the sensibilities of the Athenians. Paul knew the challenge was very delicate and he wanted to understand the life of the Athenians from their point of view, from the inside that is their culture, costumes, sensitivity and life. The big question was simply: would Jerusalem conquer Athens? Would the Gospel touch the heart of the Areopagus? It is the same question we continue to ask ourselves before the many Areopaguses of this world, before the many cultures of our planet and that cross the hearts and minds of people. The audacity of Paul, who courageously goes before the learned Athenians, shows us that no Areopagus is foreign to the preaching of the Gospel; no culture is foreign to the Gospel. Rather, the many Areopaguses of today are waiting for disciples who may proclaim with wisdom and strength the salvation that comes from Jesus. Every Christian has to take up this challenge, which we cannot elude because only the Gospel can render more human the world in which we live.

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!