EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Poor
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Poor
Monday, October 23


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 18,1-8

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, where he met a Jew called Aquila whose family came from Pontus. He and his wife Priscilla had recently left Italy because an edict of Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome. Paul went to visit them, and when he found they were tentmakers, of the same trade as himself, he lodged with them, and they worked together. Every Sabbath he used to hold debates in the synagogues, trying to convert Jews as well as Greeks. After Silas and Timothy had arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted all his time to preaching, declaring to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. When they turned against him and started to insult him, he took his cloak and shook it out in front of them, saying, 'Your blood be on your own heads; from now on I will go to the gentiles with a clear conscience.' Then he left the synagogue and moved to the house next door that belonged to a worshipper of God called Justus. Crispus, president of the synagogue, and his whole household, all became believers in the Lord. Many Corinthians when they heard this became believers and were baptised.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

It is the year 42 AD, and Paul, although certainly still troubled by his experience in Athens, does not think that the Greeks are so far from God and so satisfied with themselves that they are impervious to the Gospel. He leaves the capital and goes towards Corinth, another cosmopolitan city, about 60 kilometres from Athens, famous for its commerce and the isthmian games held there, as well as for its easy manners. Once in the city, Paul goes directly to the crowded neighbourhoods by the harbour where he meets Aquila and Priscilla, a Judaeo-Christian couple who had been cast out from Rome due to an edict issued by the emperor Claudius against the Jews. The Roman administration did not make any distinction between the two groups: Jews who had converted to Christianity and other Jews. Paul stays with this family and works with them to earn his living. On the Sabbath, as usual, he goes to the synagogue to explain to everyone that Jesus is the Messiah. The author of the Acts of the Apostles makes a very significant observation about Paul’s ministry: “He was occupied with proclaiming the Word.” It is an observation that should question today’s Christian communities and help them rediscover the urgency of communicating the Gospel again. The missionary outlook, both within and without the western world, needs to regain the primacy it had in Paul’s time, both in the lives of believers and in the Church. Too often, in fact, we waste our time worrying only about our particular churches and communities. We need to feel the urgency of communicating the Gospel much more strongly to those who have yet to accept it. This was the urgency felt by Paul, who gave himself “body and soul” to preaching the Gospel. And there was no lack of fruits: even Crispus, the head of the synagogue, converted. Corinth then became home to a large community composed of merchants, sailors, slaves and freed men and women, in essence, a community of people from the harbour. The community was lively and dynamic, but also complex, with all of the problems that come from trying to live together. And yet, the community was a sign of hope not only for the people of the harbour, but also for the entire city of Corinth. This is what is asked of our communities, which are often a small minority in our complex and pluralistic cities: to be a house of peace and love that makes the whole city more human.

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!