EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, November 16


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Acts 23,23-35

Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, 'Get two hundred soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea by the third hour of the night with seventy cavalry and two hundred auxiliaries; provide horses for Paul, and deliver him unharmed to Felix the governor.' He also wrote a letter in these terms: 'Claudius Lysias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. This man had been seized by the Jews and would have been murdered by them; but I came on the scene with my troops and got him away, having discovered that he was a Roman citizen. Wanting to find out what charge they were making against him, I brought him before their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation concerned disputed points of their Law, but that there was no charge deserving death or imprisonment. Acting on information that there was a conspiracy against the man, I hasten to send him to you, and have notified his accusers that they must state their case against him in your presence.' The soldiers carried out their orders; they took Paul and escorted him by night to Antipatris. Next day they left the mounted escort to go on with him and returned to the fortress. On arriving at Caesarea the escort delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. When he had read it, he asked Paul what province he came from. Learning that he was from Cilicia he said, 'I will hear your case as soon as your accusers are here too.' Then he ordered him to be held in Herod's praetorium.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Roman tribune, upon learning about the conspiracy against Paul, reacts immediately in conformity with the law. It dispatches a military detachment to escort Paul to Caesarea. The tribune is convinced that Paul is the victim of a plot; this is why it attempts to remove Paul from the group of Jews who wanted to condemn him. Almost literally, what happened to Jesus occurs again. This time, however, Paul remains prisoner of the Romans. In chains, escorted by a good number of soldiers, he begins to travel the road that leads to Rome. That the text informs us that the Roman representative was convinced of Paul’ innocence points to a deeper truth: more than a prisoner of the Romans, Paul is a prisoner of Christ. Through this bizarre and unjust judicial event the proclamation of the Gospel travels towards Rome, heart of the Empire. We could say that the Lord mysteriously guides history, even working by means of unjust events. In Caesarea the governor kept Paul in Herod’s praetorium to await a new trial.

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