EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church


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

Mark 6, 7-13

Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits.

And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.

They were to wear sandals but, he added, 'Don't take a spare tunic.'

And he said to them, 'If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district.

And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust under your feet as evidence to them.'

So they set off to proclaim repentance;

and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Gospel describes the first pre-Easter mission of the Twelve. Jesus calls them and sends them two by two into the neighbouring villages. We could say that the evangelist is reporting Jesus? first lesson about mission, about communicating the Gospel to men and women. The Lord urges the "twelve," that is the group of the apostles not to live for themselves or remain closed in their narrow horizons, but to go out wherever they are to proclaim the Gospel and to heal sicknesses - a lesson that retains all of its value still today. It is a mission that has no boundaries and encourages disciples to go beyond boundaries in order to reach hearts in even the most distant frontiers. We are still at the beginning of the new millennium. The first ten years have already passed by. We realize how difficult and harsh life can be and how strong the evil that crushes the life of the weak is. Moreover, the distance between those who are wealthy (not many) and those who are poor is growing. There is a new urgency for Jesus? disciples, all the Churches, and all Christians to listen to this Gospel passage again and begin living it. Unfortunately, the missionary tension seems to decrease rather than grow. The number of people who leave for lands of mission has decreased, but also Christians in Christian countries have become less missionary for they have allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by a materialistic and individualistic way of living. It is urgent that the Gospel be proclaimed in a renewed way in lands of ancient Christian tradition and that it be carried with greater boldness to places where it has not yet been proclaimed. The only strength Christians have is the Lord, the only baggage they should take with them is the Gospel, the only tunic they should wear is mercy, and the only staff they should lean on is charity. With great spiritual wisdom, Gregory the Great notes that Jesus sends the disciples two by two so that their love for each other would be the first thing they preached. Jesus urges his followers to stay close to those who welcome them, but those who refuse the love of the Lord offered to them will be gravely responsible.

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!