Memorial of Saint Michael the Archangel. The Ethiopian Church, one of the first among the African churches, venerates him as its protector. Read more
Memorial of Saint Michael the Archangel. The Ethiopian Church, one of the first among the African churches, venerates him as its protector.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Zechariah 8, 20-23
'Yahweh Sabaoth says this, "In the future, peoples and citizens of many cities will come;
and citizens of one city will go to the next and say: We must certainly go to entreat Yahweh's favour and seek out Yahweh Sabaoth; I am going myself.
Yes, many peoples and great nations will seek out Yahweh Sabaoth in Jerusalem and entreat Yahweh's favour."
'Yahweh Sabaoth says this, "In those days, ten men from nations of every language will take a Jew by the sleeve and say: We want to go with you, since we have learnt that God is with you." '
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This prophecy from Zechariah aims at widening the view of the Israelites so they adhere to the universal vision of God. Indeed, God elected Israel as His people not to dwell in its boundaries, but to communicate God’s vision of love to all the nations. No people is excluded from the vision of God. He is the father of all: this is His representation in these words of the Prophet, as will be shown clearly in Jesus. Then these words will be fully significant. In verses 22-23 there is a vision: all the inhabitants of the earth shall come and say to one another: "Come! Let us go to implore the favour of the LORD". There is a common desire, concealed in all peoples. According to this biblical and Christian belief, the Patriarch Athenagoras maintained, "All the peoples are good." Yes, they are good, since the aspiration to gather all in the presence of God can be traced to the innermost core of each people, each faith, each humanism. A singular pilgrimage of believers and people of goodwill can be seen through our faith. They are reaching together the final destination of love, peace, and justice. St. John Paul II gathered in Assisi the believers of all the world religions, to make this spiritual, underground pilgrimage emerge, bringing together these aspirations from the nations. The gathering of so many believers and people of goodwill every year, in different cities, to seek peace, is a continuous miracle. The prophecy continues: In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (v. 23). This is the mysterious conversion to the Gospel of people who speak different tongues. The Prophet maybe means that not all the peoples will convert, but those who will follow the Gospel will belong to all the nations, cultures, and tongues. This is the mysterious responsibility for all Christians to receive those who adhere to the Gospel. In this time of mission according to Pope Francis’ call we should question if we either allow people to take hold of us by the edge of our garments, or rather we prefer to be quiet in our fenced-in areas--even religious ones. These words shake us. Let us wear the garments of the mission and run to the peripheries of our present cities!
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!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
