EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, October 25


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

Luke 12,49-53

'I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 'Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on, a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; father opposed to son, son to father, mother to daughter, daughter to mother, mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law to mother-in-law.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

While urging his disciples to be vigilant, Jesus also tells them that the moment of decision has come. With Jesus the last times have come, and there can be no further delay in choosing the Gospel. To help the disciples understand his apostolic concern, Jesus uses the image of the fire that he himself came to bring into the world: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already aflame!" Revelation also describes the image of the angel who, at the end of time, throws fire on the earth (8:5). Jesus wants the disciples to abandon everything that comes from being lazy, slow, cold, closed, so that they can make his concern and anguish their own. Jesus will be uneasy until the flames of love flare up in the heart of every man and every woman. Therefore, the disciple is not called to a greedy and tranquil life oriented toward personal or even communal well-being, but rather needs to immerse him or herself in the Gospel as if to be baptized, that is, immersed, in it, impelled by the urgency of communicating it to everyone. Commitment to the Gospel involves the whole life of the disciple, in a certain way he or she is possessed by it. This is why following the Gospel demands distancing oneself from one's old life and from the old ties it was based on, even familial ones. Blood ties -obviously important—are nevertheless not salvation. Only the Gospel is the fire that saves and changes the world, and it starts with each individual heart. Paul will say that "Christ is our peace" (Eph 2:14), and the Lord himself said: "Blessed are the peacemakers." There is no contradiction here between peace and the sword. The peace which Jesus brings is not like the one the world gives (Jn 14:27), it is not a greedy tranquillity or security in one's own habits. In order to enjoy the peace that comes from the Gospel, purification by fire is necessary, a separation of good and evil, discernment between the light that Jesus comes to bring to the world and the darkness of evil. In short, peace is a gift and something acquired, it is receiving the Gospel and severing ties with one's own selfishness.

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