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
Isaiah 7,10-14
Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said: Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above. But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.' He then said: Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying human patience that you should try my God's patience too? The Lord will give you a sign in any case: It is this: the young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We are at a difficult time for the Kingdom of Israel, which is living under the threat of the Assyrians, a strong and expanding people. King Ahaz is worried and turns to Isaiah to find comfort in the Word of God. Isaiah tries to reassure the king by inviting him to trust in God and to ask for a sign to confirm what the prophet is telling him. But the king - who governed in an arrogant way and now is assailed by fear of the enemy's power - does not trust the prophet's words. And showing his questionable religiosity, he tells the prophet that he does not want to "put the Lord to the test." Irritated by the king's mistrust, Isaiah tells him that the Lord himself will give him a sign: "Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." The words of the prophet show Ahaz an unexpected future, which will not be fulfilled in his time, but which will bring the salvation of the people of Israel and of all the peoples of the earth. The Christian faith has interpreted this passage as a reference to the birth of Jesus, as we read in Matthew's Gospel: "All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel', which means, 'God is with us.'" (Mt 1:22-23). This passage of the Bible reveals God's great plan for all the peoples of the earth. It is a plan for the universal salvation of all peoples, which God entrusts to Jesus and his disciples, for them to communicate the "sign of God", his presence in the world, to the ends of the earth.
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
