EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for peace
Word of god every day

Prayer for peace

The prayer for Christian unity begins. Particular memory of the Catholic Church.
The prayer for peace is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
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Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for peace
Monday, January 18

The prayer for Christian unity begins. Particular memory of the Catholic Church.
The prayer for peace is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Mark 2,18-22

John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, when some people came to him and said to him, 'Why is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?' Jesus replied, 'Surely the bridegroom's attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine into fresh skins!'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The evangelist speaks of the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees who, as it always happens to those who consider themselves righteous, felt entitled to turn to Jesus to ask him the reason why his disciples were not observing the fast that, although not mandatory, elevated the spirit. Their criticism, in truth, is directed more to the teacher than the disciples. In parabolic language, Jesus answers that it is not the external practices that make the heart pure and the life of people clean. The pure are those who welcome the Messiah, the one sent by God, as one welcomes the bridegroom, therefore with an atmosphere of celebration. Jesus obviously intended for them to understand that he was the bridegroom who had come. And when the groom arrive, his friends cannot fast. Fasting would be seen as impolite towards the groom, who expects friends who celebrate and take part to the wedding banquet. Certainly not penitential fasting. However, Jesus warns that even the friends of the bridegroom will go through difficult times, especially when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then will be the time of fasting. Though, not openly Jesus announces his passion and death. That is when the time of suffering will come. Indeed it is what has happened from the beginning of Christianity to the present day with innumerable believers, men and women, who have been persecuted because of their faith and resisted to the point of shedding their blood. With two images, Jesus makes it clear that disciples should renew their entire life. The Gospel is the new wine that makes the hearts of those who drink it new - that is celebrating to the excess. The hearts of those who are full of themselves are like old wineskins and they are not able to welcome the Gospel newness. The new cloth of which Jesus speaks is the new mantle that is woven with the fabric of love, which has nothing to do with the old and tattered piece of cloth of one's egocentrism. The disciples understood that salvation is not in boasting about one's own works, even good ones such as fasting, but in loving Jesus above all else, as the bride loves her husband.

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