EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, June 18


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

Matthew 6,19-23

'Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too. 'The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkened, what darkness that will be!

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Jesus warns us not to worry to gather earthly "treasures", goods and riches. And the motivation is also common sense: they are fleeting treasures at risk of corrosion by moths and theft by thieves. It is not good to place the purpose of life in the possession of earthly goods. The parable of the rich man comes to mind; he accumulates his abundant crops in his barns, convinced in this way to ensure his own life. But death comes and destroys his plans (see Lk 12:14-21). Jesus wisely exhorts us to store "treasures in heaven" because no one can take them away from us. Jesus, who knows well the thoughts of our hearts, calls us to a profound truth: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Hence the centrality of the heart and of what really counts in life. It is easy to think that the "treasure" to be acquired is linked to wealth, glory, success, career or in any case to self-fulfilment in the world. Jesus wants to open our hearts to the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the treasure to choose decisively. Hence the exhortation to store treasures in heaven. That is, to live already on earth what will remain forever in heaven: fraternity, peace, solidarity, love for all and especially for the poor. These are treasures for heaven. And we can read in this horizon the following passage on the eye as a lamp of the body. In the language of the time it meant the integrity of man's life. It is like saying, in our language, that the heart is the light of the body. It is from the heart that good or even bad feelings are born. A heart that welcomes the Gospel is enlightened on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. A heart that is clouded or full of darkness will take the path of corruption. The image used by Benedict XVI to indicate the heart of disciples is beautiful: they have "a heart that sees." The disciple, illuminated by the light of the Gospel, knows how to discern the true treasure of life.

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