Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Genesis 2,4-9.15-17
Such was the story of heaven and earth as they were created. At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant yet sprung up, for Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth, nor was there any man to till the soil. Instead, water flowed out of the ground and watered all the surface of the soil. Yahweh God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being. Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. Then Yahweh God gave the man this command, 'You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
As if to reinforce the original link between human beings, creation and God, Genesis gives us a second account of Creation. The sacred author does not try to propose a scientific truth concerning the origins of the world or of the human species, but rather seeks to affirm the fact that life is holy because it is a work of God and belongs to Him. Every human being is called to honour, respect, defend life and make it bear fruits. Certainly, we are not called to live it only for ourselves that would mean bury it underground. Surely, only God is the Lord of human life, but He gave it to human beings so that they bear fruits for all. This page of Scripture seems to put God's concern for humanity at the centre of the creation story: he moulds him from the soil, blows life into him and puts him in the garden. Life comes from God, as the "breath" that he blows into him indicates. Then God entrusts man with cultivating the garden and keeping it in all of its beauty. How precious and foreseeing is the double task the Lord entrust to human beings! Human beings need first of all to "cultivate" creation. The word in Hebrew means "to serve" and also "to work." Human beings are called to be in service to the garden that is the Earth, the universe in which God has put them. Human beings need to take care of it and cultivate it so that it produces fruit and benefits the entire human family. They must be "stewards" of the Earth: we are not absolute masters of creation, and we cannot bend it to our wishes. We are its lords to exalt it. Our first task is not to dominate or own but indeed to "take care" so that it may be a house for all. The Garden is also associated with he Promised Land that God will give as a gift to his people. Only if Israel "serves and stewards" the land will it continue to express the gift from God, otherwise Israel risks losing it as it did at the time of the Babylonian exile. Indeed, a tree lives in a garden; on one hand it marks a limit that humans should not cross, and on the other hand, it offers the possibility of friendship with God. This is why it represents the most dangerous temptation that pushes people to become like God and to be master of themselves and of others.
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
