IMÁDSÁG NAPRÓL NAPRA

Memory of the Church
Isten igéje minden nap
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church
Thursday, May 23


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

Acts 15,7-21

and after a long discussion, Peter stood up and addressed them. 'My brothers,' he said, 'you know perfectly well that in the early days God made his choice among you: the gentiles were to learn the good news from me and so become believers. And God, who can read everyone's heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith. Why do you put God to the test now by imposing on the disciples the very burden that neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were strong enough to support? But we believe that we are saved in the same way as they are: through the grace of the Lord Jesus.' The entire assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing all the signs and wonders God had worked through them among the gentiles. When they had finished it was James who spoke. 'My brothers,' he said, 'listen to me. Simeon has described how God first arranged to enlist a people for his name out of the gentiles. This is entirely in harmony with the words of the prophets, since the scriptures say: After that I shall return and rebuild the fallen hut of David; I shall make good the gaps in it and restore it. Then the rest of humanity, and of all the nations once called mine, will look for the Lord, says the Lord who made this known so long ago. 'My verdict is, then, that instead of making things more difficult for gentiles who turn to God, we should send them a letter telling them merely to abstain from anything polluted by idols, from illicit marriages, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has always had his preachers in every town and is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The apostles and priests gathered together in an assembly in Jerusalem. The book of Acts reports that the debate was lively. Finally Peter spoke and referred to the story of Cornelius. He told them how the Holy Spirit had descended on the Roman centurion and his family, "In cleansing their hearts by faith [God] has made no distinction between them and us." Building on his own experience, Peter supported the position held by Paul and Barnabas: grace alone, not ritual practice, brings salvation. Everyone then waited for Paul and Barnabas to tell them about the precious fruits born from their mission among the Gentiles. The miracles that took place thanks to the proclamation of the Word of God among the Gentiles were a clear sign of the strength of the Gospel and pointed out the way for the Church to follow. That is what happened at the beginning of the Christian experience, and that is what still must happen today. Indeed, the Gospel needs to be proclaimed and grow in people's hearts, in order to gather together those who have been scattered and form the one family of God, which witnesses to a love that knows no borders. It is not enough to proclaim abstract truths or stop and preserving what already exist, closing ourselves in within our walls. We must go out, as Pope Francis repeats, and preach the Gospel everywhere in the world, so that it can reach the hearts of those who listen to it, bringing them into God's family. At the end of the assembly, James spoke, and referring to Peter's words, defended the legitimacy of Paul's opinion. He said that it is faith in the Gospel that saves, not the Law; it is passionate love that makes the Church grow, not cold and programmatic ritual. The Church is not a people gathered by rules or particular programs, it is a people gathered by God to whom the Gospel of love has been entrusted, so that it might be preached to the ends of the earth.

ISTEN SZAVA MINDEN NAP: A NAPTÁR

March
24
Vasárnap
March
25
Hétfő
March
28
Csütörtök
March
29
Péntek
March
30
Szombat
March
31
Vasárnap

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!

ISTEN SZAVA MINDEN NAP: A NAPTÁR

March
24
Vasárnap
March
25
Hétfő
March
28
Csütörtök
March
29
Péntek
March
30
Szombat
March
31
Vasárnap