Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Wisdom 18,14-16; 19,6-9
When peaceful silence lay over all, and night had run the half of her swift course, down from the heavens, from the royal throne, leapt your all-powerful Word like a pitiless warrior into the heart of a land doomed to destruction. Carrying your unambiguous command like a sharp sword, it stood, and filled the universe with death; though standing on the earth, it touched the sky. For the whole creation, submissive to your commands, had its very nature re-created, so that your children should be preserved from harm. Overshadowing the camp there was the cloud; where there had been water, dry land was seen to rise; the Red Sea became an unimpeded way, the tempestuous waves, a green plain; sheltered by your hand, the whole nation passed across, gazing at these amazing prodigies. They were like horses at pasture, they skipped like lambs, singing your praises, Lord, their deliverer.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The author celebrates the miracles that God performed for his people to free them from slavery in Egypt. At the end of the book the author returns to the final act of the exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the sea, even if other aspects of the long journey toward the Promised Land-like the manna in the desert (v. 11)-are woven in. The author describes the event as a complete turning over of creation that in this dramatic change manifests God's power to save his people. Nothing is impossible for God. The elements change before him who is the Lord of the universe. The words of Wisdom insist that we entrust our life to the Lord because he will help us to find the wisdom that will allow us to know the way of good and to rejoice in God's presence among us. Facing the profound changes that have made the life of our world even more complex and uncertain, Wisdom underlines that God's presence is the source of hope. God will not allow his children to remain crushed under the forces of evil, that at times seem to prevail, nor will he allow those who live in justice and love to be defeated. The crossing of the sea is the fulfilment of Easter: it is the passage into the baptismal waters that gives birth to a new creation inside of us.
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!
