Memorial of Lazarus from Bethany. Prayer for all the gravely ill and those who are about to die. Remembrance of those who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Többet
Memorial of Lazarus from Bethany. Prayer for all the gravely ill and those who are about to die. Remembrance of those who are affected by HIV/AIDS.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Genesis 49,2.8-10
Gather round, sons of Jacob, and listen; listen to Israel your father. Judah, your brothers will praise you: you grip your enemies by the neck, your father's sons will do you homage. Judah is a lion's whelp; You stand over your prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, a mighty lion: who dare rouse him? The sceptre shall not pass from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute be brought him and the peoples render him obedience.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The passage that the liturgy proposes to us as the first reading is only a small part of the "blessings of Jacob." In the Bible, a blessing expresses the continuity of a life marked by the loving presence of God, in whom the believer trusts. The Lord, the Blessed One, allows those who listen to him and trust in him to participate in his own life and love. Before he dies, Jacob-Israel blesses his children and, in his blessing, describes their condition. They will be the ancestors of tribes of Israel. This passage outlines the future of Judah, from whom the Messiah will come. The tribe of Judah is presented as the one who will be entrusted with government and royalty: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his." In the genealogy of Matthew we see the continuity of a story that is not the result of chance or destiny; it is marked and guided by God who, through men and women, makes possible the story of salvation that he guides with care and paternal love. This common story, of which we are part and has its roots in the story of the people of Israel is entrusted also in our poor hands. Consequently, we have a responsibility of which we need to be aware, while we get ready to welcome that Child who is born to lead it in person.
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!
