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
Isaiah 4,2-6
That day, Yahweh's seedling will turn to beauty and glory, what the earth brings forth will turn to the pride and ornament of Israel's survivors. Those who are left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem will be called holy, all those in Jerusalem noted down to live. When the Lord has washed away the filth of Zion's daughters and with the wind of judgement and the wind of burning cleansed Jerusalem of the blood shed in her, Yahweh will create, over every house on Mount Zion and over those who assemble there, a cloud by day, and by night smoke with the brightness of a flaring fire. For over all will be the Glory as canopy and tent to give shade by day from the heat, refuge and shelter from the storm and the rain.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We are in front of words of hope for a defeated people and a city destroyed by war and destruction. The future was dark for Israel. The prophet opens to the vision of a new future and he indicates it with the image of a new "branch:" the Lord will make it sprout. It is a new people who follows the Lord, obeys his Law and therefore will inhabit the whole of Jerusalem in peace. They will be the little remnant, the small group of survivors, who are "holy" because they obey the Lord and therefore also blessed. Holy indeed are those who welcome God's love; those who live in communion with God, obey his commands, and walk in his light. When times are difficult, when the violence of evil and war destroy people and things, God is not far off, even if he seems elusive to see and impossible to catch. The Lord has made a commitment to be faithful and to sustain his "little remnant." Not only will God not abandon them, God will accompany and protect them. And that branch - the prophet says - will grow in "pride and glory," not as the world understands pride and glory, but as a tree that produces good fruit of good for all. This is why we believers of the last hour need to invoke the Lord to be near to us, so that evil may not conquer, and so that all people may hope for a new future of peace and fraternity. Prayer is at the root of peace. It makes peace "blossom" even in a dry and devastated land. This is the proclamation of the prophet, a man who never stops believing in the love of God, which defeats evil and saves his people.
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!
