Prayer for unity of Christians. Particular memory of the ancient Churches of the East (Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Syro-Malabar) and the Assyrian Church Baca lebih lanjut
Prayer for unity of Christians. Particular memory of the ancient Churches of the East (Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Syro-Malabar) and the Assyrian Church
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
Mark 3,1-6
Another time he went into the synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered. And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for something to charge him with. He said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and stand in the middle!' Then he said to them, 'Is it permitted on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?' But they said nothing. Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and began at once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It is Saturday, and Jesus, as his custom was, went to the synagogue for prayer. There, he met a man with a serious handicap to his arm. The apocryphal gospel according to the Hebrews, puts on the lips of the man the following prayer: "I was a mason, I earned my living by the labour of my hands; O Jesus, I pray you to heal me so that I do not have to beg shamefully for my bread.". As soon as Jesus saw this man wounded in the hand, he was moved. This always happened to him whenever he encountered the sick and the weak. The Pharisees, on the opposite, who were not at all interested in the man's impairment, sensed that something would happen. Jesus never remains still in front of the pain of the people. Jesus knew well he must fulfil the will of the Father and so he turned to the man and ordered him: "Stretch out your hand!" The man obeyed the word of Jesus and extended his hand. He was healed. Obedience to the Gospel always leads to healing; it makes us regain what we have lost because of sin or our frailty. After all, Jesus came so that every human being may be no longer a slave of evil, but may share in the new horizon of God that is the fullness of life. That man was healed and able to return to ordinary life. Healing does not occur so that people remain prisoners of themselves - the meaning of the "withered" hand is also a hand used only to help themselves - but healing this hand is done so that it may be at the service of others, for the common good of all. The hand is healed, in fact, "to give a hand" - as we say - to those in need. This is why Jesus did not violate the Sabbath, as the Pharisees accused him. With this healing, the true "Sabbath" (i.e., the day of God) enters into the life of men and women: creation reaches its fulfilment in that man. Whenever the mercy and salvation of God touch the lives of human beings, the "Sabbath" of God is fulfilled: the feast of love and fullness of life.
Doa merupakan jantung kehidupan Komunitas Sant'Egidio dan merupakan prioritas yang paling penting. Di penghujung hari, setiap Komunitas Sant'Egidio, besar maupun kecil, akan berkumpul di sekeliling Tuhan untuk mendengarkan sabda-Nya. Sesungguhnya Sabda Allah dan doa merupakan landasan seluruh kehidupan Komunitas. Para rasul tidak bisa tidak selain tetap di sekitar kaki Yesus, seperti yang dilakukan oleh Maria dari Bethani, untuk menerima kasih dan belajar cara-Nya (Fil. 2:5).
Sehingga setiap malam, ketika Komunitas kembali ke kaki Tuhan, Komunitas mengulangi kata-kata dari rasul tak bernama: "Tuhan ajarkanlah kami cara berdoa" Yesus, Sang Guru, terus menjawab: "Ketika kamu berdoa, katakanlah: Abba, Bapa". Hal itu bukanlah satu seruan sederhana. Dengan kata-kata ini, Yesus membiarkan para murid untuk berperan serta dalam hubungan mereka sendiri dengan Bapa. Oleh sebab itu, fakta bahwa sebagai anak-anak Bapa yang bertahta di surga, muncul sebelum kata-kata yang mungkin kita ucapkan. Jadi doa di atas segalanya merupakan cara untuk menjadi manusia. Ini untuk mengatakan bahwa kita anak-anak yang berpaling kepada Bapa dengan iman, dan yakin bahwa hal itu akan didengar.
Yesus mengajar kita memanggil Allah dengan sebutan "Bapa Kami" Tidak hanya "Bapa" atau "Bapaku" Para murid, meskipun mereka berdoa dengan cara mereka, tidak pernah terisolasi tidak juga menjadi yatim; mereka selalu menjadi anggota keluarga Tuhan.
Dalam doa bersama, di samping misteri anak Allah, ada juga misteri persaudaraan, seperti Bapa Gereja mengatakan: "Kamu tidak bisa memiliki Allah sebagai Bapa tanpa memiliki gereja sebagai ibu". Ketika berdoa bersama, Roh Kudus menyatukan para rasul di ruangan atas bersama dengan Maria, Bunda Allah, sehingga mereka dapat memusatkan pandangan mereka kepada wajah Tuhan dan belajar dari Dia rahasia hati-Nya.
Komunitas Sant'Egidio di seluruh dunia berkumpul bersama di berbagai tempat doa dan menghamparkan di hadapan Tuhan harapan dan penderitaan manusia yang lelah dan letih seperti yang di katakan oleh Injil (Mat. 9:37). Dalam kumpulan di masa lalu ini kita bisa melihat jumlah massa yang sangat besar di kota-kota modern ini, jutaan pengungsi yang terus melarikan diri dari negeri mereka, orang miskin yang terpinggirkan ke tepi kehidupan dan mereka yang menantikan seseorang yang akan merawat mereka. Berdoa bersama termasuk di dalamnya tangisan, seruan, permohonan, keinginan bagi damai, penyembuhan dan penebusan manusia di dunia ini. Doa tidak pernah sia-sia, doa terus menerus kepada Tuhan sehingga mengubah kecemasan menjadi harapan, air mata menjadi kegembiraan, putus asa menjadi kebahagiaan, dan kesepian menjadi persatuan. Semoga Kerajaan Allah hadir segera di antara manusia.
