Memorial of Martin Luther King, killed in 1968 in Memphis in the United States. With him we remember all those who hunger and thirst for justice. Lees meer
Memorial of Martin Luther King, killed in 1968 in Memphis in the United States. With him we remember all those who hunger and thirst for justice.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Ezekiel 37,21-28
say, "The Lord Yahweh says this: I shall take the Israelites from the nations where they have gone. I shall gather them to- gether from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil. I shall make them into one nation in the country, on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their foul idols, their horrors and any of their crimes. I shall save them from the acts of infidelity which they have committed and shall cleanse them; they will be my people and I shall be their God. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my judgements, respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the country which I gave to my servant Jacob, the country in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they, their children, their children's children, for ever. David my servant is to be their prince for ever. I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God, and they will be my people. And the nations will know that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever." '
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
We are on the threshold of Holy Week and in the first reading the liturgy gives us in this passage in Ezekiel in which the prophet is trying to reawaken the dream of freedom in the people of Israel by announcing that freedom is near. Ezekiel, as we know, is undertaking his mission in Babylonia among the exiled Hebrews. And he decides to describe to the Israelites the vision that will happen in the future through the Lord. The prophet has just recounted the extraordinary vision of dry bones which through the Spirit are reconnected and revived again, as if to highlight that even in the most dramatic conditions the Lord can revive life. It is true that in distancing themselves from the Lord the people experience bitterness of deportation and exile. But once they have understood that without the Lord they remain among the smallest peoples on the earth and at the whim of powerful peoples, Israel feels they need to return to the Lord. And yet again, the Lord take the initiative and intervenes to free his people from slavery. He will send his servant David to be the one shepherd. "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes." Hearing these words during the vigil of Holy Week, we cannot but see in that one shepherd Jesus himself who tomorrow we will accompany while he enters the holy city. He is the shepherd who gathers the sheep and leads them to green pastures and establishes forever a new and everlasting covenant between the Father in heaven and the people of disciples who he gathered and will continue to gather along the centuries.
Het gebed is het hart van het leven van de Gemeenschap van Sant’Egidio. Het is haar eerste “werk”. Aan het einde van de dag komt elke Gemeenschap, of die nu klein of groot is, samen bij de Heer om het Woord te beluisteren en zich tot Hem te richten in het gebed. De leerlingen kunnen niet anders dan aan de voeten van Jezus zitten, zoals Maria van Bethanië, om het “betere deel” te kiezen (Lc 10, 42) en van Hem zijn gezindheid te leren (vgl. Fil 2, 5).
Elke keer dat de Gemeenschap zich tot de Heer richt, maakt ze zich die vraag eigen van de anonieme leerling: “Heer, leer ons bidden!” (Lc 11, 1). En Jezus, meester in het gebed, antwoordt: “Wanneer jullie bidden, zeg dan: Abba, Vader”.
Wanneer we bidden, ook in de geslotenheid van ons eigen hart, zijn we nooit alleen of verweesd. Integendeel, we zijn leden van de familie van de Heer. In het gemeenschappelijk gebed wordt naast het mysterie van het kindschap, ook dat van de broederschap en zusterschap duidelijk.
De Gemeenschappen van Sant’Egidio, verspreid over de wereld, verzamelen zich op de verschillende plaatsen die gekozen zijn voor het gebed en brengen de hoop en het verdriet van de “uitgeputte en hulpeloze mensenmenigte” waarover het Evangelie spreekt (Mt 9, 37) bij de Heer. Deze oude menigte omvat de inwoners van onze hedendaagse steden, de armen die zich bevinden in de marge van het leven, en iedereen die wacht om als dagloner te worden aangenomen (vgl. Mt 20).
Het gemeenschappelijk gebed verzamelt de schreeuw, de hoop, het verlangen naar vrede, genezing, zin en redding, die beleefd worden door de mannen en vrouwen van deze wereld. Het gebed is nooit leeg. Het stijgt onophoudelijk op naar de Heer opdat verdriet verandert in vreugde, wanhoop in blijheid, angst in hoop, eenzaamheid in gemeenschap. En het rijk Gods zal spoedig temidden van de mensen komen.
