Memory of the prophet Elijah who was taken into heaven and left his mantle to Elisha. Read more
Memory of the prophet Elijah who was taken into heaven and left his mantle to Elisha.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah 8, 1-13
'When that time comes, Yahweh declares, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its chief men, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will be taken from their tombs.
They will be spread out before the sun, the moon, the whole array of heaven, whom they have loved and served, followed, consulted and worshipped. They will not be gathered or reburied but will be left lying on the surface like dung.
And death will seem preferable to life to all the survivors of this wicked race, wherever I have driven them, Yahweh Sabaoth declares.
'You are to tell them, "Yahweh says this: If someone falls, can he not stand up again? If people stray, can they not turn back?
Why does this people persist in acts of infidelity, why does Jerusalem persist in continuous infidelity? They cling to illusion, they refuse to turn back.
I have listened attentively: they have never said anything like that. Not one repents of wickedness saying: What have I done? Each one keeps returning to the course like a horse charging into battle.
Even the stork in the sky knows the appropriate season; turtledove, swallow and crane observe their time of migration. But my people do not know Yahweh's laws!" '
How can you say, 'We are wise, since we have Yahweh's Law?' Look how it has been falsified by the lying pen of the scribes!
The wise are put to shame, alarmed, caught out because they have rejected Yahweh's word. What price their wisdom now?
So I shall give their wives to other men, their fields to new masters, for, from the least to greatest, they are all greedy for gain; prophet no less than priest, all of them practise fraud.
Without concern they dress the wound of the daughter of my people, saying, 'Peace! Peace!' whereas there is no peace.
They should be ashamed of their loathsome deeds. Not they! They feel no shame, they do not even know how to blush. And so as others fall, they too will fall, will be thrown down when the time for punishing them comes, Yahweh says.
I shall put an end to them, Yahweh declares, no more grapes on the vine, no more figs on the fig tree only withered leaves: I have found them people to trample on them!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Even after death, there is no peace for those who let themselves be caught up in idolatry. This is the most dishonourable fate that can be imagined; this is the farthest thing from the love for life and from a dignified burial after death. Why are the prophet’s words so harsh? These are not threats or punishments inflicted by God. They are the description of the consequences of people’s choices, lives spent chasing the vanity of idols. The result can only be an ignominious end. However, it is possible to reverse this destiny of death. The Lord always gives people the chance to turn back to him, as we read, “When people fall, do they not get up again? If they go astray, do they not turn back? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding?” Yes, those who make mistakes can always turn back. But they must think about what they have done, not continue acting as if they are sure that what they are doing is right. The word of God helps us to reflect on ourselves and corrects us. These words are also true for us, “no one repents of wickedness, saying, What have I done!’ All of them turn to their own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.” We are dominated by habit and instinct. We do not stop to think and so nothing inside or outside of us changes. The wisdom we need to live well comes from faithfully and continuously listening to the word of the Lord. Without this wisdom we remain prisoners of a narrow-minded vision of reality. Once again (see 6:14), Jeremiah repeats the warning: “They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, Peace, peace’, when there is no peace.” How true these words are today! People talk about peace, we try to find peace for ourselves, and we avoid looking at the injustice and violence of society in order to live in tranquillity. We cannot find peace by hiding from the pain of the world and the poor. Instead of being ashamed of the evil that is in us all, we accept everything and justify everything, including evil. We act as if it were normal to do whatever in order to save ourselves and make ourselves safe. The prophet invites us not to be afraid of recognizing the evil that is in 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!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
