EVERYDAY PRAYER

Sunday Vigil
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday Vigil
Saturday, January 12


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

1 John 5,14-21

Our fearlessness towards him consists in this, that if we ask anything in accordance with his will he hears us. And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him, we know that we already possess whatever we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray, and God will give life to this brother -- provided that it is not a deadly sin. There is sin that leads to death and I am not saying you must pray about that. Every kind of wickedness is sin, but not all sin leads to death. We are well aware that no one who is a child of God sins, because he who was born from God protects him, and the Evil One has no hold over him. We are well aware that we are from God, and the whole world is in the power of the Evil One. We are well aware also that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know the One who is true. We are in the One who is true as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and this is eternal life. Children, be on your guard against false gods.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

At the end of his letter John retraces the final words of his Gospel reassuring Christians with happy certainty that they are saved. Such firm faith is based on Jesus who grants every prayer, and as the apostle says, grants them before they are even offered to God. The context for all these words is always love. From love is born the call to correct those brothers who blot themselves in "sin which does not lead to death", that is, the sins that wound communal life. Prayer for sinners is part of this brotherly correction, so that they return to the Lord and to being in communion with everyone. More severe is the judgment of the apostle on those who break that communion in a mortal way--even if we cannot deduce from the Letter that these brothers who did that were abandoned. Besides, The Lord Jesus has invited the disciples to pray for their enemies too; and certainly, one must never stop praying for everyone, even our enemies. In every case the apostle calls on Christians to be aware of the opposition of the evil one against the children of God. However, we must not be afraid because the Lord takes care of us and "evil does not touch us." The only request that the apostle directs to Christians is that of not going away from the Lord and of not devoting one's life to other idols, but rather of guarding against them and directing oneself only to the Lord Jesus who has loved us to the point of giving his life for us and for the world. The letter's conclusion shows John's worry before the ease with which it is possible to follow worldly idols, which are camouflaged according to the times and customs. This is an old worry of the Bible, in which we see how Israel was requested to choose between God and the idols of nations. The letter concludes by proposing again the critical choice: between God and worldly idols. In a world of conformism, Christians are called to choose the Lord in a decisive way each day.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR