EVERYDAY PRAYER

Sunday Vigil
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday Vigil
Saturday, February 1


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

2 Samuel 12,1-7.10-17

Yahweh sent the prophet Nathan to David. He came to him and said: In the same town were two men, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance; the poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb, only a single little one which he had bought. He fostered it and it grew up with him and his children, eating his bread, drinking from his cup, sleeping in his arms; it was like a daughter to him. When a traveller came to stay, the rich man would not take anything from his own flock or herd to provide for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead, he stole the poor man's lamb and prepared that for his guest. David flew into a great rage with the man. 'As Yahweh lives,' he said to Nathan 'the man who did this deserves to die. For doing such a thing and for having shown no pity, he shall make fourfold restitution for the lamb.' Nathan then said to David, 'You are the man! Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, "I anointed you king of Israel, I saved you from Saul's clutches, For this, your household will never be free of the sword, since you showed contempt for me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to make her your wife." 'Yahweh says this, "Out of your own household I shall raise misfortune for you. Before your very eyes I shall take your wives and give them to your neighbour, who will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You have worked in secret, but I shall work this for all Israel to see, in broad daylight." ' David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against Yahweh.' Nathan then said to David, 'Yahweh, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. But, since you have outraged Yahweh by doing this, the child born to you will die.' And Nathan went home. Yahweh struck the child which Uriah's wife had borne to David and it fell gravely ill. David pleaded with Yahweh for the child; he kept a strict fast and went home and spent the night lying on the ground, covered with sacking. The officials of his household stood round him, intending to get him off the ground, but he refused, nor would he take food with them.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Lord sends Nathan to David to tell him to confess his sin and repent, a task entrusted to prophets and to the Word of God. Pride often blinds and prevents us from seeing the sin in which we have fallen. We need the Word of God to show us our sin and illuminate our heart on the path of conversion. Denouncing the sin is not enough. The Lord does not want the death of the sinner, but that he may live and convert. Nathan, wanting to make David understand the abyss into which he fell, tells the parable of a wealthy landowner who steals from the poor man the only sheep he had. David reacts strongly and declares immediately that anyone who commits such a crime ought to pay restitution according to the law (v. 5), perhaps four times (see Ex 21:3) or seven times (Prov 6:31), or even pay with his very life (v. 6). It is surprising that David does not recognize himself in the abusive figure. Pride prevents us from seeing. We need someone to explain the Word of God to us. Indeed David did not understand his sin until Nathan tells him clearly and directly: "You are the man!" (v. 7). Listening to the Word of God just once is not enough. We need to listen to it repeatedly and have it explained to us by a prophet. Nathan explains point by point to David the meaning of the parable: first, he enumerates the gifts God had given him (vv. 7-8), and then lets him know how instead he had "despised the word of the Lord" committing what was evil in God's eyes (v. 9). Nathan's words had their immediate medicinal effect. David does not try to justify himself. He welcomes the judgment of the Word of God, recognizes his sin and says, "I have sinned against the Lord" (v.13). In front of the prophet, David confesses his sin. And through Nathan, the Lord forgives David. John Chrysostom comments: "Consider that God is slow to punish and quick to save." The passage notes that "Nathan went to his house" (v. 15) and David was left alone before God. Israel's tradition puts Psalm 50, the best known of the seven penitential Psalms, on David's lips.

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