Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Nehemiah 1,1-11
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,
that Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with some men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews -- those who had escaped and those who survived from the captivity -- and about Jerusalem.
They replied, 'The survivors remaining there in the province since the captivity are in a very bad and demoralised condition: the walls of Jerusalem are in ruins and its gates have been burnt down.'
On hearing this I sat down and wept; for some days I mourned, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
I said, 'Yahweh, God of heaven -- the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps a covenant of faithful love with those who love him and obey his commandments-
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to listen to your servant's prayer, which I now offer to you day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I admit the sins of the Israelites, which we have committed against you. Both I and my father's House have sinned;
we have acted very wickedly towards you by not keeping the commandments, laws and rulings which you enjoined on your servant Moses.
Remember, I beg you, the promise which you solemnly made to your servant Moses, "If you are unfaithful, I shall scatter you among the peoples;
but if you come back to me and keep my commandments and practise them, even though those who have been banished are at the very sky's end, I shall gather them from there and bring them back to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling-place for my name."
Since they are your servants, your people, whom you have redeemed with your mighty power and strong hand,
O Lord, let your ear now be attentive to your servant's prayer and to the prayer of your servants who want to revere your name. I beg you let your servant be successful today and win this man's compassion.' At the time I was cupbearer to the king.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
A new figure comes into play, with a defining role for Jerusalem’s postexilic condition and for the reconstitution of the identity of the people who had been dispersed when the holy city was destroyed. If Ezra’s work had focused on the rebuilding of the temple and defining who belonged to the community of returnees - we find here in this context the issue of mixed marriages (cf. Ezra 9) - Nehemiah’s task, on the other hand, seems to have a more political character, concentrating on the security of the city and the rebuilding of its walls and its repopulation, together with a certain organization of the life of the citizens (chapters 7, 10, 11, 13). Altogether, Nehemiah’s mission is motivated by a deep religious consciousness rooted in the memory of the covenant and fidelity of God to his people, as is well expressed by the prayer in this first chapter. Fasting and prayer show consciousness of one’s own need, without which one remains a prisoner of the idea of being completely self-sufficient, which impedes the encounter with the Lord and with others. At the same time, while Nehemiah turns to God and acknowledges his greatness ("O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God"), his prayer becomes a petition for pardon of his and the people’s infidelity, which had resulted in the dispersion of the people, "We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses." But the Lord does not abandon his people; he is quick to forgive the ones who acknowledge their sin, and to restore them to friendship with him. In fact, he will do much more for them: "If you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name." The Lord hears prayer made with faith; he is not insensitive to the cry of the one in need. This is the experience we too can have every day, when in life’s difficulties we do not close in on ourselves, but rather open ourselves to hearing God’s word in order to receive his forgiveness and taste his friendship.
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
