EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified


Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Ecclesiastes 3,16-22

Again I observe under the sun: crime is where justice should be, the criminal is where the upright should be.

And I think to myself: the upright and the criminal will both be judged by God, since there is a time for every thing and every action here.

I think to myself: where human beings are concerned, this is so that God can test them and show them that they are animals.

For the fate of human and the fate of animal is the same: as the one dies, so the other dies; both have the selfsame breath. Human is in no way better off than animal -- since all is futile.

Everything goes to the same place, everything comes from the dust, everything returns to the dust.

Who knows if the human spirit mounts upward or if the animal spirit goes downward to the earth?

I see there is no contentment for a human being except happiness in achievement; such is the lot of a human beings. No one can tell us what will happen after we are gone.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Qohelet’s reflection turns toward human society. The experience of injustice, of abuse, of oppression is in front of everyone’s eyes. The author writes: "I saw under the sun," that is, it is more than apparent that where right should govern, there is iniquity, and where justice should be applied, wickedness instead rules. Job also will denounce the perversion of right, accusing God himself: "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges - if it is not he, who then is it?" (9:24). The prophets too will cry out against corruption which came down violently especially against the weak and the poor. Qohelet in any case affirms that God will come to judge with justice: he will punish the wicked and return their rights to the innocent. The ruin is dramatic enough to compare human behaviour to that of animals: desire and egocentric instincts thrust men to commit crimes against the weak and to devour one another: "they are but animals" (v. 18). But Qohelet reminds us that everyone, people and animals, all encounter the same "fate:" death. Both are "hebel," marked by a radical weakness. Qohelet makes a play on the Hebrew words "ruah" (breath of life) and "hebel" (breath of wind): people and animals have life but are as equally ephemeral as a blowing of the wind. And death gathers them in the same "place," "Sheol." All comes from dust, and to dust it returns (v. 20). And Qohelet coldly undermines the conviction that the human spirit goes up, asking, "Who knows?" (v.21). The question remains: what to do if, in light of the injustice reigning in the world, there is indeed the certainty of God’s salvation, but not that of life after death? "God’s justice" moreover is not always visible in this world, at times the sudden death of the just even seems to contradict it. So human beings have nothing left but to enjoy his works, the "portion" God assigned them. Qohelet believes anyway that "God will judge the righteous and the wicked" (v. 17); this is what faith knows. While experience demonstrates that the human being is mortal like the animals, on the other hand, he cannot bypass a question which leaves open the possibility of fulfilment. The "only good" possible for humanity is to enjoy what one does, well aware that beyond the fleeting second, we know nothing (22).

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