Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Ecclesiastes 7,1-10
Better a good name than costly oil, the day of death than the day of birth.
Better go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting; for to this end everyone comes, let the living take this to heart.
Better sadness than laughter: a joyful heart may be concealed behind sad looks.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, the heart of fools in the house of gaiety.
Better attend to the reprimand of the wise than listen to a song sung by a fool.
For like the crackling of thorns under the cauldron is the laughter of fools: and that too is futile.
But being oppressed drives a sage mad, and a present corrupts the heart.
Better the end of a matter than its beginning, better patience than ambition.
Do not be too easily exasperated, for exasperation dwells in the heart of fools.
Do not ask why the past was better than the present, for this is not a question prompted by wisdom.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Qohelet, in the previous chapter, vehemently criticized speaking "more words" (6:11) which only increase the "breath of wind" (hebel), waywardness and uncertainty. Perhaps he was referring to the prevailing conviction that good actions produce happiness and bad ones misfortune or, in the religious version, God punishes the wicked and rewards the honest. Qohelet questions this wisdom that expressed itself through various popular proverbs. The first regards good reputation: "A good name is better than precious ointment" (v. 1). No riches can equal a good reputation. In this sense, the day of one’s death is better than that of one’s birth, because a "good name" cannot be inherited, it is earned. The second proverb (v. 2) maintains that it is better to go to a house struck by pain that to one where there’s a party. It is to say that one learns more from sorrow than from success. The third proverb (v. 3) affirms that it is better to suffer than to laugh. Only a suffering face has a good heart because sorrow teaches wisdom. The fourth proverb says that it is better to listen to the reproach of the wise than to the song of the foolish (v. 4). The wise understand that the world is headed toward death and can thus know the truth about life, while the foolish are superficial. According to the fifth proverb (v. 5) we are all foolish, in other words, deluded optimists more apt for the reproach of the wise than to the praise of the foolish. In truth, all this is "vanity" (v. 6). These proverbs are not expressions of true wisdom, because they arise not from one who has "heart," that is, a mind free and serene. They speak under the pressure of painful events; pain distorts one’s reasoning capacity: "Surely oppression makes the wise foolish and a bribe corrupts the heart" (v. 7). The one who has given up and hopes no more that things can change comes to say: "Better is the end of a thing than its beginning" (v. 8a). Qohelet objects to this with a traditional proverb: "The duration of the breath is better than its height" (v. 8b). The "short breath" is a sign of impatience, agitation and anguish. The "high" breath, on the other hand, indicates arrogance, which is a form of desperation regarding the present and future. Qohelet prefers the "deep breath" which does not fixate obsessively on the undesirable present but is capable of humble waiting and patience. It is therefore not wise to lament and be sorrowful continuously about how the world is going, because "anger lodges in the bosom of fools" (v. 9b). Fools weep continuously on the evil fate of the world, they see nothing but bad and wicked things, and they wish all would end quickly, since "Better is the end of a thing than its beginning" (v. 8a). Qohelet questions those who are nostalgic of the past. These, always ready to blame the present, take refuge in lamenting the passing of a golden age. It is not wise to ask oneself if times past were better than the present, perhaps taking refuge in a future not yet present. The wise know how to seize the today of their own existence.
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
