Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Judith 5,1-4
Holofernes, general-in-chief of the Assyrian army, received the intelligence that the Israelites were preparing for war, that they had closed the mountain passes, fortified all the high peaks and laid obstructions in the plains.
Holofernes was furious. He summoned all the princes of Moab, all the generals of Ammon and all the satraps of the coastal regions.
'Men of Canaan,' he said, 'tell me: what people is this that occupies the hill-country? What towns does it inhabit? How large is its army? What are the sources of its power and strength? Who is the king who rules it and commands its army?
Why have they disdained to wait on me, as all the western peoples have?'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Holofernes, blinded by power, doesn’t understand the reasons which impel this small people to resist his army. The Jews prepare themselves to resist by placing defences upon the mountains, raising walls around all the villages and stockpiling provisions. The powerful general is seized with fury. Who is this people who dares to resist Nebuchadnezzar’s might? The other nations refused to fight and surrendered to the enemy: "Behold, we are your servants, come and treat us as you wish" (3:4). Though he has destroyed their temples, Holofernes has not been cruel to them or threatened their lives. Rather, he has made them his auxiliaries. At first they were enemies, now they become Nebuchadnezzar’s allies and wage war against those who dare resist his power. But this is what happens to everyone who allows themselves to be entrapped by evil: they become foolish accomplices and servants of it. In effect, those peoples became allies of the evil one in order to do evil to others also. It is not possible to remain neutral before evil. If we do not resist its pressure we will be dominated by evil and become its instrument. Those who resist evil, on the other hand, provoke a furious reaction because this escapes all worldly logic. Holofernes, and with him all evildoers, do not understand; they do not get it. But their self-assuredness will lead them to defeat. On the other hand, the trust of those who are weak in the Lord is the guarantee of their defence. The power of evil can cause dismay, but it cannot touch one’s faith in God. The one who believes knows that God is stronger than all. Faith, that is, an intimate and deep bond with God, is the true defence of the believer: even in the storm it yields not. The evil one, before the believer’s faith, is dismayed, precisely like Holofernes, who marvelled at Judah’s resistance. He asks himself: "What people is this that lives in the hill country?" (5:3). He cannot understand. The world cannot understand God, it cannot know his power. Only in faith can one discover the living God. And faith belongs only to those who live a direct, immediate relationship with God. Holofernes, blinded by his power, thinks that the God of Judah is not different than the other gods who have not been able to defend the nations that he had subjected to Nebuchadnezzar. He does not even consider taking their God into account. This is the beginning of his defeat.
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
