EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Revelation 2,12-17

'Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum and say, "Here is the message of the one who has the sharp sword, double-edged:

I know where you live, in the place where Satan is enthroned, and that you still hold firmly to my name, and did not disown your faith in me even when my faithful witness, Antipas, was killed among you, where Satan lives.

"Nevertheless, I have one or two charges against you: some of you are followers of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the Israelites so that they committed adultery by eating food that had been sacrificed to idols;

and among you too there are some also who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

So repent, or I shall soon come to you and attack these people with the sword out of my mouth.

Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: to those who prove victorious I will give some hidden manna and a white stone, with a new name written on it, known only to the person who receives it."

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The third letter is to the Church of Pergamum, located about one hundred kilometres (sixty miles) from Smyrna. The city was known for its famous library. But there were also many temples there dedicated to the different Greek gods, including a sanctuary of Asclepius, the god of the sick, and a temple used in the cult of the emperor Augustus (the apostle says that the city is "where Satan’s throne is"). But despite the presence of these idols, the Christian community of Pergamum had not renounced the faith; indeed it had given courageous witness of its faithfulness to Jesus. The truth is that believers often instead give in and compromise with the many idols that the world proposes. This is not what Antipas, the bishop of the city, did. According to later accounts of his martyrdom, the bishop of Pergamum was burned alive in a glowing bronze bull under the rule of Domitian. In truth, the Nicolaitan doctrine, already alluded to in the letter to Church of Ephesus (2:6), had insinuated itself into the community. This religious degeneration is compared to the "teaching of Balaam," the magician called on by the king of Moab, Balak, to curse the Hebrews as they marched over his territory towards the promised land (Num 22-24). Balaam became a source of temptation for the Israelites (Num 31:15-16), pushing them towards idolatrous practices and polluting the purity of their faith with pagan rituals. Jesus calls the community of Pergamum back to the purity of evangelic faith. And he adds that those who preserve the radical nature of faith - those who do not bend and compromise with the world - will receive the "hidden manna" from heaven, that is, holy nourishment will accompany along the path of life, and they will receive a "white stone" on which a new name is written. It is the new vocation that the Gospel gives to each disciple. This is what happened to Simon when, after his confession of faith in Caesarea Philippi, he heard the Lord say to him: "You are Peter." On that day Simon received the vocation of being a "rock" for his brothers and sisters.

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