EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord


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

Mark 7, 1-13

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round him,

and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, keep the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow;

and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them to keep, concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes.

So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, 'Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?'

He answered, 'How rightly Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites in the passage of scripture: This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.

Their reverence of me is worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments.

You put aside the commandment of God to observe human traditions.'

And he said to them, 'How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition!

For Moses said: Honour your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death.

But you say, "If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Korban (that is, dedicated to God),"

then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.

In this way you make God's word ineffective for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The long Gospel passage reports a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees about some prescriptions regarding purification. Jesus’ disciples felt "free" from these ritual norms that interestingly, were not drawn from the Scriptures but rather, were added by the "tradition of the elders." The disposition to wash hands in order that they not be defiled was initially limited to the priests. Not only did it have a hygienic value but also a meaning of legal purity. A rabbinic disposition extended it to the entire people. Jesus’ answer moves the issue. The Lord quotes Isaiah: "This people honours me with their lips, in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines." Jesus goes to the heart of the problem: the pharisaic legalism prescribes so many rules that in the end it annuls the essence of God’s commandments. This is the case of the korban. The Decalogue obliges children to support their parents when necessary. But according to a rabbinic tradition by pronouncing an oath over one’s possessions (korban in Aramaic mean "scared offer") they became consecrated to God and thus unfit to be used to help parents. It was a cunning way to circumvent the commandment that obliges children to "honour" the father and mother. How much this should make us reflect over the many children who abandon their parents to a cruel and harsh destiny! Then Jesus adds: "And you do many things like this." Jesus wants to call the Pharisees and his listeners to the centrality of God’s law that is love. Every human tradition that prevents love of God and love for our neighbour is a betrayal of the Law. It is a great lesson that has its value still today, even for Christians. Often indeed there are people who are satisfied with observing some rituals, even religious ones but they do not follow the principles that emanate from the Gospel and from the law of love. The Lord cares about the hearts of men and women and not about rituals. Rituals will pass, only love will remain.

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