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 8, 14-21

The disciples had forgotten to take any bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

Then he gave them this warning, 'Keep your eyes open; look out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.'

And they said to one another, 'It is because we have no bread.'

And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, 'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not understand, still not realise? Are your minds closed?

Have you eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear? Or do you not remember?

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?' They answered, 'Twelve.'

'And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?' And they answered, 'Seven.'

Then he said to them, 'Do you still not realise?'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The evangelist is narrating one of the many crossings of the lake that Jesus made with his disciples. But this time - as if to focus our attention on Jesus, the true bread of life - he notes that the disciples had forgotten to bring enough bread for everyone: "They had only one loaf with them." And the evangelist seems to indicate that an argument broke out among them about who was guilty of forgetting. But Jesus interrupts and takes advantage of the situation to teach them something new. They think Jesus wants to weigh in on their internal arguments, as if Jesus were a sort of sedative for their silly disputes. The Teacher does not come down to their level: in fact, he called them not so that they would remain prisoners of their small horizons or their foolish arguments, but in order to involve them in his dream of changing the world, to show them a horizon of mercy for the tired and scattered crowds. And he rebukes them: "Why are you talking about having no bread?" The disciples probably looked at him at bit astonished and surprised, as if they themselves had gone mad, as often happens to us when we hear the extraordinary words of the Gospel. In truth, they had not yet understood: "Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?" Jesus directly connects the eyes, the ears, and the heart. But the heart is the source of both seeing and hearing. In fact, if our heart is hardened, we are unable to see or hear. We need an open heart, not one that is full of itself, poisoned by its pride and self-sufficiency until it cannot understand what is happening around the Gospel. In effect, the disciples had the "true" bread with them, yet they had not yet understood it. This was not just true symbolically; it was real. Indeed, Jesus reminds them of the miracle of the multiplication of the bread he had just performed. Jesus satisfies both body and heart. This is the meaning of the Eucharistic celebration, but it is also the meaning of our listening to the Gospel every day. We have to remember what Jesus said: "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

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