EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, January 16


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

Romans 6, 15-23

What is the implication? That we are free to sin, now that we are not under law but under grace? Out of the question!

You know well that if you undertake to be somebody's slave and obey him, you are the slave of him you obey: you can be the slave either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to saving justice.

Once you were slaves of sin, but thank God you have given whole-hearted obedience to the pattern of teaching to which you were introduced;

and so, being freed from serving sin, you took uprightness as your master.

I am putting it in human terms because you are still weak human beings: as once you surrendered yourselves as servants to immorality and to a lawlessness which results in more lawlessness, now you have to surrender yourselves to uprightness which is to result in sanctification.

When you were the servants of sin, you felt no obligation to uprightness,

and what did you gain from living like that? Experiences of which you are now ashamed, for that sort of behaviour ends in death.

But, now you are set free from sin and bound to the service of God, your gain will be sanctification and the end will be eternal life.

For the wage paid by sin is death; the gift freely given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The apostle fruitfully compares two liberties: one that comes from an existence that puts the self at the centre and another that instead follows the Lord. Liberty without God and without brothers and sisters only brings bitter and disordered fruits, because it makes us slaves of our traditions and pride and subjects us to the domination of sin and evil. Indeed, salvation does not come from us or our deeds. On the contrary, the liberty that is born from the Gospel prepares us to serve God and our brothers and sisters. It is born when we accept the love that God pours out in our hearts, which has the power to save and justify. In fact, it makes our lives more joyous. At the end of his speech to the elders of Ephesus, Paul himself retells a saying of Jesus’, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Without any fear of exaggeration, the apostle can say that we are “slaves” of God and of his righteousness. But it is a beneficial slavery that brings forth fruits of peace, fullness, and eternal life for us and for the world. This is why Paul daringly says, “Having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Sin leaves no room for divine mercy, but when we accept the righteousness that saves, there is plenty of room for holiness. The one who has chosen the life of the risen Lord is never ashamed.

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