Memory of the deportation of the Jews of Rome during the Second World War. Read more
Memory of the deportation of the Jews of Rome during the Second World War.
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
1 Maccabees 3, 46-60
After mustering, they made their way to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, since Mizpah was traditionally a place of prayer for Israel.
That day they fasted and put on sackcloth, covering their heads with ashes and tearing their garments.
For the guidance that the gentiles would have sought from the images of their false gods, they opened the Book of the Law.
They also brought out the priestly vestments, with first-fruits and tithes, and marshalled the Nazirites who had completed the period of their vow.
Then, raising their voices to Heaven, they cried, 'What shall we do with these people, and where are we to take them?
Your holy place has been trampled underfoot and defiled, your priests mourn in their humiliation,
and now the gentiles are in alliance to destroy us: you know what they have in mind for us.
How can we stand up and face them if you do not come to our aid?'
Then they sounded the trumpets and raised a great shout.
Next, Judas appointed leaders for the people, to command a thousand, a hundred, fifty or ten men.
Those who were in the middle of building a house, or were about to be married, or were planting a vineyard, or were afraid, he told to go home again, as the Law allowed.
The column then marched off and took up a position south of Emmaus.
'Stand to your arms,' Judas told them, 'acquit yourselves bravely, in the morning be ready to fight these gentiles massed against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.
Better for us to die in battle than to watch the ruin of our nation and our Holy Place.
Whatever be the will of Heaven, he will perform it.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The assembly of the people was not held in Jerusalem, now occupied by the Gentiles, but in Mizpah, a town 13 kilometres from the capital. Mizpah had been fortified in the past by Asa king of Judah, to defend it against the attacks of the Northern Kingdom (1 Kings 15:22) and it also became the seat of the governor Gedaliah, after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25.22 to 25). The notation of the presence of an altar seems to justify the choice of the location for a meeting of clearly religious nature. In fact, the sacred author writes, “They fasted that day, put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their clothes” (v. 47). The entirety of the dispossessed people was to stand before God in their poverty and in their absolute need of help from on High. And they set to listen to the Scriptures through which the Lord speaks: “They opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles consulted the images of their gods” (v. 48). The author suggests that the Jews turn to the holy book to obtain the hope of a heavenly blessing. It is the only passage in the Bible which speaks of a consultation by opening random pages of Scripture; the custom will become more frequent in Christianity. The Jews then, knowing that they could not live away from the temple, tried to imitate the rites carrying priestly vestments, first fruits and tithes to offer, as well as inviting some Nazirites (i.e. faithful who abstained from alcoholic beverages and haircuts) so that they break their votes as they would do in the temple. Then they played the trumpets and the common prayer of the whole people rose to heaven. They knew that God could not but listen to his people that turned to Him in faith and with one voice. Jesus also emphasizes the irresistible force of prayer before the Father who is in Heaven, “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:19-20). After the common prayer, Judas got busy with the impending battle. And his first care was to establish an order among his army appointing men in charge of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, as we read in Exodus (18:21-26). And then he chose the soldiers according to the provisions laid down in Deuteronomy (20:5-8). With the army then he moved to Emmaus. After camping, he urged the soldiers to feel as “powerful sons,” so to emphasize that only the awareness of being “children” of the Lord made them “powerful” in front of the enemy’s strength. And then he asked them to be ready to give their life for the salvation of the people: “It is better for us to die in battle, than to see the destruction of our nation and of the sanctuary. But as his will in heaven may, so shall he do.” These are words that recall us of that night in Gethsemane when Jesus accepted to do his Father’s will, which is to give his life for everyone.
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
