EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for the sick
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for the sick
Monday, January 13


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Mark 1, 14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying,

'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.'

As he was walking along by the Lake of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon's brother Andrew casting a net in the lake -- for they were fishermen.

And Jesus said to them, 'Come after me and I will make you into fishers of people.'

And at once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending the nets.

At once he called them and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This Monday opens the first of the thirty-four weeks called “ordinary time,” that is the liturgical time that does not have special memories of the Lord. From today through the ninth week, the liturgy will have us meditate on the Gospel according to Mark. We will continue with the Gospel according to Matthew until the twenty-first Sunday and then read the Gospel according to Luke until the thirty-fourth. The Gospel of Mark was the first to be written and, unlike to the other two synoptic Gospels, starts directly with Jesus’ public life. Yesterday in the liturgy, we celebrated Jesus’ Baptism. Today, the beginning of Jesus’ preaching is offered for our meditation. Mark notes that Jesus went to Galilee after John the Baptist’s arrest. The prophetical word that proclaimed a new era had been chained. It was precisely at this moment that Jesus decided to start walking along the roads of his land to proclaim the “good news” to all. It is the first time that the term “gospel,” i.e. “good news,” appears in the Bible. It is not an abstract word that is pronounced and then vanishes in the fog of human forgetfulness. The Gospel is Jesus himself. He is the good news to believe in and to communicate to men and women so that they entrust their lives to him. With words and deeds, Jesus shows that the kingdom of love has come among men and women. With him a new story of love and friendship begins in human history. This is the “good news” that people needed to hear - and that they still need to hear today. Those who listen to it and make it their own, change their lives. The story of Christian preaching takes its first steps here. It its first fruits can immediately be seen. While walking on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sees Simon and Andrew, two brothers who were fisherman, and immediately invites them to follow him: “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” The two men, even though they were busy mending their nets, welcomed Jesus’ invitation and followed him. This first scene represents the entire history of discipleship, from then until now. For indeed, the Lord passes through each generation - including ours - and calls men and women to follow him. He does not stop. Continuing to walk on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus meets two other brothers, James and John. And he calls them too. After listening to him, they left their nets and followed him. It is the beginning of a new fraternity that Jesus started and that still continues today, on the same path of listening and obedience.

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