EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, March 14


Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Matthew 5, 20-26

'For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven.

'You have heard how it was said to our ancestors, You shall not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court.

But I say this to you, anyone who is angry with a brother will answer for it before the court; anyone who calls a brother "Fool" will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and anyone who calls him "Traitor" will answer for it in hell fire.

So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering.

Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.

In truth I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The passage from the Gospel of Matthew that we have heard is part of the great Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just said that he did not come to abolish but to fulfil the law. This means that he is not alien to the law; rather he captures in it the profound thought of God, His very heart. Justice is not an exterior egalitarianism, which is impossible, but the implementation of the unlimited love of God. With a severe rebuke Jesus adds, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus means that being as good as the Pharisees is like being not good at all. He explains it with words that no one had dared to use before, and no one has heard if not from the Gospel. He starts recalling the fifth commandment: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement.” Jesus is not proposing new records (adding two more cases – when you say ‘Raqa’ and ‘fool’ to your brother), or a new juridical praxis, he rather proposes a new way of understanding human relationships. He goes straight to the heart of hatred, which leads to eliminate the opponent. Hatred begins in little things, like anger that characterizes our co-existence, and in words that seem to be harmless, as it is when you say Raqa or fool to another one. Jesus affirms that only love is the fulfilment of the law and that only love can lead beyond enmity. Therefore we need to pass from a negative precept (you shall not murder, not say fool, not be angry), to the positivity of friendship. Love is the new power Jesus has donated to human beings. He says that exercising love has such a high value that it requires, when missing, even the interruption of the supreme act of worship. “Mercy” is more valuable than “sacrifice”; worship, intended as a relationship with God, cannot be divided from a relationship of love with people. Love should chair our actions. Therefore, Jesus’ advice is to settle with your opponent instead of going to court. It is not just the fact of avoiding prison; it is rather a brotherly style which overcomes pure legal compliance.

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