EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for peace
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for peace
Monday, June 15


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

2 Corinthians 6, 1-10

As his fellow-workers, we urge you not to let your acceptance of his grace come to nothing.

As he said, 'At the time of my favour I have answered you; on the day of salvation I have helped you'; well, now is the real time of favour, now the day of salvation is here.

We avoid putting obstacles in anyone's way, so that no blame may attach to our work of service;

but in everything we prove ourselves authentic servants of God; by resolute perseverance in times of hardships, difficulties and distress;

when we are flogged or sent to prison or mobbed; labouring, sleepless, starving;

in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness; in the Holy Spirit, in a love free of affectation;

in the word of truth and in the power of God; by using the weapons of uprightness for attack and for defence:

in times of honour or disgrace, blame or praise; taken for impostors and yet we are genuine;

unknown and yet we are acknowledged; dying, and yet here we are, alive; scourged but not executed;

in pain yet always full of joy; poor and yet making many people rich; having nothing, and yet owning everything.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Paul returns to talk about his apostolic ministry. He is not worried for himself and his reputation. What he cares about is that he is received by the Corinthians as one sent by the Lord. He adds: “We urge you not to accept the grace of God in vain” (v.1). And not to linger. The favourable moment is now. Moreover, the apostle has faced many difficulties in order not to fail his apostolic ministry. He lists them: beatings, imprisonment, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger. ...None of them has moved him away from the mission of preaching the Gospel. On the contrary, filled with feelings of purity, wisdom, patience, kindness, holiness, sincere love, he has not ceased to preach the Gospel and to serve the community. The word which the Lord had entrusted to him was his strength, his support. We could say that the disciples of Jesus, poor of external goods, have an inner wealth that, while they communicate it, sustains them; even more, it strengthens and broadens their heart. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “We have spoken frankly to you ... our heart is wide open to you”(v.11). But the width of the heart of the apostle is matched by the narrowness of that of the Corinthians: “There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours” (v.12). The narrowness of heart of the Corinthians embitters the apostle because it prevents him from extending to them the good food of the Gospel preaching. And, with the love of a father (“I speak as to children”), he tells them, “Open wide your hearts also.” It is the condition for receiving the Gospel. Otherwise you fall under the foreign yoke of “unbelievers” (v.14), i.e. the egocentric mentality of the world. There can be no compromise between “Christ and Beliar,” that is between Christ and Satan. The yoke of the latter is a burden that crushes, while the yoke of the Gospel is “easy” (Mt 11:30). And whoever accepts it becomes a “temple of God”, that is, a witness of the love and mercy of the Lord. If we open our hearts to the Gospel, we will be free from the yoke of Satan, and the world will open up to love.

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