EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day

Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memorial of Sant'Egidio (Saint Giles), an eastern monk who came to the West. He lived in France and became the father of many monks. The Community of Sant'Egidio took its name from the church dedicated to him in Rome. We remember the beginning of the Second World War and pray for the end to all wars. The Orthodox Church begins its liturgical year. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, September 1

Memorial of Sant’Egidio (Saint Giles), an eastern monk who came to the West. He lived in France and became the father of many monks. The Community of Sant’Egidio took its name from the church dedicated to him in Rome. We remember the beginning of the Second World War and pray for the end to all wars. The Orthodox Church begins its liturgical year.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6.9-11

About times and dates, brothers, there is no need to write to you

for you are well aware in any case that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night.

It is when people are saying, 'How quiet and peaceful it is' that sudden destruction falls on them, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there is no escape.

But you, brothers, do not live in the dark, that the Day should take you unawares like a thief.

No, you are all children of light and children of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness,

so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober.

God destined us not for his retribution, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us so that, awake or asleep, we should still live united to him.

So give encouragement to each other, and keep strengthening one another, as you do already.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Paul is trying to warn the Thessalonians not to be anxious about trying to know or calculate the day and the hour of Jesus' coming. He "will come like a thief in the night" (5:2). After all, Jesus himself had advised his disciples, "if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into" (Lk 12:39). ?
The thief, unfortunately, always comes when he is not expected. And so it will be with the coming of Christ. The only thing we know for sure about the last days is that it will come suddenly and unexpectedly. Therefore it is necessary to keep watch “all night." For those who live without giving it a second thought, in "peace and security," the day of the Lord will come without warning and fall upon them with great ruin, like a labour pain from which there is no escape. Many will suffer the fate of the rich fool who said to himself: "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry" (Lk 12:16-20). The apostle asks his readers to stay awake and keep watch, that is, to be "children of light" and "children of the day," like those who live in the light of the Word of God and the clarity of love. Those who do not listen to the Word live "in darkness” and act like those who "fall asleep." The children of the day are sober; they do not let themselves be overcome by their concerns, but are ready to fight the good fight of faith in order to defeat evil and allow good to prevail. They know how to bear the appropriate armour. To the Romans Paul writes: "The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light" (Romans 13:12). And he says to the Ephesians: "Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood ... Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may to withstand on that evil day. " (Ephesians 6:11-13). The most important armours are faith, charity and hope. They are the weapons of God that guarantee victory; indeed they already contain victory within themselves, if the believer bears and wields them. Indeed, by gathering believers into his community, the Lord has already marked them for salvation. But it is not fate that simply happens to us. Faith is a gift, but it is not given at random: it always requires a personal encounter with Christ. And salvation is nothing more than remaining in this encounter. That is why, "Whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him" (5:10). Jesus is heaven and the fullness of life is still he. This is our bliss. ?

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