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
Haggai 1, 15-2,9
This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius,
on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of Yahweh was addressed through the prophet Haggai, as follows,
'You are to speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest and to the remnant of the people. Say this,
"Is there anyone left among you who saw this Temple in its former glory? And how does it look to you now? Does it not seem as though there is nothing there?
But take courage now, Zerubbabel!-Yahweh declares. Courage, Joshua son of Jehozadak high priest! Courage, all you people of the country!-Yahweh declares. To work! I am with you -- Yahweh Sabaoth declares-
and my spirit is present among you. Do not be afraid!
For Yahweh Sabaoth says this: A little while now, and I shall shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
I shall shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will flow in, and I shall fill this Temple with glory, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
Mine is the silver, mine the gold!-Yahweh Sabaoth declares.
The glory of this new Temple will surpass that of the old, says Yahweh Sabaoth, and in this place I shall give peace -- Yahweh Sabaoth declares." '
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The exhortation of the prophet to rebuild the temple was fruitful. On October 17 (2:1), four weeks after the laying of the foundation stone, the new Temple was built, as we also read in Ezra (3:12-13). However, Haggai mentioned the sorrow of the elderly who compared the new building with the former one: "Is it not in your sight like nothing" The Ark, indeed, with its propitiatory and two cherubim was lost, and the stone tablets, the urn with manna, Aaron’s staff, the urim and tummim, the eternal burning embers on the altar as well: everything had been swept away by the holocaust in Babylon, and the copies which replaced them didn’t have the same significance. Yet, the prophet reaffirmed that the Lord, King and Guide of history, could reveal himself through unimaginable, new and unknown ways. So to this discouraged and afflicted people the prophet envisaged a brighter future than the Temple. He envisaged the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven. In this framework, the Letter to the Hebrews mentions the prophet: "Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land" (2:6). Likewise God shook the Earth at the time of Exodus (Ps 114) and of Sinai (Ex 19:18; Ps 68:8; Judges 5:4-5). "Once again" He will shake all the nations, and they will come in His house and fill it with the most precious treasures (Is 60:4-7.13; 61:6; 45:14; Rev 21:24). Haggai showed Israel that all peoples would finally come to the Temple with their offerings to the Lord of hosts. This was the revelation of the domination of God over history. The prophet encouraged them to remember the wonders of God and trust Him. He repeated it three times to the people of the Lord: "Take courage" and then: "Work!" (v.4). The meaning of this encouragement is defined by his decision: "Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land"(vv. 4-5). While that people’s work was the building of the Temple, our "work" is a more generous dedication to the building of the Church. The temple of God is no longer a building for the disciples of Jesus; the Christian community is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone (Eph 2:20).
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
