Memorial of Saint Wenceslaus, venerated as a martyr in Bohemia. Memorial of William Quijano, young Salvadorian man of the Community of Sant'Egidio, killed by the violence of the maras. Read more
Memorial of Saint Wenceslaus, venerated as a martyr in Bohemia. Memorial of William Quijano, young Salvadorian man of the Community of Sant’Egidio, killed by the violence of the maras.
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
Zechariah 8, 1-8
The word of Yahweh Sabaoth came as follows:
Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I have been burning with jealousy for Zion, with furious jealousy for her sake.
Yahweh says this: I am coming back to Zion and shall live in the heart of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called Faithful City and the mountain of Yahweh Sabaoth, the Holy Mountain.
Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Aged men and women once again will sit in the squares of Jerusalem, each with a stick to lean on because of their great age.
And the squares of the city will be full of boys and girls playing there.
Yahweh Sabaoth says this: If this seems a miracle to the remnant of this people (in those days), will it seem one to me? declares Yahweh.
Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Look, I shall rescue my people from the countries of the east and from the countries of the west.
I shall bring them back to live in the heart of Jerusalem, and they will be my people and I shall be their God, faithful and just.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The prophet Zechariah brings us God’s prophecy of love for Jerusalem, which is facing a difficult situation of weakness, running the risk of falling prey to foreign powers at any moment. The Lord sends the Prophet to speak to a devastated people; they are hopeless and scared to be prey to more powerful nations. The words of the prophet move their bowed, scared hearts, and open their eyes to hope: "Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people, shall it in those days be impossible in my eyes also" (v.6). The Lord says with passion: "I am intensely jealous for Zion, stirred to jealous wrath for her" (v.1). The jealousy of God for the city is a symbol of his jealousy for the entire people. The Lord does not save individuals. He saves the whole people, the whole city. The collective dimension of faith resounds clearly in these words, with a gathered people composed of stories, faces, and concrete persons united in a common destiny. Devotion of the Bible is not conceptual and is not founded on ideology, or on a fascinating theory. Rather, it’s devotion to God who comes down amid his people, taking up their struggle. The prophecy continues to talk to this doubting people: "I will return to Zion, and I will dwell within Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain" (v.3). The Lord will restore a good cohabitation among different generations and among all the inhabitants of the new Jerusalem. Zechariah’s prophecy is fully relevant for our present cities as well, which are apparently built in order to divide us from each other and make difficult encounters among people and generations. Thus says the Lord: "Old men and old women, each with staff in hand because of old age, shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem. The city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her streets" (vv. 4-5). This picture is still valid today: the city designed by God includes those who are rejected: elderly and children. God expects this city to be built everywhere, from the land of the rising sun, and from the land of the setting sun (v.7). The Lord wishes a fully joyful life for everyone.
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
