EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, November 3


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

Romans 12, 5-16a

in the same way, all of us, though there are so many of us, make up one body in Christ, and as different parts we are all joined to one another.

Then since the gifts that we have differ according to the grace that was given to each of us: if it is a gift of prophecy, we should prophesy as much as our faith tells us;

if it is a gift of practical service, let us devote ourselves to serving; if it is teaching, to teaching;

if it is encouraging, to encouraging. When you give, you should give generously from the heart; if you are put in charge, you must be conscientious; if you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.

Let love be without any pretence. Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good.

In brotherly love let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression and regard others as more important than yourself.

In the service of the Lord, work not halfheartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit.

Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship; keep praying regularly;

share with any of God's holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable.

Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.

Rejoice with others when they rejoice, and be sad with those in sorrow.

Give the same consideration to all others alike. Pay no regard to social standing, but meet humble people on their own terms. Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

With chapter 12 the most encouraging section of the letter begins written as a direct consequence of the preceding argument. The apostle lays out what is required of believers because of the justice that was revealed to them. The passage we heard includes exhortations regarding both relations within the Christian community—in which, among other things the apostle refers to the well known image of the body as in the first letter to the Corinthians (12: 12-27)—and the relations with the outside world that was already demonstrating its first forms of persecution. "For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function," writes the apostle Paul. "So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another" (v. 5). In a body the plurality of the members does not oppose the unity and functionality of the body. Instead, it serves it. And so it is in the Church and in every Christian community as the Lord enriches it with many gifts and charisms, so that everyone can contribute to the growth of love and the witnessing of the Gospel. Everyone is united with everyone else in a chain of love, but the Lord gives each of us a task for common service. We do not stay in the Church for our own fulfilment, but rather, we are called to work for the growth of communion, for the harmonious growth of one body, which is Christ’s. Certainly, each of us keeps our own identity. The Spirit does not abolish it, but harmonizes it in a new communion that makes one body of many. The Christian community is born neither of the personalities of individuals nor from the homogeneity of its components, but of the love of God that makes of many one and of the different a community.

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