Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25
Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish,
had recourse to the LORD.
She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids,
from morning until evening, and said:
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you.
Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,
for I am taking my life in my hand.
As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God.
“And now, come to help me, an orphan.
Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion
and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy,
so that he and those who are in league with him may perish.
Save us from the hand of our enemies;
turn our mourning into gladness
and our sorrows into wholeness.”
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The book of Esther tells the story of a Jewish woman who on account of her beauty was chosen as queen by the king of the great Persian Empire. The sacred author presents the situation of the Jewish people in the great diaspora. They are surrounded by prejudices because of the different and particular faith they practiced. Haman, a royal official, clearly explains the people’s opinion of the Jews: "There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them" (3:13). We cannot avoid reading in these words traces of the anti-Semitism which has caused so much trouble for the Jewish people through the ages, culminating in the drama of the Shoah. What can a woman like Esther do in front of such great hostility, which is even willing to exterminate the people of Israel? What can a poor woman like her do in front of violence and war? Esther first turns in prayer to her God and the God of her ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the Bible, prayer often takes up the thread of history, because in prayer we can reread our own existence in the light of God’s love and the wonders God has performed. No believer is left alone, overwhelmed by a whirlwind of events. Each of us always has a place in the plan of love which has preceded us and which prayer helps us rediscover. Therefore Esther reminds God how much He had done for her ancestors: "As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers that you, O Lord, always free those who are pleasing to you." Her prayer is divided into three parts. In the first she asks for help for herself, because she is aware of her own smallness: "Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you. ...And now, come to help me, an orphan" In prayer we discover our weakness and our need for salvation, but we trust in the strength that comes from God. Next she asks God to help her find the words to speak to the "lion," the enemy who wants to eliminate Israel. And finally she says, "Save us from the hand of our enemies; turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness." From the weakness of a woman emerges the strength of prayer, which is capable of defeating evil and freeing the oppressed from the hands of their enemies.
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
