EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, October 26


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Ephesians 6,1-9

Children, be obedient to your parents in the Lord -- that is what uprightness demands. The first commandment that has a promise attached to it is: Honour your father and your mother, and the promise is: so that you may have long life and prosper in the land. And parents, never drive your children to resentment but bring them up with correction and advice inspired by the Lord. Slaves, be obedient to those who are, according to human reckoning, your masters, with deep respect and sincere loyalty, as you are obedient to Christ: not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please human beings, but as slaves of Christ who wholeheartedly do the will of God. Work willingly for the sake of the Lord and not for the sake of human beings. Never forget that everyone, whether a slave or a free man, will be rewarded by the Lord for whatever work he has done well. And those of you who are employers, treat your slaves in the same spirit; do without threats, and never forget that they and you have the same Master in heaven and there is no favouritism with him.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

We know that the Gospel deeply transforms human relationships by showing how to live them in a new way. If transformation does not happen, it is because of deaf resistance to our habits that often "master" and push us to be "old men and women." The love of Jesus is not abstract, virtual; it is not an empty word, like so many that we are used to saying and hearing, and that make it difficult to understand the real ones. The love of Jesus is an effective word, which is fulfilled in history and wants to inspire, in a concrete way, all our relationships, transforming them. Some recommendations may appear distant, past. On the contrary, they have much to say even today, if we understand them in the mentality with which we live. Paul has just finished speaking of the relationship between husband and wife. Now he addresses children, reminding them to "obey", in accordance with the biblical commandment: "Honour your father and your mother." The commandment is never a law for its own sake, but for our happiness. The Word of God wants to bring fullness to everyone’s life, because the will of Jesus is that "we have life and have it abundantly." Paul then turns to fathers and asks them to "not provoke their children to anger" but to educate them, that is make them grow according to Christian teaching. No one is ever only the object of others’ love, but we are all asked to change our way of seeing others. Slaves were also part of the family. And the apostle also asks them to have appropriate behaviour. They are exhorted to obey their masters but with simplicity of mind, as to Christ, that is not with the goal of being seen and pleasing people. The apostle clarifies that the reversal of roles is always true in what revolutionizes our relationships: everyone, whether slave or free, will receive from the Lord according what he or she has done well. Even masters, as parents and as men towards women, must not use their positions to despise or trample the dignity of others. One alone is the Lord and there is no preference of persons with him. We are called to love one another as brothers and sisters. This is the will of Jesus.

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