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
Psalm 103, 1-2.13-14.17-18
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
13 As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
With today’s liturgy we chant the second part of psalm 103. Already from the start of the psalm the psalmist invites us to thank the Lord: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits” (v. 1-2). The soul turns in directly to the believer: [He] forgives all iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (v. 3-5). The believer must not forget so much love. Unfortunately, forgetfulness of God’s love is a common experience. We are so concentrated on ourselves that we do not remember the Lord’s love which has saved us from ruin. Thank goodness the Lord behaves differently. He forgets our guilt and does not cease loving us. We are quick to anger and slow to love and forgive. Instead, the Lord is like a father who has compassion for his children: “As a father has compassion for his children so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him” (v. 13). The psalmistfrom biblical wisdomreminds us that the Lord knows deeply what we are made of: “he remembers that we are dust.” (v. 14) And that “As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (v. 15-16). But this awareness is not to worry us. Just the opposite. It is exactly our weakness that is the reason for God’s tenderness toward us. Yes, God chose the dust that we are to give us love and forgiveness, just as he chose the dust to form Adam at the beginning of creation and exhale life into him. That God “remembers we are dust” is the reason he stays near us “for ever and ever.” The psalmist reiterates: “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting and his righteousness to children’s children.” A passage from the book of Sirach helps us understand the meaning of this psalm more deeply: “What are human beings, and of what use are they? What is good in them, and what is evil? The number of the days in this life is great if they reach one hundred years. Like a drop of water from the sea and a grain of sand, so are a few years among the days of eternity. That is why the Lord is patient with them and pours out his mercy upon them. He sees and recognizes that their end is miserable; therefore he grants them forgiveness all the more. The compassion of human beings is for their neighbours, but the compassion of the Lord is for every living thing” (18:7-13).
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
