Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Wisdom 7,22-8,1
For within her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, shrewd, irresistible, beneficent, friendly to human beings, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating all intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits. For Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion; she is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things. She is a breath of the power of God, pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; so nothing impure can find its way into her. For she is a reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God's active power, and image of his goodness. Although she is alone, she can do everything; herself unchanging, she renews the world, and, generation after generation, passing into holy souls, she makes them into God's friends and prophets; for God loves only those who dwell with Wisdom. She is indeed more splendid than the sun, she outshines all the constellations; compared with light, she takes first place, for light must yield to night, but against Wisdom evil cannot prevail. Strongly she reaches from one end of the world to the other and she governs the whole world for its good.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Wisdom is not a treasure that human beings find in themselves, in their instincts, in their character or traditions. One receives Wisdom from God. For this reason, Solomon feels the liberty and joy of being able to give it as a gift so that it will also enrich the lives of others. This is the liberty that anyone who recognizes God's gifts in their lives, especially the precious gift of a word that renders us wise and becomes communicative. Those who possess it "obtain friendship with God," and enter into an intimate relationship with God, receiving from him a direction for their lives. The Wisdom that Solomon speaks of teaches us to comprehend reality in its depth, in a spiritual way, without stopping at the surface of things: "For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements..." (v.17). It is not so much a scientific knowledge as a knowledge that descends into the heart of history and that eludes the reasoning of technological knowledge. In Wisdom breathes that which is for believers the power of the Holy Spirit: "...a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, ... loving the good, ... beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all ..." (vv. 22-23). These qualities recall the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the prophet Isaiah had already intuited (11:1-2) and that pervade the hearts of believers in the God of Jesus Christ. In sum, Wisdom is the manifestation of the beneficent and friendly presence of God, who wants to teach us the secret of life. Wisdom is unique, it is an image of God's goodness and "she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets" (v. 27). May we allow Wisdom to instruct us so that we too can be friends of God and prophets of his word in the world.
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
