EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Memorial of Saint John Damascene, a monk and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century. He distributed his goods to the poor and joined the lavra of Saint Sabbas nearby Jerusalem. Prayer for Christians in Syria. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, December 4

Memorial of Saint John Damascene, a monk and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century. He distributed his goods to the poor and joined the lavra of Saint Sabbas nearby Jerusalem. Prayer for Christians in Syria.


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

Isaiah 25,6-10a

On this mountain, for all peoples, Yahweh Sabaoth is preparing a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of succulent food, of well-strained wines. On this mountain, he has destroyed the veil which used to veil all peoples, the pall enveloping all nations; he has destroyed death for ever. Lord Yahweh has wiped away the tears from every cheek; he has taken his people's shame away everywhere on earth, for Yahweh has spoken. And on that day, it will be said, 'Look, this is our God, in him we put our hope that he should save us, this is Yahweh, we put our hope in him. Let us exult and rejoice since he has saved us.' For Yahweh's hand will rest on this mountain, and Moab will be trodden under his feet as straw is trodden into the dung-heap.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Salvation is presented as a banquet prepared for all the peoples, none excluded. Since the very beginning God's dream is universal. God is the father of all the peoples and wants that we are all saved. The time of Advent gives us a foretaste of the joy of this banquet. Unfortunately, it is common today - even among Christians - for people to think that salvation can be found in personal well-being and the tranquillity of their own lives. There are too many who are excluded from the banquet of life often with violence. Unfortunately globalization has not broadened the table so that all can take part to it. This passage from the Bible reveals us the great dream of God: salvation is for all the peoples. There is no salvation for just a few, perhaps for some group that thinks it is perfect. The prophet suggests that Lord is preparing a banquet for all the peoples. And he prepares it with his own hands, so that all can experience the fullness of communion with him and therefore among them. Aware of the prophetic tradition, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a banquet (Lk 14:15-24) to which God invites "the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame." With a startling image - for indeed the kingdom of God is another world - the rich are absent at the banquet of heaven, not because they are excluded but because they refuse it. However this banquet does not just come at the end of time. It is already starting. Each time bonds of friendship are formed, new familiarity is created, this banquet of heaven starts on earth. The Lord is already at work. In this banquet even death is eliminated. This why we can already sing with the apostle, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 15:55-57).

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