Memorial of Saint Scholastica (†547ca), sister of Saint Benedict. With her we remember all women hermits and nuns together with all the women who follow the Lord. Read more
Memorial of Saint Scholastica (†547ca), sister of Saint Benedict. With her we remember all women hermits and nuns together with all the women who follow the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Kings 8,1-7.9-13
Solomon then summoned the elders of Israel to Jerusalem to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh up from the City of David, that is, Zion. All the men of Israel assembled round King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, at the time of the feast (that is, the seventh month). When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred utensils which were in the Tent. King Solomon and all Israel, present with him before the ark, sacrificed countless, innumerable sheep and oxen. The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, in the Debir of the Temple, that is, in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the winged creatures for the winged creatures spread their wings over the place where the ark stood, forming a canopy over the ark and its shafts. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed in it at Horeb, the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. Now when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Temple of Yahweh, and because of the cloud the priests could not stay and perform their duties. For the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple of Yahweh. Then Solomon said: Yahweh has chosen to dwell in thick cloud. I have built you a princely dwelling, a residence for you for ever.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Once the building of the Temple was completed, it was necessary to dedicate it to God. Israel knew that God's presence among the people was guaranteed by the Tablets of the Law contained in the Ark of the Covenant. Solomon gathered all the people, just as Moses had gathered them when he received the Tablets of the Law. He offered sacrifices to God and had the ark carried by the priests into the "Holy of Holies", the most sacred place of the Temple. It was the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, formerly called the Feast of Harvest, which was celebrated in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, corresponding to today's September-October. The piece points out that "there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt." This note clarifies even more the inner dimension of the covenant that God established with Israel. The ark contains only the Word, nothing else. It is the Word in which the Lord who reveals himself, the heart of the Jewish faith and therefore also of the Christian faith. This statement is similar to that which we find at the end of the Gospel of the Transfiguration. The evangelist Mark tells us that the disciples, surrounded by the cloud, "saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus" (Mk 9:8). Only the Word is sufficient. Only Jesus is the foundation upon which our faith rests. . And it is remarkable that, what will happen on the day of the Transfiguration, happened just at the entrance of the ark in the Holy of Holies: "When the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord." The Lord took possession of that place through the entrance of his Word. And anyone who welcomes the Word of God in his or her heart, becomes a Temple of God, and His shadow covers them.
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
