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
1 Kings 11,4-13
When Solomon grew old his wives swayed his heart to other gods; and his heart was not wholly with Yahweh his God as his father David's had been. Solomon became a follower of Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. He did what was displeasing to Yahweh, and was not a wholehearted follower of Yahweh, as his father David had been. Then it was that Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain to the east of Jerusalem, and to Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrifice to their gods. Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, God of Israel, who had twice appeared to him and had forbidden him to follow other gods; but he did not carry out Yahweh's order. Yahweh therefore said to Solomon, 'Since you have behaved like this and have not kept my covenant or the laws which I laid down for you, I shall tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. For your father David's sake, however, I shall not do this during your lifetime, but shall tear it out of your son's hands. Even so, I shall not tear the whole kingdom from him. For the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen, I shall leave your son one tribe.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
"Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not completely follow the Lord, as his father David had done." In this judgment lies the reason for the sad end of Solomon and his kingdom. But this did not happen by accident or even suddenly. Sin, like conversion, has its own story linked to the heart of every believer. And it is never a story devoid of relationships with others: we are all mutually linked both for good and evil. Solomon had allowed himself to be attracted and then dominated by the perverse logic that takes over whenever one surrenders to pride. It begins with slavery by money and wealth, and then moves on to a lack of respect for others, and then to personal satisfaction that finds its peak in sexuality. Solomon builds an enormous harem. It is true that for an ancient monarch this was expression of wealth and power, especially if women came from other peoples. But the problem was compounded because this bondage of money, wealth, and sex, brought Solomon's heart away from God. It is no coincidence that the author notes, at the beginning, that Solomon "loved" not only the Pharaoh's daughter but many others. And it was they who "turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the Lord his God." The problem is always the heart. Jesus too will say: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt 6:21). For Solomon, his heart was no longer in God: giving in to pride and love for himself took him far. If he had listened to and accepted what the Word of God said in Deuteronomy he would not have fallen into idolatry. The Deuteronomist prescribes about the king: "He must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses ... or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself" (Dt 17:16-17). Solomon transgresses these provisions: he brings horses from Egypt; he obtains great wealth. Solomon allows himself to be so carried away by the pride of power that he leaves no room for either the Lord or his mercy. David had sinned too, but he recognized his sin by listening to the prophet and asked for forgiveness. Solomon ended in sadness, and his children paid for his sin with the steep price of kingdom's division.
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
