EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for the sick
Word of god every day

Prayer for the sick

The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for the sick
Monday, June 7

The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.


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

Matthew 5,1-12

Seeing the crowds, he went onto the mountain. And when he was seated his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them: How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Blessed are the gentle: they shall have the earth as inheritance. Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their fill. Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 'Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Starting today, the liturgy of the Church, introduces us to the continued reading of the Gospel of Matthew. It starts with the Beatitudes that open the famous speech of the Mountain. Jesus wants to show to the crowds the way of bliss, of happiness. He wants to show his way. Certainly it is not that of the Pharisees and of a religiosity made of norms but devoid of the heart. The Psalms had already accustomed the believers of Israel to the true sense of bliss: "Blessed is the man who has placed his trust in the Lord", "blessed is the man who cares for the weak", "blessed is the man who trusts in you", the Psalms sing. Here is the bliss of the believer of Israel. Jesus, continuing along this line, affirms that the men and women who are poor in spirit, that is, the humble (those who trusted in God and not in riches), are blessed. And blessed are also the merciful, the afflicted, the meek, the hungry for justice, the pure in heart, the persecuted for the sake of justice and also those who are insulted and persecuted because of his name. No one had ever said words like these before. It was the first time they resonated on that mountain of Galilee. Even to us, who listen to them today, they seem distant and completely unreal. We admit their beauty. But it is impossible to implement them. For Jesus it is not so. He wants true, full, lasting happiness for us. Normally, we care about living a little better, of being just a little calmer. Some speak of a world of "sad passions". Precisely because of this estrangement from the culture of the majority, this page of the Beatitudes is a true Gospel, true "good news". They tear us away from an increasingly banal life and push us towards an existence full of meaning, a deep joy much more than we can imagine. The Beatitudes are not too high for us, as they were not for the crowd that heard them first. The Beatitudes have a human face: Jesus' face. He is the man of the Beatitudes, the poor man, the meek man and the one who is hungry for justice; he is the passionate and merciful man, the persecuted and the one put to death. Let us look at him and follow him; we too will be blessed.

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