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
Isaiah 41,13-20
For I, Yahweh, your God, I grasp you by your right hand; I tell you, 'Do not be afraid, I shall help you.' Do not be afraid, Jacob, you worm! You little handful of Israel! I shall help you, declares Yahweh; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Look, I am making you into a threshing-sledge, new, with double teeth; you will thresh and beat the mountains to dust and reduce the hills to straw. You will winnow them and the wind will carry them off, the gale will scatter them; whereas you will rejoice in Yahweh, will glory in the Holy One of Israel. The oppressed and needy search for water, and there is none, their tongue is parched with thirst. I, Yahweh, shall answer them, I, the God of Israel, shall not abandon them. I shall open up rivers on barren heights and water-holes down in the ravines; I shall turn the desert into a lake and dry ground into springs of water. I shall plant the desert with cedar trees, acacias, myrtles and olives; in the wastelands I shall put cypress trees, plane trees and box trees side by side; so that people may see and know, so that they may all observe and understand that the hand of Yahweh has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It is easy, especially in difficult times, to forget the Lord's love, mercy and power and fall prey to fear and dejection. It is easy also for us who live in a time in which fears for today and tomorrow seem to grown. The world has become more complex and difficult to understand. The forces of evil seem to gain ground in the devastation of creation as well as in the destruction of fraternal bonds among the nations. The tragedy of the pandemic has revealed us our fragility. Injustices seem to grow while it is increasingly difficult to find a common dream. People do not live well in a time and a wor4ld in which fear and rage support one another and create an atmosphere of malaise and conflict. Furthermore it seems that nothing can be done: besides we are truly small things, as a "worm" or an "insect" to use the images of the prophet. The prophet reminds us of the presence of God who is the Lord of history and He himself says: "Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you insect Israel! I will help you." This invitation is repeated several times in this brief passage of Isaiah, as if to break down the door of fear that keeps us from seeing the love that has accompanied us throughout our lives. How often, even in the Gospels, must Jesus repeat to the disciples to trust in him and not be afraid! And if it is true that "the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst," it is even truer that the Lord is coming quickly to their aid. The prophet speaks of the new exodus of the people of Israel out of the Babylonian exile: it will be a liberation even more profound than the first, when He made them leave Egypt. In fact, if during the journey through the desert after their first liberation from Egypt, the people of Israel were quenched with water that flowed from a rock, now the Lord will transform the entire desert into a "a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." This is the love of the Lord who works always greater wonders for his people. This love reached its climax with Jesus, who not only came down from heaven to be near to us, but even gave his life to save us from sin and death. We are asked - as the prophet writes - to "see and know" this love and to let our hearts be touched.
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
