Memory of Saint Nicholas (+343), whose relics are found in Bari. He was bishop of Mira in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) and is venerated in the entire East. Memory of all the Christians living in the East. Read more
Memory of Saint Nicholas (+343), whose relics are found in Bari. He was bishop of Mira in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) and is venerated in the entire East. Memory of all the Christians living in the East.
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
Isaiah 29,17-24
Is it not true that in a very short time the Lebanon will become productive ground, so productive you might take it for a forest? That day the deaf will hear the words of the book and, delivered from shadow and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see. The lowly will find ever more joy in Yahweh and the poorest of people will delight in the Holy One of Israel; for the tyrant will be no more, the scoffer has vanished and all those on the look-out for evil have been destroyed: those who incriminate others by their words, those who lay traps for the arbitrator at the gate and groundlessly deprive the upright of fair judgement. That is why Yahweh, God of the House of Jacob, Abraham's redeemer, says this, 'No longer shall Jacob be disappointed, no more shall his face grow pale, for when he sees his children, my creatures, home again with him, he will acknowledge my name as holy, he will acknowledge the Holy One of Jacob to be holy and will hold the God of Israel in awe. Erring spirits will learn to understand and murmurers accept instruction.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This passage concludes the chapter dedicated to Jerusalem and its punishment because of the spiritual blindness of its people. The prophet proclaims the great work of the transformation of humanity that God himself will perform. "In a very little while" the Lord will intervene with a radical and effective transformation: "Lebanon will become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest." There is a tight connection between the change of creation in a garden - the prophet speaks of Lebanon and of the Carmel - and people's behaviour. It is a reminder to the bond that there is between the faithfulness of the people to the Law of the Lord and their capacity of living on the earth without perverting it, without exploiting it for their own advantages. It is decisive to be vigilant, lo listen to the Word of God with the heart and to act on it. When the people are not deaf to the Lord anymore, they manage to open their eyes and live a serene and peaceful life in human relationships and in those with creation. The prophet describes God's people as a humble people who trusts in the power of His Lord and at His side starts again rejoicing for they feel the closeness of the Holy of Israel. Meaningfully the prophet sees a new alliance between the people of believers and the poor: they are connected among them in the world of God, while the tyrant and the arrogant are crashed and those who plot iniquities and set traps are defeated.
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
