Memorial of Saint Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (+387). Prayer for Jerusalem and for peace in the Holy Land. Read more
Memorial of Saint Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (+387). Prayer for Jerusalem and for peace in the Holy Land.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Isaiah 1,10.16-20
Hear what Yahweh says, you rulers of Sodom; listen to what our God teaches, you people of Gomorrah. wash, make yourselves clean. Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease doing evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, discipline the violent, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow. 'Come, let us talk this over,' says Yahweh. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth. But if you refuse and rebel, the sword shall eat you instead -- for Yahweh's mouth has spoken.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Evoking the city of Gomorrah, the prophet recalls the imminence of God's judgment also on the people of Jerusalem. He warned everyone sternly: "Hear the word of the Lord... Listen to the teaching of our God!" (v. 10). The Lord does not turn to his people with generic exhortative words. He does not perceive the relationship with them as something irenic or coldly ritualistic. Many times in Scriptures, the Lord makes it clear that he does not love ritualistic worship, detached from the pursuit of justice and love for the poor. The prophet does not fail to remind all God's thoughts: "Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes" (v. 16). And he adds: "Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (v. 17). This is the way to truly worship God. There can be no division between the liturgical worship on the altar and the worship of being close to the poor. The two forms of worship are inseparable, impossible to divide. And those who practice them enter into the horizon of that infinite mercy that saves us from any sin. In fact, the Lord says, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (v. 18). It is the victory of God's love over every sin, as long as we let him embrace us, as long as we let him love and teach us: "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land (v.19).
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
