The Jubilee 2025 starts with the opening of the Holy Door in the basilica of St. Peter. Read more
The Jubilee 2025 starts with the opening of the Holy Door in the basilica of St. Peter.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Samuel 7,1-5.8-12.14.16
Once the king had settled into his palace and Yahweh had granted him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, 'Look, I am living in a cedar-wood palace, while the ark of God is under awnings.' Nathan said to the king, 'Go and do whatever you have in mind, for Yahweh is with you.' But that very night, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan: 'Go and tell my servant David, "Yahweh says this: Are you to build me a temple for me to live in? This is what you must say to my servant David, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you wherever you went; I have got rid of all your enemies for you. I am going to make your fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I am going to provide a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there, and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked any more, as they were in former times ever since the time when I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; and I shall grant you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh furthermore tells you that he will make you a dynasty. And when your days are over and you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you (and I shall make his sovereignty secure. I shall be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does wrong, I shall punish him with a rod such as men use, with blows such as mankind gives. Your dynasty and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be for ever secure." '
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In this passage from the book of Samuel we reach a decisive point in salvation history, the promise of offspring and a kingdom that the Lord made to David. The story begins when David compares his dwelling and the ark's, the sign of God's presence, which is still kept in a tent. David decides to build a temple for the Lord. The absence of the temple was considered a clear sign of the religious inferiority of Israel compared to the neighbouring peoples. When David first tells Nathan of his plans, the prophet is enthusiastic. But God rejects the plan that very night. The Lord warns David that he had never asked for a temple in the past, nor does He want one now from him. God has always led his people even without having a fixed dwelling place. The Lord does not need walls. If anything, it is Israel who needs them in order not to forget the Lord. Therefore, it is God himself who will build a home for Israel. The prophet announces a "royal house" that will last "forever;" it will be an "everlasting kingdom." We read this prophecy tonight while, in the vigil of Christmas, in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, the first "Holy Door" will be opened and thus this jubilee year will start. Jesus' birth who fulfilled this ancient prophecy of Isaiah opens a door in history and gives back hope and meaning to the lives of men and women. As the angel announces to Mary: "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk 1:32-33).
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
