Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Genesis 15,1-12.17-18
Some time later, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram! I am your shield and shall give you a very great reward. 'Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, 'what use are your gifts, as I am going on my way childless? . . . Since you have given me no offspring,' Abram continued, 'a member of my household will be my heir.' Then Yahweh's word came to him in reply, 'Such a one will not be your heir; no, your heir will be the issue of your own body.' Then taking him outside, he said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so will your descendants be,' he told him. Abram put his faith in Yahweh and this was reckoned to him as uprightness. He then said to him, 'I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to give you this country as your possession.' 'Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, 'how can I know that I shall possess it?' He said to him, 'Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.' He brought him all these, split the animals down the middle and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide. And whenever birds of prey swooped down on the carcases, Abram drove them off. Now, as the sun was on the point of setting, a trance fell on Abram, and a deep dark dread descended on him. When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passing between the animals' pieces. That day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram in these terms: 'To your descendants I give this country, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the River Euphrates,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Abraham's journey towards the land to fulfill God's promise is not without difficulty. Where are the numerous descendants promised by God, if his only heir is likely to be the son of a slave? Uncertainty and subsequent questions are part of a believer's life. Too often we are frightened by the uncertainty of our time and the lack of clarity of the future. Yet the Lord does not abandon Abraham, as he does not abandon any of us. Indeed God anticipates him: "'Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." The Lord anticipates our questions so that we do not get imprisoned by them. This is how God brings Abraham out of the narrowness of his worries and fears in which he had hidden himself: "Look towards heaven and count the stars ... So shall your descendants be." Only by coming out of the limited sight of ourselves we can see far, to the numerous people whom the Lord has prepared for us. The gaze of God, which we are called to share, that universal gaze, frees us from fear, as opposed to what we often think. It is self-enclosure that gives birth to fears and worries. The Lord takes us out and frees us. There are indeed many descendants that await believers so that the covenant of God may reach all peoples.
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
