EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day

Memory of Jesus crucified

Memorial of Saint John Damascene, a monk and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century. He distributed his goods to the poor and joined the lavra of Saint Sabbas nearby Jerusalem. Prayer for Christians in Syria. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, December 4

Memorial of Saint John Damascene, a monk and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century. He distributed his goods to the poor and joined the lavra of Saint Sabbas nearby Jerusalem. Prayer for Christians in Syria.


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

Matthew 9,27-31

As Jesus went on his way two blind men followed him shouting, 'Take pity on us, son of David.' And when Jesus reached the house the blind men came up to him and he said to them, 'Do you believe I can do this?' They said, 'Lord, we do.' Then he touched their eyes saying, 'According to your faith, let it be done to you.' And their sight returned. Then Jesus sternly warned them, 'Take care that no one learns about this.' But when they had gone away, they talked about him all over the countryside.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Coming out of the house of the leader of the synagogue, Jesus is followed by two blind men who address a simple prayer to him: "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" It is an invocation that we often find in the Gospels. And the Church makes us repeat it at the beginning of every Mass: "Lord, have mercy!" Before the greatness of the Lord this is the first and most important prayer that we can address to him: we are poor beggars of love. Jesus enters the house, welcomes the two blind men, and speaks with them. Healing is not a practice of magic, nor is it the fruit of rituals or esoteric practices. It always takes place within a personal relationship with Jesus: we need to meet his eyes, his heart, to bind ourselves to him with trust. Indeed Jesus asks the two blind men: "Do you believe that I can do this?" It is the request to trust him. Without this personal, direct, trusting relationship, there is no healing. After the affirmative answer of the two blind men Jesus touched their eyes and said: "According to your faith let it be done to you." And the eyes of the two opened. There is a direct relationship between faith and healing. The well-known Protestant theologian of the last century Karl Barth was right saying: "God does not act in the same way if we pray or not pray." It is a precious teaching. Prayer is the first work of believers. With it they abandon themselves to the Lord who listens and grants their requests.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR