EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Memorial of Saint Anselm (+1109), a Benedictine monk and bishop of Canterbury, who suffered exile for his love for the Church. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, April 21

Memorial of Saint Anselm (+1109), a Benedictine monk and bishop of Canterbury, who suffered exile for his love for the Church.


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

John 6,35-40

Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst. But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me, because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." The Lord's promise was finally fulfilled. Jesus also responded to the hunger for salvation hidden in the hearts of people: hunger for meaning of a life that does not end with death and leads to complete happiness. Jesus was the heaven-sent answer that everyone could accept and make his or her own. However, Jesus notes with bitterness that many, although having seen the signs he performed, did not open welcome his word. And he reiterates his availability to all: "Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away." All who came closer to Jesus were welcomed; it was sufficient to knock to receive an answer. Had he not said to the crowds that were following him: "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest"? Besides, he had come down from heaven for this very reason: to do the will of the Father who had sent him; and the Father's will was clear that he should not lose anyone that had been entrusted to him. The commitment to save everyone, not losing anyone, is the continual labour of the Lord Jesus. This is his true and only pastoral "program" that appears evident and clear in the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus wants to describe not only his passion to save even one sheep but also his availability to run risks and traverse perilous terrains to save those who are lost. This is Jesus' constant worry. And he wants his concern to be that of the Church and of his disciples.

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