EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for the sick
Word of god every day

Prayer for the sick

Memorial of Porrajamos, the massacre of the Gypsy people by the Nazis during the Second World War. Memorial of blessed Ceferino Gimenéz Malla, a Gitano martyr killed in Spain in 1936. We remember Yaguine and Fodé, two boys 15 an d14 years old from Guinea Conakry, who died because of cold in 1999 while they were trying to fly to Europe where they dreamt to study hidden in the cargo hold of an airplane. The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for the sick
Monday, August 2

Memorial of Porrajamos, the massacre of the Gypsy people by the Nazis during the Second World War. Memorial of blessed Ceferino Gimenéz Malla, a Gitano martyr killed in Spain in 1936. We remember Yaguine and Fodé, two boys 15 an d14 years old from Guinea Conakry, who died because of cold in 1999 while they were trying to fly to Europe where they dreamt to study hidden in the cargo hold of an airplane. The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.


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 14,13-21

When Jesus received this news he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the crowds heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick. When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, 'This is a lonely place, and time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.' Jesus replied, 'There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.' But they answered, 'All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.' So he said, 'Bring them here to me.' He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples, who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps left over, twelve baskets full. Now about five thousand men had eaten, to say nothing of women and children.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The episode of the multiplication of the loaves is reported six times in the Gospels (two in Matthew and Mark and one in Luke and John respectively). Evidently it had impressed greatly the community of the first disciples, as one of the signs that most summarized Jesus' very mission. Jesus' heart cannot resist in front of the compassion for the crowds: First he heals the sick and then starts talking to them, until the evening. And everyone listens to him. The crowd was not mostly without bread, but they were lacking true words about their own life. That is why they stopped all day to listen to Jesus. Truly "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." However, the Lord knows well that human beings also live on bread, it is written in fact: "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, ... But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Mt 6:25-34). This is what happens in the passage of the multiplication of the loaves. The disciples, thinking they were more caring than Jesus, interrupt him: "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." But Jesus replies: "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." The Lord knows very well that there is little in the hands of the disciples: just five loaves and two fish; yet they must respond to the need of that crowd without sending them back. The miracle begins right here: from weakness placed with confidence in the hands of the Lord. And it is transformed into wealth. The evangelist emphasizes the abundance of bread: it is the sign of God's overabundant generosity. Our poverty, placed in God's hands, becomes abundance. He makes our weakness strong and our poverty rich. This is also the meaning of the twelve baskets of leftover bread: each disciple, each of the twelve, is given one of those baskets so that he may feel the grave and sweet responsibility of distributing the bread that God's mercy has multiplied in his hands.

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!