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
Hosea 8,4-7.11-13
They have set up kings, but without my consent, and appointed princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold, they have made themselves idols, but only to be destroyed. I spurn your calf, Samaria! My anger blazes against them! How long will it be before they recover their innocence? For it is the product of Israel- a craftsman made the thing, it is no god at all! The calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces! Since they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind; stalk without ear, it will never yield flour- or if it does, foreigners will swallow it. Ephraim keeps building altars for his sins, these very altars are themselves a sin. However much of my Law I write for him, Ephraim regards it as alien to him. They offer sacrifices to me and eat the meat, they do not win Yahweh's favour. On the contrary, he will remember their guilt and punish their sins; they will have to go back to Egypt.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In this passage, the prophet Hosea denounces the schism caused by the northern kingdom which became guilty for choosing to break with the royal house of David and introduce idolatry. The absurdity of idolatry has clearly been grasped by the prophet, who ridicules the carved idols made by men: "an artisan made it; it is not God." In addition the lie of idolatry brings dire consequences in the life of the people of Israel: "For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." It is a sentence that underlines the negative consequences and bitter fruits of decisions that respond to individual interests not connected from any large vision of society and future. bad choices. The prophet threatens the people of Israel because "Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built palaces...but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his strongholds." Wellbeing indeed does not last rather it is quickly consumed. It is a large and common experience. In the Gospel we read the parable of the rich fool, who wanted to build larger barns to hold all of his wealth, Jesus warns: "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (Lk 12:15). And he invites us to become rich instead before God (Lk 12:21). The prophet Hosea reminds that God measures the faith of His people with the measure of their love for Him and of the mercy towards the poor and not of the number of offered victims.
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!
