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
Isaiah 4,2-6
That day, Yahweh's seedling will turn to beauty and glory, what the earth brings forth will turn to the pride and ornament of Israel's survivors. Those who are left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem will be called holy, all those in Jerusalem noted down to live. When the Lord has washed away the filth of Zion's daughters and with the wind of judgement and the wind of burning cleansed Jerusalem of the blood shed in her, Yahweh will create, over every house on Mount Zion and over those who assemble there, a cloud by day, and by night smoke with the brightness of a flaring fire. For over all will be the Glory as canopy and tent to give shade by day from the heat, refuge and shelter from the storm and the rain.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We are before words of hope for a people and a city marked by war and destruction. The prophet sees in that "branch" the hope of a new people that will inhabit Jerusalem. This awareness leads the prophet to call that small remnant, just a group of survivors, "holy": it is a small branch and yet is blessed by God. Holy, in fact, is the one who accepts God's love, who lives in communion with Him, who obeys His commands, who walks in His light. When times are difficult, when the violence of evil and war destroy people and things, God is not far away, even though he may seem not very visible. The Lord has made a commitment of faithfulness to that "little remnant." Not only does he not abandon them, but he accompanies and protects them. The prophet assures that the branch "will grow in honour and glory," will become a great tree that produces fruit of goodness for all. Isaiah's prophecy is proposed to us again at the beginning of this Advent season and becomes for us an invocation to the Lord that he may stand by us and deliver us from evil. He will wash away "the filth of the daughters of Zion;" he will cleanse "the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning" and he will be a protection for all. God's mercy causes peace to "sprout" in all lands, even the dry and devastated ones. The "glory of God," that is, his mercy, accompanies us night and day. Just as it happened during the long journey of the exodus when "a cloud of smoke during the day and a blaze of flaming fire at night" accompanied the people and God's protection "like a canopy" sheltered them from the heat of the day and from the cold or rain at night. The Lord is the one who is at his people's side in history, as he revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush: "I am who I am" (Ex 3:14), the one who is close to you, forever.
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
