EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day

Memory of Jesus crucified

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Western and Eastern Churches remember the birth of John the Baptist, "the greatest among those born among women" who prepared the way to the Lord. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified
Friday, June 24

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Western and Eastern Churches remember the birth of John the Baptist, "the greatest among those born among women" who prepared the way to the Lord.


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

Luke 15,3-7

So he told them this parable: 'Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one, would fail to leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost." In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people who have no need of repentance.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the liturgy helps us to contemplate the mystery of God's love through the symbology of the heart of his Son who reveals himself to us as the good shepherd of his flock. The image of the shepherd is an image dear to the prophets and Ezekiel had already spoken of it: "For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out... I will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel" (Ez 34:11.13). The Gospel of Luke, as if to give an answer to the words of the prophet, reports the words of Jesus who identifies himself with the good shepherd who loves his sheep so much that he gives his own life for them. As the Gospel of John says, Jesus loves them and knows them one by one (Jn 10:3). To him they are not an indistinct mass; in fact, he knows the voice, the name, the history, the needs of each of them, and on each he has placed all his affection and all his hope. He is not an official or a hired-hand; he is rather a father, a brother, a true friend, and a servant of his sheep. In a society like ours that has become virtual, anonymous and individualistic, it is easy to be forgotten and to disappear. But the heart of Jesus does not forget anyone. Jesus reminds that the good shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep in the sheepfold to come and look for the lost one. "I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed," said the prophet Ezekiel (Ez 34:16). Jesus - the good shepherd - does not abandon any of his sheep to their own destiny; Jesus always gathers them, keeps them and, perhaps not once but many times, had to leave the other ninety-nine sheep to find each one of us and put us on his shoulders and bring us home where he tells us again his commandment: "That you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12).

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