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
Sirach 1,1-10
All wisdom comes from the Lord, she is with him for ever. The sands of the sea, the drops of rain, the days of eternity -- who can count them? The height of the sky, the breadth of the earth, the depth of the abyss -- who can explore them? Wisdom was created before everything, prudent understanding subsists from remotest ages. For whom has the root of wisdom ever been uncovered? Her resourceful ways, who knows them? One only is wise, terrible indeed, seated on his throne, the Lord. It was he who created, inspected and weighed her up, and then poured her out on all his works- as much to each living creature as he chose -- bestowing her on those who love him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The book of Sirach, written by Ben Sira, perhaps the last written book of the First Testament. The author is a wise scribe who reads attentively Scripture with sapiential intelligence to give it to the people and enlighten their daily life. He asks believers to apply themselves to the meditation of the Word of God in order to understand its meaning in the time they live. His deep conviction is that the origin of wisdom abides in God. He writes: ""The source of wisdom is the word of God in heaven; her ways are the eternal commandments." In this he agrees completely with the psalmist who sings the Word of God, light "for our steps" (Ps 119:105). The author wants to help the believer discern through the Holy Scriptures the wisdom that dwells with God in order to be able to receive her and live accordingly. Indeed, wisdom essentially belongs to the Lord: "There is but one who is wise, greatly to be feared, seated upon his throne" (v. 8). But the Lord is not jealous of her. On the contrary, he gives her widely to those who love him: "It is he who created her; he saw her and took her measure; he poured her out upon all his works, upon all the living according to his gift; he lavished her upon those who love him" (9-10). According to the author, only those who trust in God can live wisely. Human beings are finite and limited: they can count neither the sands of the sea, nor the drops of rain, nor the days and centuries. Believers have the responsibility both to accept the gift of wisdom and to exercise her to help everyone understand the meaning of history and the world with God's gaze and thought. The wisdom that believers accept urges them to seek further and to inquire. In this time of globalisation and risky simplifications, the warning of the Second Vatican Council, which in the Gaudium et Spes (GS 15), wrote: "Our age, even more than past centuries, needs this wisdom to humanise all its new discoveries. In fact, the future of the world is at stake unless wiser men and women are raised up."
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
