GEBED IEDERE DAG

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Woord van god elke dag
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, February 19


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

Genesis 6,5-8; 7,1-5.10

Yahweh saw that human wickedness was great on earth and that human hearts contrived nothing but wicked schemes all day long. Yahweh regretted having made human beings on earth and was grieved at heart. And Yahweh said, 'I shall rid the surface of the earth of the human beings whom I created -- human and animal, the creeping things and the birds of heaven -- for I regret having made them.' But Noah won Yahweh's favour. Yahweh said to Noah, 'Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone of your contemporaries do I see before me as an upright man. Of every clean animal you must take seven pairs, a male and its female; of the unclean animals you must take one pair, a male and its female (and of the birds of heaven, seven pairs, a male and its female), to preserve their species throughout the earth. For in seven days' time I shall make it rain on earth for forty days and forty nights, and I shall wipe every creature I have made off the face of the earth.' Noah did exactly as Yahweh commanded him. Seven days later the waters of the flood appeared on earth.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Biblical authors are clear on the fact that evil is not a work of God, but of human beings. It is the depth of the human heart, in fact, that is tied up with feelings of hate, revenge and pride. This is evident from the first chapters of Genesis-human history is marked by violence that puts one against the other. Every facet of life is poisoned by the maleficence of people, so much so that God "repented having made man on earth and he was pained in his heart." The same heart of the Creator is broken by the spreading of violence among human beings and peoples. Violence pushes creation itself to regress into primordial chaos. This is what the flood is. It is not a punishment by God, but the consequence of human violence that makes everything return to chaos as was the world at the beginning of creation. It is narration that speaks also to our time. We think especially of the wars and their consequences, of the violence done to creation itself and to human nature and of its consequences; of destruction, of pollution, of the abuse of children and elderly. This page of Scriptures lays out some aspects of the current condition of the world where violence by now seems a norm of life ignoring that violence generates only violence. Believers, as it was for Noah, are called to walk with God and to listen to God to be able to conquer evil and distance themselves from destructive violence. Every disciple, every small Christian community, is called to be like an ark in the storm of the sea of the world, to offer shelter and salvation to all, in particular to the weak and poor, who ask for consolation and peace. It is the job of believers and still more of Christians: to offer shelter from violence, salvation from the chaos of enmity and destruction. The ark constitutes again the unity for which God created man and woman, the unity of humankind of which the Church is sacrament and instrument, like the Second Vatican - trhough28

WOORD VAN GOD ELKE DAG: DE KALENDER

Het gebed is het hart van het leven van de Gemeenschap van Sant’Egidio. Het is haar eerste “werk”. Aan het einde van de dag komt elke Gemeenschap, of die nu klein of groot is, samen bij de Heer om het Woord te beluisteren en zich tot Hem te richten in het gebed. De leerlingen kunnen niet anders dan aan de voeten van Jezus zitten, zoals Maria van Bethanië, om het “betere deel” te kiezen (Lc 10, 42) en van Hem zijn gezindheid te leren (vgl. Fil 2, 5).

Elke keer dat de Gemeenschap zich tot de Heer richt, maakt ze zich die vraag eigen van de anonieme leerling: “Heer, leer ons bidden!” (Lc 11, 1). En Jezus, meester in het gebed, antwoordt: “Wanneer jullie bidden, zeg dan: Abba, Vader”.

Wanneer we bidden, ook in de geslotenheid van ons eigen hart, zijn we nooit alleen of verweesd. Integendeel, we zijn leden van de familie van de Heer. In het gemeenschappelijk gebed wordt naast het mysterie van het kindschap, ook dat van de broederschap en zusterschap duidelijk.

De Gemeenschappen van Sant’Egidio, verspreid over de wereld, verzamelen zich op de verschillende plaatsen die gekozen zijn voor het gebed en brengen de hoop en het verdriet van de “uitgeputte en hulpeloze mensenmenigte” waarover het Evangelie spreekt (Mt 9, 37) bij de Heer. Deze oude menigte omvat de inwoners van onze hedendaagse steden, de armen die zich bevinden in de marge van het leven, en iedereen die wacht om als dagloner te worden aangenomen (vgl. Mt 20).

Het gemeenschappelijk gebed verzamelt de schreeuw, de hoop, het verlangen naar vrede, genezing, zin en redding, die beleefd worden door de mannen en vrouwen van deze wereld. Het gebed is nooit leeg. Het stijgt onophoudelijk op naar de Heer opdat verdriet verandert in vreugde, wanhoop in blijheid, angst in hoop, eenzaamheid in gemeenschap. En het rijk Gods zal spoedig temidden van de mensen komen.

WOORD VAN GOD ELKE DAG: DE KALENDER