Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jeremiah 18,18-20
'Come on,' they said, 'let us concoct a plot against Jeremiah, for the Law will not perish for lack of priests, nor advice for lack of wise men, nor the word for lack of prophets. Come on, let us slander him and pay no attention to anything he says.' Pay attention to me, Yahweh, hear what my adversaries are saying. Should evil be returned for good? Now they are digging a pit for me. Remember how I pleaded before you and spoke good of them, to turn your retribution away from them.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
"Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand." These words recall humanity's creation. The Lord shaped the first human being out of clay and breathed the spirit of life into him. And the human became a living being (Gen 2:7). We cannot forget that the perpetual condition of every man and every woman is marked by the fact that they were made out of dust. But God does not despise the dust that is humanity. On the contrary, he values it. He is like a potter who continues to shape each of us, giving us his spirit of life so that we grow "in his image, according to his likeness." The Lord does not disdain our poverty and our fragility. He never stops bending down over us and continues to work in us so that we continue to grow as his children, his witnesses. We truly are, as Paul says, "vessels of clay." Nonetheless, the Lord continues to pour the breath of life, the breath of his Holy Spirit, into our hearts through his word. That breath was not given once and for all at the beginning. It is given to us every day by the Lord to sustain us on the path towards the fullness of life. Jeremiah reminds us of the great responsibility we have to choose to follow the Lord. Those who follow the way of the Lord and not the stubbornness of their heats will be blessed. How sad it is to continue to follow ourselves and listen to ourselves after all of the love and forgiveness we have received from the Lord! And yet is the great love that can be had on earth. As if challenging them to find love, the Lord asks his people, "Ask among the nations: Who has heard the like of this? ... But my people have forgotten me... they have stumbled in their ways, in the ancient roads." We often turn back in life, because if we do not listen, we do not stay as we are, we go back, and we become worse. This is what happens when we forget what we have received, and we go back to following our own individual paths. We understand the prophet's prayer, who asks for God's help with the struggles of his vocation. Let us ask the Lord for strength, in order to continue to communicate the strength of his love and his forgiveness.
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.
