Remembrance of Nunzia, a mentally disabled woman who died in Naples in 1991; with her we remember all the mentally disabled people who have fallen asleep in the Lord. Read more
Remembrance of Nunzia, a mentally disabled woman who died in Naples in 1991; with her we remember all the mentally disabled people who have fallen asleep in the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Exodus 34,29-35
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, as he was coming down the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face was radiant because he had been talking to him. And when Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin on his face was so radiant that they were afraid to go near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community rejoined him, and Moses talked to them, after which all the Israelites came closer, and he passed on to them all the orders that Yahweh had given to him on Mount Sinai. Once Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went into Yahweh's presence to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. And when he came out, he would tell the Israelites what orders he had been given, and the Israelites would see Moses' face radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak to him next time.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Moses has just come down from the Mount where he has again received the tables of the Law, that Word which will have to direct the life of his people. There he received again, after Israel had abandoned him, the revelation of the name of God, "merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love and faithfulness." How could Moses' face not be "shining" after having conversed with the Lord? Three times it is repeated that "the skin of his face was shining." When we listen, even more when we speak with God, because this happens when we listen and meditate on his word, our face cannot but shine to show the beauty of God, his merciful presence. Faces always sad and angry are not a sign of God's presence! The veil that Moses put on his face talking to the Israelites perhaps wants to prevent them from being overwhelmed by the light so bright expressed by his encounter with God. Let's think of our days and our numerous meetings and let us wonder: Are those who meet us able to see on our face the light of God who spoke to us? Let us think of the need that others have to meet the light of God through us, so that they too will be transfigured in their humanity.
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
