Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Exodus 40,16-21.34-38
Moses did this; he did exactly as Yahweh had ordered him. On the first day of the first month in the second year the Dwelling was erected. Moses erected the Dwelling. He fixed its sockets, set up its frames, put its crossbars in position and set up its poles. He spread the tent over the Dwelling and the covering for the tent over that, as Yahweh had ordered Moses. He took the Testimony and put it in the ark, positioned the shafts on the ark and put the mercy-seat on top of the ark. He brought the ark into the Dwelling and put the screening curtain in place, screening the ark of the Testimony, as Yahweh had ordered Moses. The cloud then covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwelling. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, since the cloud stayed over it and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwelling. At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the Israelites would resume their march. If the cloud did not rise, they would not resume their march until the day it did rise. For Yahweh's cloud stayed over the Dwelling during the daytime and there was fire inside the cloud at night, for the whole House of Israel to see, at every stage of their journey.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The "tent," a sign of God's presence, will accompany the people of Israel throughout their history. Through the "tent," not only is God close but will accompany the steps of Israel day by day. This is why the "tent" is not built according to human standards. It is God himself who dictates to Moses the modalities of construction, down to the smallest details, as shown in the first verses of the chapter. It was not any building, but the place where the people would gather in the presence of God himself to be the people of the covenant at the service of God's plan for the salvation of all peoples. Everything was anointed with the oil of consecration, both the objects and Aaron with his sons: they were consecrated for worship to the Lord. And whoever approached the tent had to purify himself from evil. At the end of the consecration, Moses placed in the tent the ark with the Testimony. He became the guarantor, one could say, that all the work is built according to the directions given by God. At that moment "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." The descent of the cloud also showed the descent and presence of God in that place in the eyes of the people. What is written on this biblical page will be fully realized when "the Word became flesh and lived among us" (Jn 1:14). Jesus is the place of God's presence among us.
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
