A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 21, n. 23)
Easter Week 4: April 30 – May 6, 2023
(The pastoral tool BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY & WEEKDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy from various perspectives. For the Lectio Divina on the liturgy of the past week: April 23-29, 2023 please go to ARCHIVES Series 21 and click on “Easter Week 3”.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY: April 30 – May 6, 2023.)
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April 30, 2023: FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Gate of Salvation and
the Good Shepherd”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 2:14a, 36-41 // I Pt 2:20b-25 // Jn 10:1-10
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 10:1-10): “I am the gate for the sheep.”
Using the metaphor of shepherds and the imagery of a door or a gate, today’s Gospel reading (Jn 10:1-10) presents Jesus as the legitimate Shepherd of the flock and the gate of the sheepfold. According to the biblical scholar, Neal Flanagan: “The discussion about the sheep and the shepherd is probably being used by John as a statement regarding the miserable shepherding being effected by such authorities as appear in the case of the man born blind. Blind guides themselves, they not only fail to recognize the leading light that is Jesus but cast out of the synagogue the one man who does accept the light … Crucial to the identification of the author’s purpose at this point is the necessary realization that he is writing about Jesus with the text of Ezekiel 34 in clear view. In that passage, Ezekiel, speaking God’s word, excoriates the authorities of his own time. They had become irresponsible and thieving shepherds, feeding themselves rather than their flock. So God would take away their mal-administration and become the shepherd himself. Finally he would appoint another shepherd after the figure of David. John sees all of this coming true in Jesus. God has become the shepherd in Jesus, himself Messiah and Son of David. Jesus’ fidelity to his sheep, his sacrifice for them, stands out in contrast to the failure of the stumbling, blinded, bullying authorities in chapter 9 … Jesus is the GOOD SHEPHERD loved by the Father because he will lay down his life for the sheep. It is this act of total, loving self-sacrifice that is mentioned again and again as the central motif … Though the shepherd-sheep metaphor was well known in the Old Testament Scriptures (as in Ezekiel 34), this laying down of the shepherd’s life is something new. It is the characteristic function of Jesus. He is the good shepherd especially because of his willing self-sacrifice.”
The metaphor of the shepherd-sheep is superimposed upon that of the sheep gate. As the gate for the sheep, Jesus provides safety for the flock by prohibiting entrance to marauders and food by opening out onto good pasture lands. Indeed, as the true guardian and legitimate shepherd, Jesus is the way to salvation and the fullness of life. Harold Buetow remarks: “Jesus also calls himself the Gate for the sheep. Gate is also what we mean by door. In our time of electric and automatic entrances and keys and locks we think of doors mostly as territorial barriers against being robbed or otherwise violated. Doors stand between public and private, between mine and yours. Doors signal hospitable greeting or blatant rejection, the last barrier across which guards throw themselves against an invading enemy. Even in our space age, doors have not lost those meanings. But Jesus had more in mind. Imagine yourself a cosmonaut walking in outer space, umbilically attached to your craft. Seeing that your air reserve is almost gone, you realize that it is time for you to return to your ship. You reach for the hatch lever and find the door is locked. You desperately claw the bolted door. When the door is thrown open from within and you are pulled through it to escape into life, you realize the importance of a door and the meaning of the gate of life.”
Indeed, the true guardian of the sheep gives us access to the fullness of life. Jesus avowed his life-giving mission as a shepherd: “I came so that they may have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Jesus’ pastoral mission of giving life to his flock was fully achieved in his paschal sacrifice on the Cross that led to his glorious resurrection. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 3, assert: “Jesus has passed the gate of death to enter into glory: “God has made him Lord and Messiah.” To proclaim his resurrection is to recognize that he is the guide in whose footsteps we must follow in order to have life, and to have it more fully. He marches at the head of the ransomed people, leading them on the road in their paschal exodus. This shepherd, whose face is worn by suffering, but also shines with light, leads us confidently on difficult paths. He watches that nothing unfortunate may happen to us. If the mist sometimes obscures our vision, his voice continues to lead us in the right direction.”
As we celebrate today the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, it is fitting to present a profile of a priest who is configured to Jesus the Gate of Salvation and the Good Shepherd (cf. Russell Shaw, “Knights’ Success Built on Founder’s Desire for Charity” in Our Sunday Visitor, May 4, 2014, p. 14-15).
In many ways, Father Michael J. McGivney was just one more of that band of hardworking Irish-American priests who spent themselves building up the Church in America in the latter years of the 19th century. But in one truly extraordinary respect, he was unique. Before he was 30, Michael McGivney had founded what was to become the largest Catholic men’s organization in the world: the Knights of Columbus. (…)
Father McGivney was born August 12, 1852, in Waterbury, Connecticut, the oldest of 13 children of an immigrant couple named Patrick and Mary Lynch McGivney. Six of his brothers and sisters died in infancy or childhood. His father worked in Waterbury brass mill. A quick learner, young Michael felt an early attraction to the priesthood and prepared for the seminary. Following studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, he was ordained in December 1877 by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Gibbons. His first assignment was at St. Mary’s in New Haven.
There he became convinced that a benevolent organization for Catholic men was required as a means of providing their families with financial support in times of need while also keeping the men themselves out of the clutches of anti-Catholic secret societies. The priest and his lay associates explored various options, including establishing a local branch of some already existing group. Eventually, though, they decided to launch a brand new organization – a “cooperative benefit order” to be called the Knights of Columbus. (…)
Two years after the founding, Father McGivney was named pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, Connecticut. Responsibility for a second parish also came with the job. Working alone, he carried a backbreaking pastoral load while managing to stay active in defending and promoting the Knights. Never physically robust, in January 1890 he contracted pneumonia. His health declined during the following months, and on August 14 he died. He was only 38. His funeral and the burial in his hometown of Waterbury were major public events.
The process that could one day lead the Church to recognize Father McGivney as a saint was formally opened in 1996. At present he has the title “Venerable”. Last August, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson reported to the group’s annual convention that a possible miracle worked through his intercession is now being studied by the Vatican’s congregation for saints. (…)
B. First Reading (Acts 2:14a, 36-41): “God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ.”
In today’s First Reading (Acts 2:14a, 36-41), the personal response of faith to Jesus leads to the remarkable growth of the Church, the flock of disciples who have embraced the Easter event of Christ’s death, resurrection and glorification. Three thousand people listening to Peter’s Easter proclamation are moved to repentance and are baptized. Through the evangelizing ministry of Peter and the apostles, the people respond to the saving call of Jesus, the Shepherd and Sheep Gate. They are moved to conversion, of which baptism is a powerful and efficacious sign.
Indeed, salvation is mediated by Jesus and is offered to Jews and non-Jews alike as a gift through the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Shepherd resounds compassionately throughout the world and inspires a response of faith throughout time and space, and in the diversity of races and cultures. The Servant of God, Dr. Takashi Nagai, from Nagasaki, Japan is an icon of a beautiful and whole-hearted response to the life-giving call of Christ the Lord (cf. “The Mystic of Nagasaki” from the book The City of Silence”, 1995, p. 100-114).
Dr. Nagai was a patriot whose Shinto family had imbued him with Nihon-teki, the expression of the Japanese spirit. He was born in 1908 and raised in Shimane Prefecture, the oldest son (he had four younger siblings) of a physician father, from whom he inherited a love for science. His mother endowed him with respect for intuition and the contemplative spirit; she taught him “how to find the universe in a bowl of rice” … His childhood years bestowed on him a love of nature, a willingness to accept communal responsibility and a familial duty, and a sense of wonder and enjoyment of the world. At twelve Takashi Nagai was sent to Matsue to attend secondary school and in 1928 he began his medical studies at the University of Nagasaki. Science and Japanese culture, not faith, were the passions that informed his student years, and he read widely and avidly the canon of Western thought and literature that came to Japan in the wake of Meiji Restoration. His mother’s death in 1931 initiated a period of profound grief and questioning, beginning a journey of faith that was midwifed by the French mystic scientist Blaise Pascal. Attracted to Catholicism but knowing little about its belief and practices, he decided to room with a Catholic family. He was taken in by the Moriyama family, descendants of leaders of the Hidden Christian community. He began to explore Christian beliefs under their example and guidance. More decisively, he fell in love with Midori, the Moriyama’s daughter and only child.
Midori Moriyama and Takashi Nagai were married in 1934 after Nagai returned from a year of military service in Manchuria and after his conversion to Catholicism. His baptism in June 1934 caused a painful split with his father, but in a relatively short time Midori’s gentle spirit would repair that rift. Takashi and Midori Nagai had a tender and loving marriage, and she was unfailing support during the years when he devoted himself to his successful, if meagerly remunerated, research career. An illness on the eve of his medical graduation had left him deaf in one ear; unable to use a stethoscope, he developed a specialty in radiology, which had been newly introduced to Japan in the 1930’s. In 1940 he was made assistant professor and in 1945 became the dean of radiology at the University of Nagasaki.
On August 7, 1945, in response to news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Midori had taken their two children to her mother’s nearby rural home; she returned to Nagasaki the next day and was killed instantly by the bomb. Two days later, her grief-stricken husband found her charred remains in her kitchen, a rosary clasped “among the powdered bones of her right hand”. Dr. Nagai was in his office at the medical school, located between three and seven hundred meters from the epicenter, preparing for a lecture on diagnostic radiology when “the flash of blinding light took place” … Co-workers freed him from the rubble and despite his severe cuts and serious loss of blood (his right temporal artery had been cut) Dr. Nagai quickly mobilized the surviving medical personnel into an effective team to rescue the more severely injured patients and staff from the fires that destroyed the hospital in the aftermath of the bomb. For two days, before they were relieved by a military rescue team, they treated victims who laboriously made their way to the once-respected medical facility, only to find it in ruins, its few surviving physicians and nurses frustrated by their lack of medicine and instruments …
On August 12, Dr. Nagai and a small group of medical workers left “the world of ashes” that was Nagasaki and made their way to the valley of Mitsuyama, noted for the healing property of its mineral springs. In Koba they established a first aid station and began walking from home to home, village to village, examining and treating the sick with the most basic of medicines. Despite hard work, sacrifice and mourning, Dr. Nagai writes of the tenderness and compassion of those days, when they were fed by farmers who had so generously opened their homes to the survivors, and how they patiently cared for hideously infected wounds and burns. “To show and receive tender care … this was our life.”
The sense of responsibility led them to make careful observations on the development of radiation disease in their patients and themselves. Dr. Nagai himself collapsed on September 26 and lay close to death; his recovery, on October 25, was considered miraculous. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the ruins of Urakami and built a small, crude shack as a home for his small family: himself, his two children, and his mother-in-law. Eventually, a group of Nagasaki carpenters built him a pilgrim hut next to the shack, and he named it Nyokodo: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
It was in that hut that the doctor became a poet, the scientist was transformed into a mystic, and the man who loved the silence and privacy of his research laboratory gave his waning strength to sustain others. His simple hut became a monastic cell in which he contemplated God and the bomb, a man of action who, through sickness and pain, practiced unceasing prayer. It was there that he was given the grace to understand the redemptive nature of suffering, that even such profound losses could be seen and accepted as a part of God’s loving Providence. (…)
Despite his progressively worsening health and the need to insure financial support for his children, Dr. Nagai assumed a greater role as a public figure. The popularity of his books resulted in a widespread correspondence, and he received numerous visitors, both the famous (Helen Keller and Emperor Hirohito) and unknown, ordinary citizens. The “Bells of Nagasaki” was made into a popular movie, and the song of the same title became Nagasaki’s unofficial city theme song. In addition to his books, he wrote countless newspaper and journal articles and gave large sums of money to help rebuild the institutions of Christian Urakami. None of this acclaim deflected from his serene acceptance of voluntary poverty or the constancy of his devotion to God, his children, and the people of vanquished Japan.
Dr. Nagai received both secular and religious honors: in 1949 he became the first Christian to be honored as a National Hero of Japan because of his work toward the spiritual restoration of the country. In 1949, he received a rosary from Pope Pius XII, and it was gripped in his hand when he died on May 1, 1951. Twenty thousand mourners filled the cathedral to mourn his death, forming a three-mile procession to the graveyard where his ashes were enshrined. His tombstone bears the simple, eloquent epitaph from Luke: “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.”
C. Second Reading (I Pt 2:20b-25): “You have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
The Second Reading (I Pt 2:20b-25) is an impassioned appeal to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the shepherd and guardian of souls. He suffered for us so greatly and completely that by his wounds we were healed. We were like sheep that had lost their way, but now we have been brought back to follow Christ, who showed us the redemptive meaning of suffering. To follow Jesus, the shepherd and guardian of souls, is to tread the life-giving path of sacrifice and assume his pastoral stance of personal giving and loving service.
The biblical scholar Jose Cervantes Gabarron comments: “Always to maintain oneself in the attitude of availability and service, even before those who cause unjust suffering, is the Christian vocation par excellence, following the example of Christ … This attitude of being available even in a situation of unjust suffering is valued as a grace, a gift from God, if it is accepted in virtue of the experience that one has of God and of doing good. It is not the pain itself that constitutes grace, but rather the suffering caused by doing what is good, or of countering evil with good just as Christ did.”
The following story gives insight into how we could manifest the gentle and caring attitude of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in daily life and initiate a “friendly move” that would reflect the Shepherd’s searching for the sheep (cf. Nona Bridges, “A Friendly Move” in Guideposts, April 2011, p. 20-22).
I unpacked another box in the living room, carefully peeling away sheet after sheet of the newspaper protecting our picture frames, candleholders and vases. For a moment I stopped and peeked out the front window, hoping to see a neighbor coming up the drive to introduce herself. But there was no one. Only the sound of the wind. Like all the times I’d checked before.
It was late January, a month since my husband, teenage son and I had moved into our new house, and still not a soul has come over even to say hi, let alone bring a housewarming gift. What was up with my new neighbors? I looked out the window again. The skeleton-like trees in the front yard only added to my loneliness. It was odd, at 43, to feel like the new kid, wondering if I was going to be accepted.
I’d been excited about the move. There was more room, a space where we could grow a garden, even a swimming pool. Most of all we were in a real neighborhood. Where we’d come from, farther out into the country, we lived next to a highway, not the kind of place where people strolled over to borrow a cup of sugar or chat after dinner. I’d so looked forward to getting to know everyone. I’d asked God to help me meet some good friends here, never imagining it would be this difficult. Love your neighbors? I thought now. I’d settle for just knowing their names.
I had thought about making the effort to introduce myself. But the few times I’d seen people out in their yards it had usually been just as they were getting home or on their way out. I didn’t want to impose and, well, I was busy too, rushing out the door to get to my part-time job at the college or to pick up dinner fixings at the grocery store.
I emptied a few more boxes, then decided to take a break to go to the mall. I got in the car and backed out of the driveway. Glancing behind me to look for traffic, I caught a glimpse of the house across the street. That’s odd, I thought. There was a wooden wheelchair ramp attached to the porch. I hadn’t noticed that before.
As I drove past the next-door neighbors’ I saw a big blue ribbon tied to their mailbox. They must have had a baby! I felt a tingle of excitement. I ought to get them a little gift, I thought.
I picked up a baby blanket at the mall and had it wrapped. On the way home I stopped to deliver it, introducing myself. “That’s so sweet”, the young mother said, cradling her newborn. “I wish I’d been able to come over and welcome you but I’ve hardly had a moment …”
“I know how it is”, I said. I could remember all those sleepless night with a new baby and how exhausted I’d been. My life was a breeze compared to hers. Back home I stared out the front window at the house across the street. That wheelchair ramp. Maybe there’s something I can do to help. Suddenly, unpacking another box of books didn’t seem that important.
I whipped up a batch of cookies and took them across the street. The woman who answered the door looked tired, but when she saw the plate in my hand her face broke into a smile. “My son broke his hip and had moved back in with us”, she said. “I’ve barely had a chance to leave the house.”
I gave her a hug, wishing I had come over sooner, but in the tightness of her embrace I felt something unexpected: friendship. That was the first of many hugs we’ve exchanged over the years. We’ve shared vegetables from our gardens, cookie recipes, countless joys and sorrows. The best way to make friends, it turns out, is to be one.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we truly thank the Lord for the gift of Jesus, the true Shepherd and the sheep gate that gives access to eternal life? Do we listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd? How? Today’s Good Shepherd Sunday is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. How do we participate in promoting vocational awareness in the Church?
2. In this Eastertide, do we continue to cherish the gift of repentance and baptism in the Church, the community of faith? Do we welcome and pray for the newly baptized?
3. Do we realize the sufferings that “the shepherd and guardian of our souls” endured in order to save us? Do we resolve to hear his voice and follow him for “by his wounds we have been healed”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for the Easter gift of Jesus Christ,
the Gate of Salvation and the Good Shepherd.
By our Easter witnessing,
may we enable people of all cultures and races
to respond to him in a spirit of repentance,
of which baptism is an efficacious sign.
Let there be but one flock and one Shepherd.
We love you and serve you,
now and forever.
Amen. Alleluia!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“I am the gate for the sheep.” (Jn 10:9)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for an increase of vocations in the Church. Contribute to the promotion, formation and perseverance of priestly and religious vocations through spiritual, moral and material assistance.
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May 1, 2023: MONDAY - EASTER WEEKDAY (4); SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER
RELIGIOUS BROTHERS’ DAY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is Known as the Carpenter’s Son … He Calls Us to Life-Giving Repentance”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 11:1-18 // Mt 13:54-58
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 13:54-58): “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?”
Today we commemorate Saint Joseph the Worker and all working people. In 1955 Pope Pius XII instituted this special feast to emphasize the dignity of labor and bring a spiritual dimension to labor unions and legislation. The Gospel reading (Mt 13:54-58) tells us that Jesus of Nazareth is the “carpenter’s son”. As he learns and practices the carpentry trade of his foster father Joseph, Jesus brings dignity to human work and especially manual labor. As Joseph and Jesus ply their trade at the workbench, human work becomes a living participation in the mystery of redemption. Indeed, through the example of Joseph and Jesus, work becomes an expression of love, an instrument of sanctification, and an efficacious means to follow the saving will of God, the Creator and Redeemer.
The following story gives a glimpse into the work ethic and sterling virtues that adorn the relationship of Jesus and his foster father Joseph, the worker-carpenter (cf. Richard Edgington, “You Break It, You Fix It” in Country, February/March 2012, p. 54-55).
I knew I was in a hot water clear up to my neck! I waited for Dad to come, wondering what my fate would be. I had a wild hope that maybe he wouldn’t see the window. But when he drove up, opened the car door halfway and stopped, I knew he’d seen it. Would I get yelled at, or maybe get my britches fanned? He walked over to where I sat.
“Well”, he said, “you learned how to break a window. Now, you’ll learn how to fix one.” I followed him to the barn. “Get the stepladder”, he said. He handed me a pair of his high-top gloves, which were a half-dozen sizes too big. I climbed up a couple of steps on the ladder, wishing I had three hands so I could hold on with the two and work with the third. “Be careful, and work out the rest of the glass”, Dad said. He showed me how to measure for a new piece of glass with his folding ruler – the one I never get to touch. Then he said, “Let’s go to town.” I climbed down and we went to Pohlman’s Hardware in Spencerville. I told Mr. Pohlman the dimensions of the glass I wanted. He cut it and wrapped it in newspaper. (…)
After supper we went out to the barn, and Dad taught me how to fix the window.
Dad could have been my buddy and fixed the window for me, but he didn’t. He was my dad, and he made me fix it. In 70 years, I’ve repaired many windows, but I’ve never forgotten that first one. It reminds me of all the wonderful things I learned from my dad. So. All you dads out there, don’t be your boy’s buddy. The next time you hear the sharp crack of an errant baseball going through the window, make your son fix it. It will pay big dividends.
B. First Reading (Acts 11:1-18): “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
The PDDM congregation (to which I belong) takes care of the Souvenir Shops at Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. When I was assigned in Rome, I also had the privilege of helping at the Souvenir Shops. There we meet pilgrims and tourists from all continents of the world. One Japanese Sister met a young man from Japan, a non-Christian. She became God’s instrument for his conversion. When he returned to Japan the youth enrolled in RCIA and became a Christian.
In today’s episode from the Acts of the Apostles (11:1-18), the Holy Spirit presses irresistibly toward the integration of all nations in Jesus Christ, and the apostle Peter is a principal instrument of that divine saving plan. Peter reports to the Church in Jerusalem what happened in Cornelius’ household in Caesarea. To those who criticized him for visiting and eating with the Gentiles, Peter justifies his conduct and attributes to God’s action the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and his Gentile household, the same gift that was outpoured upon them at Pentecost when they believed in Jesus Christ. Peter asks rhetorically: “Who was I to be able to hinder God?” Peter’s critics are pacified and conclude that God has also granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles. Though the early Christian community now recognizes officially the evangelization of the Gentiles as God’s initiative, the battle is not wholly won: the issue of whether Christianity should be bound to the Jewish practices or not would recur (cf. Acts 15).
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we thank the Lord for the gift of Saint Joseph to the Church? Do we promote the dignity and rights of workers and the importance of human toil in salvation history and the progress of nations?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(“The Worker’s Prayer” by Blessed James Alberione)
Jesus, divine Laborer and Friend of workers, deign to look benignly down upon the working world. We present to you the needs of all who carry on intellectual, moral or physical work. See amid what fatigue, sufferings and snares we live our hard days. See the physical and moral sufferings! Repeat the cry of your Heart: “I have compassion on these people.” Comfort us, through the merits and intercession of Saint Joseph, model of workers and artisans.
Grant us the wisdom, virtue and love which sustained you in your toil-filled days. Inspire us with thoughts of faith, peace, moderation and thrift, so that together with our daily bread, we will always seek spiritual goods and heaven. Save us from those who deceitfully try to deprive us of the gift of faith and confidence in your providence. Deliver us from all exploiters who do not recognize the rights and dignity of the human person. Inspire social laws which are in conformity with the Church’s teaching. May charity and justice reign together, through the sincere cooperation of all members of society. May everyone consider the Vicar of Christ the teacher of the only social doctrine which assures the worker of a gradual social betterment, and of the kingdom of heaven, the inheritance of the poor in spirit. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (Mt 13:55)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be deeply conscious of the dignity and fruitfulness of the daily toil you carry out on behalf of your family, the family of nations and the family of creation. Do what you can to promote the dignity and rights of workers.
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May 2, 2023: TUESDAY – SAINT ATHANASIUS, Bishop, Doctor of the Church
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Gives His Sheep Eternal Life … He Is the Good News Proclaimed to the Nations”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 11:19-26 // Jn 10:22-30
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 10:22-30): “The Father and I are one.”
The following true story, published in Poverello News (March 2004), tells us how a desperate and hopeless young man, Rick McNiel, found “life” through the pastoral ministry of the staff of Poverello House, who believe in the dignity of every human being and provide care for the homeless, the poor and the disadvantaged. In 2002, Rick found himself living on the streets, in tremendous spiritual and emotional pain. His marriage had fallen apart, and he had been terminated from two drug rehab programs. He came to Poverello House in order to survive. Rick, however, made the mistake of breaking the community’s zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol. Getting kicked out of a homeless mission was perhaps his lowest point, but sometimes good can emerge from brokenness and humiliation. The guard who found him drinking a bottle of vodka suggested that he come back the next day and try to get in the Resident Program. Rick had hit his bottom and was willing to listen. The miracle began at that moment. He did what was suggested. Rick narrates: “Something started happening … I faced things that I didn’t think were possible to deal with. Poverello really came through for me. The staff got to know me well enough that they saw when I needed a push, or when I needed to be confronted … There’s a lot of acceptance, but also accountability; if you mess up, you pay the price.” Rick is now a Poverello staff driver for donation pick-ups. He is in his own apartment, paying bills, and learning to be a responsible citizen all over again. Rick has come a long way since getting kicked out for that pint of vodka two years ago.
Rick McNiel’s inspiring story gives us a glimpse into what is presented in today’s Gospel (Jn 10:22-30) regarding the interpersonal relationship that exists between the life-giving Shepherd and the sheep that are called to follow the Shepherd. The Shepherd’s gift of eternal life demands a positive response from the recipients. Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (Jn 10:27). The interpersonal “knowledge” that exists between them necessitates receptivity in listening and obedience in following after Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Those who hear his voice and follow him obediently and lovingly are truly known by Jesus, the Good Shepherd. To the obedient and loving flock of disciples, whom he knows intimately and upon whom he would bestow the Easter gift of eternal life, Jesus gives the solemn assurance of divine protection. The perfect assurance given to the disciples comes not only from his solicitude and devotion as the Good Shepherd. Rather, the Son of God and Shepherd of the sheep can assure them of complete protection because the Father and he are one. Since the Father and the Son are one, no one can frustrate the divine saving plan, that is, the gift of eternal life for those who believe.
Today’s Gospel passage contains Christ’s astounding revelation: “The Father and I are one” (verse 30), which is the basis for the life-giving pastoral ministry of Jesus. The profound mystery of unity between the Father and his Son Jesus, the victorious paschal Lamb, is the source of the latter’s incomparable power and unimpeachable authority as the Good Shepherd. He answers our most profound human longings and intense spiritual needs. Eternal life is the Good Shepherd’s most beautiful gift to us, the flock he shepherds.
B. First Reading (Acts 11:19-26): “They began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
In 1984 one of the best professors at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome suddenly died of a heart attack. The Benedictine Daniel Gelsi was a monk at the Greek Byzantine monastery of Chevetogne in Belgium. He was the foremost liturgical scholar specializing in the “Liturgical Traditions of the East”. At his funeral both the monks from the Roman Latin tradition and those from the Greek Byzantine rite participated. That was one of the most fascinating liturgical celebrations I have ever witnessed. Listening to the monks pray and chant for Fr. Gelsi, I felt that his soul was in the bosom of God, relishing the infinite beauty of the heavenly liturgy. I also felt blessed to experience the liturgical traditions of both the East and the West and the richness of a multi-cultural Church.
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (11:19-26) depicts the proclamation of the Gospel to the “Greeks” in Antioch by the Greek-speaking Christian Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene (in African Libya). They do not limit their proclamation to Jews, but reach out also to the Gentiles. The Lord’s power is with them and many believe and turn to the Lord Jesus. When the news reached the church in Jerusalem, they send Barnabas to Antioch (the largest town in ancient Syria). What he sees makes him rejoice and he encourages the new Christians to be faithful and true to the Lord with all their hearts. As official representative of the Jerusalem church, the Cyprus-born Barnabas has the task of incorporating the Christian “Greeks” into the fold. He also engages Saul of Tarsus to help in the building up of the Gentile church through catechesis. Antioch is where the believers are first called “Christians”.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we hear the voice of the Shepherd? Do we open our hearts to his call? Do we follow as true disciples? Do we incarnate in our life the life-giving ministry of Jesus, the Good Shepherd? Do we truly recognize and avow in the witnessing of our life the solemn revelation of Jesus, the Good Shepherd: “The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30)?
2. Does the example of the enterprising Christian believers from Cyprus and Cyrene inspire you to be more pro-active in the ministry of evangelization in today’s world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(From the prayers composed by Blessed James Alberione)
Jesus Good Shepherd,
who brought from heaven the fire of your love,
give us your heart.
Inflame us with the desire for the glory of God
and with a great love for our brothers and sisters.
Make us sharers in your apostolate.
Live in us,
that we may radiate you
in word, suffering, in pastoral action,
in the example of a good life.
We offer you ourselves as docile and faithful sheep,
to become worthy of cooperating
in your pastoral mission in the Church.
Dispose all minds and hearts
to receive your grace.
Come, divine Shepherd, guide us;
may there soon be one flock and one shepherd.
And/or:
Loving Father,
we thank you for the missionary zeal
of the first Christian believers in Cyprus and Cyrene
and for their enthusiasm
in proclaiming the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ
to the “Greeks” as well.
Help us to be receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit,
who propels us to evangelize all the nations.
We bless and praise you,
now and forever.
Amen. Alleluia!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“My sheep hear my voice … I give them eternal life.” (Jn 10:27-28) // “They began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 11:20)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Make an exercise in “silence” that you may hear the “voice” of the Shepherd. If possible, spend some moments of quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and pray for Christian unity and the task of interreligious dialogue.
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May 3, 2023: WEDNESDAY – SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES
“JESUS SAVIOR: Saints Philip and James Were His Apostles”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Cor 15:1-8 // Jn 14:6-14
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Philip and James. In the Gospel (Jn 14:6-14), Philip voices a request that manifests his fervent thirst for God as well as his lack of understanding of the perfect union of Jesus with the Father. Jesus is the great “sacrament” of God. He makes present and signifies who God is and what he is. Whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. In receiving Christ, we receive God the Father whole and entire. The Christian believers are able to perform the works of God just as Christ has done. With the death and glorification of Christ and the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, the disciples are able to continue the divine works of Christ in time and space.
In today’s First Reading (1 Cor 15:1-8), Saint Paul asserts that it is through the Gospel that we are saved; therefore we must hold fast to it. He also hands on to us the Easter kerygma or proclamation: that Christ died, was buried and was raised to life as written in the Scriptures. He also asserts that Christ appeared to Peter and the apostles, to five hundred disciples, to James and, last of all, to Paul himself.
Transformed by the Easter event and empowered by the Spirit of the Risen Lord, Saints Philip and James proclaimed the Gospel message throughout the world. By their apostolic ministry and martyrdom, their participation in the works of Christ was brought to perfection. According to the Acts of Philip, following the resurrection of Jesus, Philip was sent with his sister Mariamne and Bartholomew to preach in Greece, Phrygia, and Syria. Through a miraculous healing and his preaching, Philip converted the wife of the proconsul of the Hierapolis. This enraged the proconsul, and he had Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne all tortured. Philip and Bartholomew were then crucified upside down, and Philip preached from his cross. As a result of Philip’s preaching, the crowd released Bartholomew from his cross, but Philip insisted that they not release him. And Philip died on the cross.
St. James the Less, the author of an inspired epistle, was also one of the Twelve. St. Paul tells us that he was favored by a special apparition of Christ after the Resurrection. In the dispersion of the apostles among the nations, St. James was left as Bishop of Jerusalem; and even the Jews held in such high veneration his purity, mortification, and prayer, that they named him the Just. The earliest Church historians handed down many traditions of St. James's sanctity. He was always a virgin, says Hegesippus, and consecrated to God. He drank no wine, wore no sandals on his feet, and wore but a single garment on his body. He prostrated himself so much in prayer that the skin of his knees was hardened like a camel's hoof. The Jews, it is said, used out of respect to touch the hem of his garment. He was indeed living proof of his own words, "The wisdom that is from above first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, full of mercy and good fruits." He sat beside St. Peter and St. Paul at the Council of Jerusalem; and when St. Paul, at a later time, escaped the fury of the Jews by appealing to Cæsar, the people took vengeance on James, and crying, "The just one hath erred", stoned him to death.
The Church commemorates on the same day Sts. Philip and James, whose bodies lie side by side at Rome. They represent to us two aspects of Christian holiness. The first preaches faith, the second works; the one holy aspirations, the other purity of heart. Saints Philip and James are sterling examples of Easter faith and total service to the Gospel.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do you believe that that the Father and the Son are one? Do you put your faith in Christ as you endeavor to the do the saving will of God?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
God our Father,
every year you give us joy
on the festival of the apostles Philip and James.
By the help of their prayers,
may we share in the suffering, death, and resurrection
of your only Son
and come to the eternal vision of your glory.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.” (Jn 14:12)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Thank the Lord for the gift of Saints Philip and James to the Church and their apostolic witnessing. In your daily activities, be aware that you are called to do the works of God in Christ and so carry out your tasks with spiritual motivation.
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May 4, 2023: THURSDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (4)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us to Service … He Is Israel’s Savior”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 13:13-25 // Jn 13:16-20
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 3:16-20): “Whoever receives the one I send receives me.”
In today’s Gospel (Jn 13:16-20), Jesus reinforces the meaning of the foot washing as a prophetic action, describing the call of all Christians to be humble servants and to be totally immersed into his paschal destiny of death and resurrection. No slave is greater than the master; no messenger is greater than the one who sent him. Jesus exhorts his disciples to put his example of humble service into practice. At the moment, however, Judas Iscariot seeks to betray him. At this initiation into the final conflict, Judas decries his share with Jesus and refuses to believe in the “I AM”. Jesus manifests total control of the situation. He announces the betrayal as congruent with the divine saving plan: so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Jesus then underlines the principle of the unity of the disciple with the Divine Master: Whoever receives the one I send receives me.
The call to be a humble servant has been heeded by the newly canonized kindly Pope, Saint John XXIII. He exercised his pastoral ministry on “bended knees” and with refreshing humor, a tool of humility. The following article by Father James Martin, SJ, circulated on the Internet is insightful.
The Humor of Saint John XXIII: When the Pope was innocently asked by a journalist how many people worked in the Vatican, he deadpanned, “About half of them.”
John XXIII visited a hospital in Rome called the “Hospital of the Holy Spirit” run by a group of Catholic Sisters. The Mother Superior, deeply stirred by the papal visit, went up to him in order to introduce herself. “Most Holy Father”, she said, “I am the Superior of the Holy Spirit.” “Well, I must say you’re very lucky”, replied the Pope. “I’m only the Vicar of Christ.”
It was that somewhat frivolous story that in an instant drew me to John XXIII. How wonderful to keep one’s sense of humor, even while holding a position of such authority, when one could have easily become distant, cold or authoritarian. How wonderful to have a sense of humor at all! A requirement of the Christian life, I believe.
Anyway, who couldn’t love a Pope who had a sense of humor? Who couldn’t feel affection for a man who was so comfortable about himself that he constantly made jokes about his height (which was little), his ears (which were big), and his weight (which was considerable).
When he once met a little boy named Angelo, he exclaimed, “That was my name, too!” And then, conspiratorially, “But then they made me change it!”
When he was a Nuncio, he was at a dinner where a lady had a plunging neckline. One complained to Roncalli how scandalous it was. “All the men are looking at her.” Roncalli said, “Oh, no. The men are looking at me to see if I am looking at her.”
Believe it or not, it was the revelation that a saint could have such a sense of humor – that began my devotion to this great and holy man, who is now a saint. The need for humor in the spiritual life is often underplayed in Catholic circles. But as John XXIII and so many of the saints show us, it is an essential requirement for a healthy Christian life.
Some of the denigration of humor and laughter comes from a misunderstanding of not only the saints (many of whom had a well-developed sense of humor, contrary to the morose portraiture we see in churches) but also of Jesus. There are multiple signs of Jesus’ sense of humor in the New Testament – even though we can overlook them. Many of the parables, for example, are no longer amusing to us because we don’t live in the first-century Palestine and so fail to “get them”. The late New Testament scholar Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, told me that the original listeners would likely to have found some of them “hilarious”. Theologically, we also need to remember that Jesus was fully human, and part of being fully human is having a sense of humor. Jesus laughed. So can we. So should we!
A sense of humor about oneself also enables one to maintain a healthy perspective on life. Saint John XXIII was able to take God seriously, to take the Church seriously, but not to take himself too seriously. Humor, therefore, is a tool of humility. The Pope often used to recount what he would say to himself when concerns about the Church kept him up at night.
Pope John confessed that he had some difficulty in falling asleep on the night of the memorable day that he announced the convocation of the Second Vatican Council. He said that he talked to himself in this way: “Giovanni, why don’t you sleep? Is it the Pope or the Holy Spirit that governs the Church? It’s the Holy Spirit, no? Well, then, go to sleep, Giovanni!”
B. First Reading (Acts 13:13-25): “For this man’s descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.”
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (13:13-25) depicts the first missionary journey of Paul and his companions as they sail from the island of Cyprus to Asia Minor. Luke’s narrative now focuses on Paul. The apostle Barnabas, who earlier had played the leading role, is mentioned merely as one of Paul’s “companions”. At Perga, John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, leaves them and goes back to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas move on to Antioch in Pisidia. Their visit to the town’s synagogue gives Paul his first real opportunity to address a discourse to the Jews. We hear today a part of Paul’s inaugural address, which summarizes the main Christian preaching to the Jews and is based on scriptural precedents and arguments. Paul recalls the history of Israel from the Exodus to Samuel, Saul and David, who is a type of Jesus and his ancestor. Paul’s radical message to the assembly is that God has made Jesus, a descendant of David, the Savior of the people of Israel, as promised. In this awesome missionary sermon, he delineates salvation history as under the guidance of God who brings it to fulfillment. Paul, the evangelizer and preacher, is here at his best!
The following personal testimony gives insight into what it means to proclaim the Gospel in today’s world (cf. Karen Barber in Daily Guideposts 2010, p. 209).
On the last day of our second mission trip to a remote village in Honduras, we were surprised when the villagers asked us to join them for a picnic beside a shallow river littered with rounded rocks and boulders.
As I started to walk toward the picnic, I noticed a tiny girl named Julia with Down syndrome looking up at me. The year before, she had shyly hidden behind her mother Gloria’s skirt. Now she held her hand up to me as if she’d known me all her life. I took her hand, and we made our way across the rocks together.
When we reached her mother, Gloria unfastened the small beaded necklace with a shiny rock in the center from around her neck. I froze as she reached up and firmly fastened the necklace around me. I shook my head, protesting, “No, no!” My mind told me, I can’t accept this! I have plenty of necklaces at home, but she has only one. Yet my heart answered, You can’t refuse her gift.
I smiled and gave Gloria a big hug, knowing that I had received more than a necklace; I’d been given the grace to receive a gift of love.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Are we ready to share in Christ’s paschal destiny? Are we willing to emulate him as the humble and faithful servant of God?
2. Are we willing to give witness by our life that Jesus is our Savior? Do we commit ourselves fully and personally to Christ Savior?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O Risen Christ,
you are sent by the Father as our saving Lord.
You too send us into the world
to proclaim the joy of Easter and God’s saving power.
Help us to be faithful and fruitful
in our evangelizing ministry.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen. Alleluia.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Whoever receives the one I send receives me.” (Jn 13:20) // “God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.” (Acts 13:23).
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Today emulate in a very special way the example of Jesus as the humble servant and, by this act of discipleship, enable the people around you to have a taste of the joy of the Gospel.
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May 5, 2023: FRIDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (4)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Way, the Truth and the Life … God Raised Him from the Dead”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 13:26-33 // Jn 14:1-6
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 14:1-6): “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
Dan Griffin, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner, narrates a charming incident when someone had to show him the way (cf. Maryknoll, January-February 2005, p. 8).
Tanzania is a big country with few roads and even fewer road signs. One day as I was driving along in a remote area of Shinyanga in the pouring rain, I saw a woman alongside the road. I thought I would be a Good Samaritan and give her a lift. As she climbed into the truck, she asked me where I was going. I told her I was headed to Mwadui Mine. “Good,” she said. “Then we can help each other.” Puzzled, I asked what she meant. “I’m going to Mwadui,” she replied, “and you’re going to Mwadui, but we are going in the wrong direction.”
Today’s Gospel reading (Jn 14:1-12) underlines that we need someone to show us the way to the Father, and that Jesus, the true Shepherd and the Gate for the sheep, is precisely the true and living way to him. In the way he lives, in the truth of his word, and in the quality of new life that he brings, Jesus reveals the Father and leads us to a life of loving intimacy with him. Indeed, if we wish to know what God is like and if we long to have an access and participation in the divine life, we need to look to Jesus, the way, and the truth and the life – at his life of service and public ministry, at his transforming and prophetic words, at his paschal mystery of passion, death and resurrection.
B. First Reading (Acts 13:26-33): “God has fulfilled his promise by raising Jesus from the dead.”
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (13:26-33) is the second part of Paul’s major sermon in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia. Paul proclaims to the assembly the Good News: that God’s promises to their ancestors are now fulfilled in the death and rising of Jesus Christ. Paul identifies the crucified and risen Jesus, a descendant of David, as the Messiah. He proclaims that the fullest meaning of the prophets and the psalms is revealed in the light of this Good News. The apostles’ proclamation about Jesus as the Messiah creates a great impact on the people. They invite Paul and Barnabas to come back the next Sabbath and tell them more about these things.
Like Paul and Barnabas, today’s Christian disciples are called to proclaim the Gospel to the nations. The life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) is an example of a living Gospel proclamation (cf. Bert Ghezzi, “Spending this Advent Season with the Saints” in Our Sunday Visitor, December 2, 2012, p. 23).
Blessed Pope John Paul II celebrated Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati as a man of the Beatitudes. Athletic and strong, he devoted himself to the weak and malformed. He was wealthy, but he lived in poverty so he could give everything to the poor. He was gregarious, but a lover of solitude. He was rambunctious, the life of every party, and a practical joker, but at prayer he was solemn, reflective and quiet.
As a teenager, Pier Giorgio made friends with the poor in Turin’s back streets and gave them whatever he had – his money, his shoes, his overcoat. “Jesus comes to me every morning in holy Communion”, he replied to a friend on why the hovels did not repulse him. “I repay him in my very small way by visiting the poor. The house may be sordid, but I am going to Christ.”
Pier Giorgio saw the need for social change to relieve the causes of poverty. At the university he decided to major in mechanical engineering so that he could work with miners, who were especially disadvantaged. He was a leader in student political organizations and actively opposed Mussolini and the Fascists. At the same time, he was the organizer of student parties, games and ski trips to the Alps, where he would lead his friends in prayer. Afterward, they relaxed and enjoyed food, wine, cigars and songs.
Blessed Pier Giorgio has become the hero of contemporary young Catholics. They recognize his high Christian ideals still help while pursuing the same pleasures that they enjoy. They gravitate to this handsome and charming saint who delighted in reciting the poetry of Dante, praying the Rosary in a booming voice and spending a night in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. How do we personally experience Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life? In our word and deed, do we replicate the person of Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life?
2. Like Paul and Barnabas, do we endeavor to proclaim the Gospel with every means and opportunity at our disposal?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Father of holiness, Lord of heaven and earth,
in the Word made flesh
you have spoken your words to us
and you call us to follow him.
He is the way that leads to you,
the truth that sets us free,
the life that makes our joy complete.
Grant us the grace to know the truth,
to follow the way
and to share your eternal life
in Jesus, the way, truth and life.
Together with Saint Paul,
we wish to proclaim your saving love
to all the nations.
We adore you and glorify you, now and forever.
Amen. Alleluia!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“I am the way and the truth and the life.” (Jn 14:6) // “What God promised our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.” (Acts 13:33)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Participate in the saving mission of Jesus Christ by trying to be yourself “way, truth and life” for a neighbor who is troubled, lost and confused. By your spirit of joy and charity make the people around you experience that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah.
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May 6, 2023: SATURDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (4)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Image of the Father … He Is Preached to the Gentiles”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 13:44-52 // Jn 14:7-14
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 14:7-14): “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
In today’s Gospel reading (Jn 14:7-14), Jesus makes a very important statement: “If you know me, then you will also know my father.” Jesus is the true image of the Father. He radically reveals the nature of the Father as the fullness of love. Our daily living must be a reflection of God in Jesus. Our mind, will and heart, our thoughts, words and deeds must reflect who God is in his inmost being. Indeed, Jesus is the “great sacrament” of the self-giving, loving God. Since the Father is reflected in the Son, we get to know God the Father through his beloved Son Jesus Christ.
The following charming story illustrates the saying, “Like father, like son” (cf. Fay Angus in Daily Guideposts 2010, p. 154). It also gives insight into the awesome affinity and intimate relationship of God the Father and his Son Jesus, sent as our Savior.
During the heat of the California summer, we invite our neighbors to come over anytime for a dip in our pool. Van is a favorite; he loves to cycle up and down our hills, his forehead dripping under his protective helmet, and it’s great to see him park his bike by the pool and plunge in, staying under so long that it’s a relief when he eventually surfaces.
This particular weekend his son was with him. On leave from his base in San Diego, he was tall, with the upright, straight-as-an-arrow deportment typical of the military, a firm handshake and steady eyes that locked into those of the person talking to him. I liked him. I liked him even more when he peeled off his T-shirt to take a swim, for across his upper torso, under his collarbone, was a tattoo: Carpe Diem, Latin for “seize the day”. I was fascinated, “Tell me about this”, I asked. “I want to make every moment of my life count”, he said, giving me his father’s wide smile. “My service to God, to my country and to making the world a better place: this is a daily reminder of my commitment.”
He sprang from the diving board and swam the length of the pool in one swoop, like a torpedo. On the return lap, his arms were turbojets churning the water. Wow, I thought, if he represents the caliber of our military, we’re in good hands!
B. First Reading (Acts 13:44-52): “We now turn to the Gentiles.”
In the reading (Acts 13:44-52) we see the people’s response to the Gospel: it is received both positively and negatively. The first reaction to Paul’s preaching in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia is positive. Many are converted. Nearly everyone gathers to hear the word of the Lord on the next Sabbath. But other Jews, full of jealousy on account of the interest and crowds the apostles are generating, contest what Paul is saying and insult him. But Paul and Barnabas speak out even more boldly and assert that since the Jews are rejecting the Gospel, they will turn to the Gentiles. In obedience to God’s commands, the apostles will be – in imitation of Jesus Christ – “a light for the Gentiles” so that all may be saved. The Gentiles rejoice and praise God’s message and they believe. But as the word of the Lord spreads everywhere in that region, the Jews incite violence against the apostles. They start a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, who shake the dust off their feet in protest. The apostles head off to Iconium to continue their work of evangelization. Meanwhile, the believers in Antioch are full of joy and the Holy Spirit.
The Christian disciples are called to continue the work of evangelization. The Parish of the Sacred Heart in Manila, where I grew up, was under the pastoral care of the Capuchin friars. One of the priests serving there, who became my spiritual director, was born in Goa, India. Before being assigned in Manila, Fr. Alexis Felinto worked as a missionary in Portuguese Angola, in Southwest Africa. He shared with us that when he viewed the movie “The Nun at the Crossroad”, about a nun who was sexually assaulted by African rebels, tears ran down his face. He had a first-hand experience of the violence the missionaries suffered from the Angolan rebels. He narrowly escaped death, but some of his colleagues were tortured and killed. The rebels plucked their beards, tearing off patches of skin from their faces, creating raw wounds and terrible pain. They have replicated in their life the trials Paul and Barnabas endured for the sake of the Gospel. Indeed, their afflictions were a participation in the saving passion of Christ.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we believe that if we know the Son we will know also the Father? How do we show our love for both God the Father and his son Jesus?
2. What do we do when we meet obstacles and trials, especially for the sake of the Gospel?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving Father,
your Son Jesus is the full revelation
of your saving will and life-giving love.
Let us be totally configured to Christ Jesus
and fully united with you through the Easter mystery
of his death and rising to glory.
Give us the grace to proclaim him to the nations.
We give you praise and glory, now and forever.
Amen. Alleluia!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“If you know me, then you will also know my Father.” (Jn 14:7) // “We now turn to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13:46)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your life of virtue and service to the poor and needy, manifest to the world the love and goodness of God the Father in his Son Jesus. // By the way you respond to daily trials and difficulties, manifest to the world that Christ, the Risen Lord, is the center of your life and the font of strength.
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Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US