A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 21, n. 29)
Corpus Christi – Week 10 in Ordinary Time: June 11-17, 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: June 4-10, 2023 please go to ARCHIVES Series 21 and click on “Trinity – Week 9 Ordinary”.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY:
June 11-17, 2023.)
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June 11, 2023: THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI)
“JESUS SAVIOR: His Flesh Is True Food; His Blood
Is True Drink”
BIBLE READINGS
Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a // I Cor 10:16-17 // Jn 6:51-58
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 6:51-57): “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
My parents immigrated to the States with one of my younger brothers and became American citizens. In 1997, however, my 82-year-old father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His wish was to die in his native Philippines where my other siblings were residing. Our Regional Superior gave me permission to fly to the States and assist my father in his illness. I stayed two weeks in the Bay Area to prepare the return trip of my parents to the Philippines. My father, recently discharged from the hospital, was too weak to go for his daily Mass. When I went to their parish church in Newark, I talked to the pastor about my father’s situation. He gave me permission to give communion to my father and provided a pyx that I could use to carry the sacred host. St. Edward Parish has a stock of vessels to be used by parishioners to bring communion to their sick relatives. The daily communion received by my father gave him peace and serenity to trust in the will of God and to accept his imminent death. We left for the Philippines on August 14. He continued to be nourished with the Eucharistic bread until he died two weeks later. The sacred host served as his viaticum. For him, the Eucharistic communion was truly an experience and pledge of eternal life.
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly, gives a profound insight into the meaning of this feast in light of the Christian vision of death as the passage to eternal life. He comments: “As the Christian sees it, death is both dissolution and transformation. As dissolution it is the cessation of physical life and the deterioration of the body no longer sustained by life-giving blood. As transformation it is the ushering of the human spirit into a new kind of life that has been prepared for in the previous existence … In the renewed liturgical rites the emphasis is clearly on death as transformation. The white vestments, the repeated Alleluias, and, again, the homily all express the joy that a new and better existence is now shared by the deceased faithful believer. It may sound strange to be speaking of death on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. I am doing so only that I might speak all the more forcefully about life … In the Gospel reading for this feast Jesus says, “He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal …” There is no question of Jesus’ meaning, the verb is in the present tense, the communion with Christ in the Eucharist means a sharing here and now in eternal life … Later on in our Sunday reading Jesus says, “… the man who feeds on this bread shall live forever.” Death, therefore, does not destroy this kind of life.”
Eugene Maly then delineates the basic characteristic of eternal life as communion with God: “For John eternal life is the kind of life that is proper to the Father and which he shares with the Son. That is what our reading says about it. Eternal life, then, is God’s life. And the most frequently mentioned quality of this kind of life is that it is shared. This is at the basis of the Christian doctrine of Trinity. That is why the real enemy of eternal life is not natural death, which affects only natural life, but sin, which destroys the union with God and, accordingly, eternal life. When we receive the Eucharistic body and blood of Christ, we are united to him and to the Father. This is sharing in eternal life that is a life of union with God.”
B. First Reading (Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a): “He gave you a food unknown to you and your fathers.”
The feast of “Corpus Christi” – the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ! As a community of believers, we celebrate the Real Presence of the Risen Christ - body and blood, soul and divinity - in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Our Catholic faith declares: “By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1376). On this day, we meditatively focus our attention on the goodness and kindness of God in providing sustenance for his people. The Lord God fed the Israelites journeying in the wilderness to the Promised Land with “manna” from heaven. Now he continues to nourish and feed, in a marvelously unique way, the Church – the new People of God – with the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ the risen and glorified Lord, through the Eucharistic sacrament of his body and blood.
The feast of Corpus Christi is a special “memorial” day for us Christians. As we listen to the Old Testament reading (Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a), the exhortation of Moses addressed to the Israelites moves us deeply and helps us in our “remembering” - and in not “forgetting”. We intend not to “forget” - but rather resolve to “remember” - how the Lord Yahweh was gracious to his people. For forty years he directed their journey in the desert. When they were hungry, he fed them with “manna” from heaven, a unique food unknown to their fathers. Journeying out of slavery in Egypt, they were led safely by him through a vast and terrible desert infested with scorpions and serpents. The Israelites’ throats burned with thirst as they moved through parched ground, but the Lord slaked their thirst with water gushing from the rock. Above all, in their experience of hunger and thirst in the desert, the Lord God provided not merely material sustenance, but something better and surpassingly nourishing - the bread of his living Word!
The manifestation of divine providence to the people of Israel is surpassed and excelled by God the Father’s gift of his Son Jesus Christ – the Bread of life – to the Church, the new people of Israel. Jesus is the true “manna” that came down from heaven to nourish us and enable us to share intimately in the divine life. It is most fitting that on this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we deepen our sense of “remembering” – and avoid the misfortune of “forgetting” - by celebrating the saving event of Christ’s death, rising and glorification through the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Eucharistic bread broken and shared, we receive Jesus Christ’s body broken for the life of the world. And in the Eucharistic wine, we drink the blood of Christ that sealed the new Covenant and the constitution of the new people of God.
One apostolic initiative to make the solemnity of Corpus Christi more meaningful is the “FORTY HOURS”, during which the faithful join with the local clergy in a continuous period of prayer for forty hours. This laudable pastoral practice enables the faithful to enter more deeply into the celebration of the Eucharist, which is its summit and source. Moreover, it intensifies the sense of “remembering” and thankfulness for the goodness and saving grace given to us by God in his Son Jesus Christ, the living Bread from heaven and the cup of eternal salvation. The following is my experience of the “FORTY HOURS” Adoration and Eucharistic Activities held in the Diocese of San Jose (California) in 2006.
Introduced at the San Jose diocesan level by Fr. Mark Catalana and Sr. Mary Rosario Gallardo, PDDM, the “FORTY HOURS” Adoration and Eucharistic activities were celebrated on June 16 to June 18, 2006 at the San Jose Vietnamese Catholic Center. With the blessing of Msgr. Francis Cilia, the Bishop’s Vicar for the Diocese, with the special cooperation of Rev. Fr. Hienh Minh Nguyen who offered the full resources of the Vietnamese Catholic Center, and with the collaboration of the clergy, religious and laity, three days of intense prayer were dedicated to contemplating the meaning and deep implications of “The Body and Blood of Christ”. This wonderful ecclesial event included the daily celebration of the Eucharist, day and night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, group Eucharistic Adoration, Lauds and Vespers, Confession, and the Eucharistic Procession and Benediction, which followed the 11:00 A.M. Mass on Corpus Christi Sunday (June 18).
Especially offered for the increase and perseverance of priestly and religious vocations, people of various age groups came throughout the day and throughout the night to respond to the spiritual invitation, “THE MASTER IS HERE PRESENT! HE CALLS FOR YOU!” (Jn 11:28). They came to celebrate the Eucharistic Mystery and to adore Jesus Master present in the ineffable sacrament of his Body and Blood keeping in mind the following reality: “Grateful for this immense gift, the Church’s members gather around the Blessed Sacrament, for that is the source and summit of her being and action. Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit! The Church draws her life from the Eucharist and knows that this truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery in which she consists.” (Cf. Pope John Paul II, Homily for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus Christi, June 10, 2004, n. 4)
C. Second Reading (1 Cor 10:16-17): “The bread is one, and we, though many, are one body.”
The Second Reading (1 Cor 10:16-17) is a powerful witness of the Eucharistic faith of the Christian community. The Eucharist builds the Church, whose head is Jesus Christ. Participation in the body and blood of Christ is the source of the life and unity of the Church as one body.
The biblical scholar, Richard Kugelman, comments: “Through eating the bread and drinking the cup Christians are united to Christ in an intimate fellowship, because the Eucharist is his body and blood. From this Eucharistic fellowship with Christ follows the real union of all the faithful with one another in one body. Baptism incorporates the Christians into the body of the Risen Lord; the Eucharist in which each communicant receives the body of Christ strengthens and cements the union. The Eucharist is consequently the sacramentum unitatis ecclesiae (Augustine), and when we receive the Eucharistic bread, Christ assimilates and transforms us, making us his body.”
The multi-talented Fr. Leo Patalinhug, a third-degree black-belt in tae kwon do and arnis, a form of full-contact stick fighting, and an award-winning break-dancer, is also a fabulous chef. He has started the Grace Before Meals movement, which encourages families to prepare and enjoy meals together. It is a movement deeply rooted in the Eucharist. Fr Leo asserts: “Relationships are what I’m trying to encourage … relationships that are developed when we spend time with each other and feed one another.” Family meals can thus lead people to the Eucharist, enabling them to experience in it the sacramental reality: Because there is one loaf, we, though we are many, form one body.
The beautiful article reported below is most fitting for today’s feast of Corpus Christi (cf. Fr. Leo Patalinhug, “Cook’s Grace” in Guideposts, May 2011, p. 88-90).
Food was a big deal in our little house south of Baltimore. My parents, brother, sister and I crowded around the kitchen table. I remember Mom dishing hot pancit onto our plates, a simple Filipino meal of noodles, vegetables and chicken she loved making for our immigrant family. I dug in with my fork, hungry and wanting to rush back to my G.I Joes. “Slow down, Leo!” Mom would say. “Taste the different flavors.” I learned to chew … slowly … and there was the sweetness of the carrots, the pungent garlic. Mom was right. Food was meant to be savored, like a blessing. Mmmm!
“What did you learn at school today?” Dad would ask at dinner. It seemed remarkable to me, his fascination with both photosynthesis and James and the Giant Peach. We would all talk. Even after my plate was clean I lingered, wanting seconds of the conversation. It slowly dawned on me that mealtimes were for more than just eating. It was when my family connected. It helped that Mom was a great cook. Before long she began teaching me. My first meal was Eggs in a Nest. I made it for Dad for breakfast. One look at the love in his eyes and I knew how Mom felt cooking for us.
Eventually I answered a call to priesthood, which made my parents happy. I still love to cook though. My studies took me to Rome, where I learned to make pasta and discovered the wonder of sauces. Then, back in the States, assigned to my first parish, a realization: For many of my parishioners the dinner hour was no longer sacred. Rush here, rush there, take-out, mom and dad working late, no one sitting at the table anymore. I was troubled. I prayed about it.
Soon I felt a calling, to show how easy it is to make great food, to share my own story, and bring parents and children back to the Lord’s table – the one collecting dust in their homes. I was teaching at seminary by now but I had weekends free. I would spread the gospel of family mealtime and good food.
Five years later I’ve taken the message of our growing movement Grace Before Meals to nearly every state and countries around the globe. You may have seen my face-off and win against master chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network last year. That was huge. But my crusade can be lonely at times. I wonder if I’m making any difference at all.
Last November a parish in Tiverton, Rhode Island, invited me up. It was a Friday evening and I was tired after a long week of teaching. But I perked up when the event coordinator told me she expected 200 people, half of them teens. “Wow! Your kids must be into cooking.” “Not exactly”, she said sheepishly. “I made them come … as part of confirmation classes.”
My heart sank. As the crowd streamed in I searched their faces for some sign of recognition. Surely someone had come eager to see me. Why did every presentation feel like I was starting anew? I hopped onstage, behind the stove that serves as my pulpit. “Good evening”, I said. “My name is Father Leo. Tonight I’m making Penne alla Vodka, enough to feed your body, mind and soul.”
The adults chuckled appreciatively, but the kids looked at me blankly. I hoped I could hold their interest until I burned off the alcohol in the vodka. I grabbed my big bottle of olive oil, poured it into a pan and turned up the heat. I tossed a handful of garlic into the oil and paused to hear the sizzle. “That’s my favorite sound”, I said. “Or maybe it’s ‘Go in peace and serve the Lord’.” More laughter. They were getting into it.
I stirred in some onion, letting it caramelize, while sharing the importance of a family meal. Next some tomato paste. And a few more stories. At last it was time for the vodka. I took the bottle by the neck and tipped it into the pan. “Now I’m gonna set this bad boy on fire.” I struck a match and with a whoosh flames leapt from the pan. “Whoa!” the crowd roared. Kids were on the edge of their seats. For an instant I felt that familiar rush of adrenaline. I mixed in tomatoes, heavy cream and the penne. Finito! “Who wants a bite?” I said.
I dished out samples as the crowd filed past. Most everyone said they loved it, though a few said it was too spicy. But as I headed out the doors I felt drained. I’d done so many presentations like this and what did I have to show for it? Was I bringing families together or just putting on a show? On the flight back to Baltimore I wondered whether it wasn’t time to hang up my apron.
I brooded about it for the next week. Then one day, in my office, I clicked open an e-mail from an unfamiliar name. Father Leo, So here’s the deal. My grandson Nathan eats nothing but PBJ and hot dogs. But on my birthday he announced he wanted to make me Penne alla Vodka. He attended your presentation in Tiverton. I laughed, but he knew every step of the recipe. I watched in disbelief as he cooked his first meal to perfection. You obviously made quite an impression on him and I just wanted to say thanks for a birthday present I’ll never forget.
I reread the e-mail, marveling at every word, like an answer to prayer. What difference could I make to a hectic world? Suddenly, through God’s grace, the possibilities seemed limitless.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. What is our response to Jesus’ auto-revelation: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51)? What is our response to the gift of the Eucharist offered to us by the Risen Lord Jesus?
2. What is the importance of “remembering” in the life of Israel and the Church? How do we “remember” God’s guidance and providence for his people? How do we respond to the following reality taught by God: “Not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3)?
3. Do we truly believe that at the Eucharistic table the cup of blessing that we bless is a participation in the blood of Christ and the bread that we break is a participation in the body of Christ?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving and gracious God,
we thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ,
the true bread from heaven and the real cup of blessing.
At the Eucharistic table,
he offers us the flesh that is true food in the form of bread
and the blood that is true drink in the form of wine.
How wonderful is the memorial-presence
of the saving event of liberation through the sacrificial body of Christ
and of the new covenant that he sealed in his blood!
Let our participation in the wondrous mystery of the Eucharist
make of us “one bread … one body” .
Let us drink from the one cup of salvation
and enable us to share in the eternal life that is ours
as your covenant people.
We proclaim and thank you for this mystery of faith,
now and forever.
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.
“My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (Jn 6:55)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Endeavor to share God’s goodness and sustenance to others, especially the poor and needy. Make an effort to participate meaningfully in the Mass and in Eucharistic activities such as the “Forty Hours”, etc. Be grateful for the grace of being “One Bread … One Body”.
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June 12, 2023: MONDAY – WEEKDAY (10)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Shows the Way of Beatitudes … We Share in His Suffering”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Cor 1:1-7 // Mt 5:1-12
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 5:1-12): “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
In today’s Gospel episode (Mt 5:1-12) Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes which are a “summary” of the meaning of Christian discipleship. In the Beatitudes, Jesus – the new Moses teaching on the new mountain of revelation - offers us the foundations of the law of the Kingdom. He shows us the path of Christian perfection. The Beatitudes are a description of Christ as well as a portrait of the ideal Christian. In order to experience fully God’s beatitudes, the Christian disciples are called to live intensely the life of Jesus, as one who is poor, lowly, merciful, single-hearted, peaceful, persecuted, sorrowful, hungry and thirsty for holiness.
The following story illustrates the spirit of the Beatitudes in a modern setting (cf. Dale Galloway in Stories for the Heart, ed. Alice Gray, Sisters: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1996, p. 65).
Little Chad was a shy, quiet young fella. One day he came home and told his mother he’d like to make a valentine for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, “I wish he wouldn’t do that!” because she had watched the children when they walked home from school. Her Chad was always behind them. They laughed and hung on to each other and talked to each other. But Chad was never included. Nevertheless, she decided she would go along with her son. So she purchased the paper and glue and crayons. For three whole weeks, night after night, Chad painstakingly made thirty-five valentines.
Valentine’s Day dawned, and Chad was beside himself with excitement! He carefully stacked them up, put them in a bag, and bolted out the door. His mom decided to bake him his favorite cookies and serve them nice and warm with a cool glass of milk when he came home from school. She just knew he would be disappointed … maybe that would ease the pain a little. It hurt to think that he wouldn’t get many valentines – maybe none at all.
That afternoon she had the cookies and milk on the table. When she heard the children outside, she looked out the window. Sure enough here they came, laughing and having the best time. And, as always, there was Chad in the rear. He walked a little faster than usual. She fully expected him to burst into tears as soon as he got inside. His arms were empty, she noticed, and when the door opened she choked back the tears. “Mommy has some warm cookies and milk for you.” But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by, his face aglow, and all he could say was: “Not a one … not a one.” And then he added, “I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!”
B. First Reading (2 Cor 1:1-7): “God encourages us that we ourselves may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction.”
We begin today the semi-continuous reading of the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Written during a difficult period in his relation with the Church at Corinth, it is his letter of reconciliation. In the reading (II Cor 1:1-7), Saint Paul - “the apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will” - begins his letter with a benediction for the blessing he has received, especially for the hardships he has been able to endure. He invites the Corinthians to bless “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement”. Indeed, Paul’s experience of suffering and hardship does not nullify his spirit of thanksgiving, but causes him to praise God, who helps us in all our troubles so that we are able to help others with the same consolation we have received. Just as Jesus’ own experience of death leads to him being the source of life, so our own participation in Christ’s sufferings is a share in God’s great help. God is not only the origin of life, but also a sustainer and consoler in trials.
The following is a touching story of a boy who, in suffering, is able to give comfort and joy to others (cf. Samuel Bogan, “The Christmas Scout” in Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, ed. Jack Canfield, Deerfield Beach: Health Communications, Inc., 1997, p. 78-81).
In spite of the fun and laughter, 13-year-old Frank Wilson was not happy. It was true that he had received all the presents he wanted. And he enjoyed these traditional Christmas Eve reunions of relatives – this year at Aunt Susan’s – for the purpose of exchanging gifts and good wishes.
But Frank was not happy because this was the first Christmas without his brother, Steve, who, during the year, had been killed by a reckless driver. Frank missed his brother and the close companionship they had together.
Frank said good-bye to his relatives and explained to his parents that he was leaving a little early to see a friend: from there he could walk home. Since it was cold outside, Frank put on his new plaid jacket. It was his favorite gift. The other presents he placed on his new sled.
Then Frank headed out, hoping to find the patrol leader of his Boy Scout troop. Frank always felt understood by him. Though rich in wisdom, he lived in the Flats, the section of town where most of the poor lived, and his patrol leader did odd jobs to help support his family. To Frank’s disappointment, his friend was not at home.
As Frank hiked down the street toward home, he caught glimpses of trees and decorations in many of the small houses. Then, through one front window, he glimpsed a shabby room with the limp stockings hanging over an empty fireplace. A woman was seated near them weeping. The stockings reminded him of the way he and his brother had always hung theirs side by side. The next morning, they would be bursting with presents. A sudden thought struck Frank – he had not done his “good turn” for the day.
Before the impulse passed, he knocked on the door. “Yes?” the sad voice of the woman inquired. “May I come in?” “You are welcome”, she said, seeing his sled full of gifts, and assuming he was making a collection, “But I have no food or gifts for you. I have nothing for my own children.” “That’s not why I am here”, Frank replied. “Please choose whatever presents you’d like for your children from this sled.” “Why, God bless you!” the amazed woman answered gratefully. She selected some candies, a game, the toy airplane and a puzzle. When she took the new Scout flashlight, Frank almost cried out. Finally, the stockings were full. “Won’t you tell me your name?” she asked, as Frank was leaving. “Just call me the Christmas Scout”, he replied.
The visit left the boy touched, and with an unexpected flicker of joy in his heart. He understood that his sorrow was not the only sorrow in the world. Before he left the Flats, he had given away the remainder of his gifts. The plaid jacket had gone to a shivering boy.
But he trudged homeward, cold and uneasy. Having given his presents away, Frank now could think of no reasonable explanation to offer his parents. He wondered how he could make them understand. “Where are your presents, son?” asked his father as he entered the house. “I gave them away.” “The airplane from Aunt Susan? Your coat from Grandma? Your flashlight? We thought you were happy with your gifts.” “I was – very happy”, the boy answered lamely. “But, Frank, how could you be so impulsive?” his mother asked. “How will you explain to the relatives who spent so much time and gave so much love shopping for you?” His father was firm. “You made your choice, Frank. We cannot afford any more presents.
His brother gone, his family disappointed in him, Frank suddenly felt dreadfully alone. He had not expected a reward for his generosity. For he knew that a good deed always should be its own reward. It would be tarnished otherwise. So he did not want his gifts back, however, he wondered if he would ever again truly recapture joy in his life. He thought he had this evening, but it had been fleeting. Frank thought of his brother and sobbed himself to sleep.
The next morning, he came downstairs to find his parents listening to Christmas music on the radio. Then the announcer spoke: “Merry Christmas, everybody! The nicest Christmas story we have this morning comes from the Flats. A crippled boy down there has a new sled this morning, another youngster has a fine plaid jacket and several families report that their children were made happy last night by gifts from a teenage boy who simply referred to himself as the Christmas Scout. No one could identify him, but the children of the Flats claim that the Christmas Scout was a personal representative of old Santa Claus himself.”
Frank felt his father’s arms go around his shoulders and he saw his mother smiling through her tears. “Why didn’t you tell us? We didn’t understand. We are so proud of you, son.” The carols came over the air again filling the room with music. “… Praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on Earth.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. What are our experiences of joy and difficulty in living out the Beatitudes? Among the Beatitudes mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, which ones challenge us with greater intensity today?
2. Do we believe that God strengthens us in our afflictions and that we are being called to strengthen others with the same consolation we have received from him?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Jesus poor,
help us to be poor in spirit
and to trust in your divine assistance and strength
that the kingdom of Heaven may be ours.
Jesus, man of sorrows,
help us to mourn and to surrender to the divine will
that our grief may be transformed into joy and consolation.
Jesus, most gentle,
help us to be meek and humble
that peace may reign in our hearts and upon the earth.
Jesus, yearning for love,
help us to hunger and thirst for holiness
that we may satisfy our deepest longings.
O most merciful Jesus,
help us to be merciful
that we may relish your mercy and compassion.
Jesus, chaste and loving,
help us to be pure and single-hearted
that we may see God in the daily events of our life
and be admitted into his eternal Kingdom.
Jesus, our peace,
help us to be peacemakers
that we may build a world of harmony and beauty
and be called children of God.
Jesus Savior,
help us to welcome persecution for the sake of justice
that we may be rewarded greatly in heaven.
Jesus, Risen Lord,
make us the people of the beatitudes.
Help us to trust in the power of your Word.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
Almighty God,
you are the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement.
You give us strength in our affliction.
Help us to participate fully
in the life-giving sufferings of your Son Christ
so that we may fully share in your consolation.
Make us channels of your joy
for the sorrowing and the afflicted.
We love you and adore you,
now and forever.
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 week. Please memorize it.
“Your reward will be great in heaven.” (Mt 5:12) //“He encourages us in our every affliction.” (2 Cor 1:4)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Give thanks to the Lord for the gift of the Beatitudes in the Church. Choose a Beatitude as a moral-spiritual program and try to live this out in a more intense way this week. Pay special attention to the word of God proclaimed in the liturgy. // By your kind words and charitable deeds, be an instrument of God’s consolation for the suffering and the sorrowing.
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June 13, 2023: TUESDAY – SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, Priest, Doctor of the Church
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us to be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World … He Is God’s YES”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Cor 1:18-22 // Mt 5:13-16
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 5:13-16): “You are the light of the world.”
Today’s Gospel reading (Mt 5:13-16) presents the role of the disciples of Jesus using the images of salt and light. The biblical scholar, Daniel Harrington, gives a concise, but insightful explanation: “In Jesus’ time, salt was used not only to improve the taste of food but also to preserve meat and fish. When Jesus compares his followers to salt, he says that they improve the quality of human existence and preserve it from destruction. In Jesus’ time, the only lamps available were small dish-like devices in which oil was burned. By our standards these lamps did not give off much light, but in the time before electricity their light must have seemed very bright. When Jesus calls his disciples the light of the world, he says that their actions serve as a beacon of light in a dark world. The disciples are challenged to let their light shine as a witness to their fidelity to Jesus and his heavenly Father.”
Against this backdrop, I find the article of Robert Rodriguez on the De Alba Family, the co-parishioners of our PDDM Sisters in Fresno, very interesting (cf. The Fresno Bee, Dec. 25, 2004, p. A11). Remembering its roots in the fields, the family has fed farm workers in the central San Joaquin Valley for many years. It is their way of thanking them for their hard work in harvesting the region’s fruits and vegetables. It is also a reminder of how far this family of twelve has come from their own days of picking cherries, tomatoes and grapes in Valley fields and orchards. The De Alba Family also has held very successful canned-food drives for the poor and strongly supports St. Mary Queen of Apostles Church to which they belong. Rev. Pat McCormick, a former parish priest, testifies: “They have really been a unifying factor for the church. They are a great family.” Indeed, this wonderful De Alba family of Fresno is an inspiring example of what it means to be “the salt of the earth … the light of the world” in today’s world.
B. First Reading (2 Cor 1:18-22): “Jesus was not yes and no, but yes has always been in him.”
In the reading (2 Cor 1:18-22), the Apostle Paul affirms his credibility by appealing to the integrity of God’s “YES”, made incarnate in his beloved Son Jesus Christ, into whom Paul is totally configured. Accused of being fickle and not true to his word, the deeply aggrieved Paul asserts that the change concerning his planned visit to the Corinthians is motivated by charity and his concern for the good of the Christian community. It is definitely not a sign of fickleness or insincerity. Indeed, Paul’s credibility and integrity come from God, whose faithfulness is fully manifested in his Son Jesus Christ and whose gift of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee and a pledge of our future glory. Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, is God’s “YES”. It is he who is the “YES” to all of God’s promises, accomplishing the Father’s messianic plan. Through the same Jesus Christ our loving “AMEN” response is directed to God for his greater glory.
In the following story, replete with charm and inspiration, we can see the “YES” forgiving stance of Jesus at work in the lives of a remarkable couple, who are marked with moral integrity and animated by Christian charity (cf. Lola Walter, “Tale of Two Houses” in Guideposts, Large Print Edition, December 1997, p. 169-180). The young couple Lola and Glenn, struggling through financial constraint and the effects of the Great Depression, had to resort to the arrangement of a used-car dealer when their old vehicle broke down beyond repair.
The sign at the lot advertised easy credit, just what we needed. The owner, a husky man in his mid 30’s, treated us like old friends. He picked out a good, clean Chevrolet sedan. “This one’ll do you real fine,” he promised, and we settled on a price before heading to his office. “My wife will type up the contract,” he said, gesturing to the prim blond woman who smiled at us shyly as she slipped onto a stool. In minutes she pulled the paper from the roller bar. Ceremoniously her husband passed the contract to Glenn. “If the details are agreeable to you, sir …” he said. We met our payments faithfully – paid to the car dealer in person, in cash - and rejoiced when half the coupons in the credit book were gone. (…)
Not long after, we got a strange visitor. “I’m a bank officer, ma’am,” the man explained. “I’d like to talk to you and your husband about your car payments.” I wiped my hands on my apron. What is there to talk about? The contract was filed in our strong box with other important papers; the deal was legitimate. But something told me this man didn’t have good news. “Please come in,” I said warily. I held the screen door and called my husband. “This man’s come from the bank,” I filled Glenn in as we sat down around the kitchen table. “Oh?” Glenn said. “And what brings you out this afternoon?” The man explained that our car dealer had financed his business through the bank, and the bank owned the contract we signed. “We’ve not received a single payment on that car, Mr. and Mrs. Walters. You’re a year delinquent on the loan – with interest.” “There must be some mistake,” Glenn said. “No mistake, Mr. Walters. I’m sorry to have to tell you that unless you bring the debt up to date, the bank will repossess the car.” (…) I tried to calm down while Glenn saw the bank officer to the door. Surely the dealer had some explanation.
But when we got to the car lot, the easy credit sign was gone. The place had been shut down. We learned the car dealer had filed for bankruptcy. More than likely he had pocketed our payments. We convinced the bank we were victims of fraud. Payments were extended another year and bank interest was waived. We started from scratch … While we made do in our barely patched house, the car dealer continued to live in his big, beautiful home. Bitterness filled my heart every time we passed it. I never saw the wife in their big fancy car anymore. Vacation? I wondered sarcastically. And then we saw her working at the assessor’s office when we went to file some documents. I had to restrain myself from telling her off. Apparently her husband didn’t need to work, for at any time of any day we saw him walking the streets in fashionable dark glasses. Trying to look debonair, I thought with contempt.
About the time we were again down to 12 payment slips, we were shocked to read that the car dealer had found his wife dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. I was thankful I had held my temper around the unhappy woman. The next time I saw the car dealer walking the streets near his home, decked out in his dark glasses even though the day was overcast, I was even more disgusted. If I ever got the opportunity, I would tell that man one thing: “You ought to feel ashamed of your dishonest feelings.” That would give me a great deal of satisfaction.”
During the next years we paid off the car debt … The first winter in our new, improved, insulated house, I cooked every holiday dish I could think of … After the blessing over the food, Glenn dished up a bowl of soup and began to eat, in silence. “Is something wrong?” I asked. “I picked up Fred.” The car dealer? We hardly ever spoke his name. “You gave that cheat a ride?” I demanded. “Why?” “You don’t understand,” Glenn said slowly. “He was lying on a snow bank in front of his house. I helped him inside. It was a mess in there. He was mumbling about his wife.” I had noticed in the last few years the dealer had grown thin and his walk had become unsteady. He seemed to let his house go too. But I had paid little attention to his troubles. My only thoughts regarding him were angry ones, focused on his dishonesty. For the first time I considered that he was a man with his own problems. “Was he drunk?” I asked. Glenn nodded. “He could have frozen to death.” (…)
It’s hard to reach out to someone in need – sometimes impossible, if not plainly inappropriate. But I had not even taken the first step, the step I owed it to my faith to take: After all that time I had not forgiven this man in my heart. Fred disappeared soon after Glenn stopped to help him. We never saw him again. But I think about him often, and pray for him … Forgiving him has been a step-by-step process … And if I could tell Fred only one thing, I would say, “I forgive you, completely.” It would give me a great deal of satisfaction.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Are we “the salt of the earth … the light of the world”? Is the heavenly Father being glorified by our daily acts of Christian witnessing?
2. How does the “YES” stance of Jesus and of the apostle Paul inspire you?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you call us to be “the salt of the earth … the light of the world”.
As “salt of the earth” and by the zest of our Christian witnessing,
we strive to uplift human dignity
and help our brothers and sisters relish the joy of salvation.
Moved by the Holy Spirit
to proclaim your saving love,
we wish to be “the light of the world … the city on the mountaintop”.
Make us instruments of God’s compassion.
Help us trust that “the jar of flour” and “the jug of oil” will never be empty.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
Loving Father,
we thank you for the faithfulness of Jesus Christ
to your benevolent will.
He is the gracious and faithful “YES”
that accomplished all your kind plans
and gracious promises for our healing and salvation.
With the great apostle Paul and the entire Church,
we offer to you our loving response of “AMEN”
through the same Christ,
your Son and our saving Lord.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
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.
You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world.” (Mt 5:13a, 14a) //“The Son of God, Jesus Christ, was not “yes” and “no”, but “yes” has been in him.” (II Cor 1:19)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By aiding the poor, the marginalized and the suffering members of the local and world community, strive to be “the salt of the earth … the light of the world”. // Through a life of integrity and charity, enable the people around you to experience the goodness of the Father’s “YES” and to give a loving response of “AMEN” to the divine love.
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June 14, 2023: WEDNESDAY – WEEKDAY (10)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us the Meaning of the Law … In Him We Are Ministers of the New Covenant”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Cor 3:4-11 // Mt 5:17-19
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 5:17-19): “I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.”
(Gospel Reflection by Richard Noack, St. Christopher Parish, San Jose, CA-USA)
Sweating the Small Stuff in Faith: In his 1996 book, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff,” Psychologist Richard Carlson writes that we spend too much time, energy, and stress focused on minutiae. The “small” stuff, suggests Carlson, will take care of itself if only we focus on the big stuff, such as our lives, relationships, and families. But in today’s Gospel, Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus tells us that He has come as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, not to abolish them. Not only must we love God and follow Jesus, the “big” stuff from our Christian perspective, we must also abide by all of the law and prophets, to the smallest part of the smallest letter, careful not to break the least of these commandments. When it comes to our faith, it seems, we must sweat the “big” stuff and the “small” stuff.
Over time, we Christians have gradually marginalized many of the strict Jewish laws in Deuteronomy, as well as those given by the prophets, as “small” stuff. Some of those laws such as circumcision, dietary restrictions, and Sabbath observance, were viewed as anachronistic, often as an accommodation for the assimilation of non-Jewish converts. But that legacy of not sweating the “small” stuff extends to the present day. There are those in our communities who view some of our faith practices, disciplines, and doctrines as “small” stuff that need not be sweated, such as regular Sunday Mass attendance, appropriate and respectful attire while attending Mass, arriving on time for Mass and staying until the end of the closing hymn, participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, meatless Fridays during Lent, and respecting the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
But these things aren’t “small” stuff. They are a part of who we are as a faith community and they define us as the People of God. As Catholic Christians, we consider our call to love God with our entire beings and to love our neighbors as ourselves to be our “big” stuff. Our faith practices, disciplines, and doctrines are signposts that point the way to the “big” stuff and that sustain, strengthen, support, nourish, guide, prepare, and affirm us along the Way.
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” (Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
B. First Reading (2 Cor 3:4-11): “He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of spirit.”
Today’s reading (2 Cor 3:4-11) needs to be seen in the context of Paul’s difficult relationship with the Church in Corinth. Some members of the community challenge his credentials. Interested in external, superficial criteria, his detractors accuse him of being a false apostle. Paul refutes them by affirming that his qualifications come from God alone. God gives him the power for the apostolic ministry. It is God who makes Paul competent to serve the new covenant, which consists not of the written law but of the life-giving Spirit. The new covenant surpasses the glory of the first covenant. The God who called him when he was a persecutor of the Church is the same faithful God who qualifies him as minister of the new covenant. This gives Paul full confidence and credential as an apostle of Christ.
Paul’s assertion that it is God who qualifies us for our ministry is very relevant for our daily life. The following story gives an insight into this (cf. Jeff Japinga in Daily Guideposts 2010, p. 254).
When you’re faced with a decision or you need to do something you haven’t done before – a new job or a new Bible study group or planning next week’s menu – how do you approach it?
My default mode is to be cautious. I want to know what other people’s expectations are, the rule I need to follow. I don’t want to make a mistake because I don’t want people criticizing me. No criticism? Then all is well.
Shortly after I started my new job a couple of years ago, I had a cup of coffee with a colleague. I was telling him about my cautious approach to the new work. He got a quizzical look on his face and said, “Don’t you believe the Bible?”
My first thought was, Oh, no! The most brilliant Bible scholar I know is criticizing me. What have I done wrong? Then he smiled and gave me a pat on the back. “The Bible is clear”, he said. “God loves you, God has gifted you and God watches over you. If that doesn’t give you the confidence to be creative and courageous, I don’t know what will.”
I’ll probably never be a bold, caution-to-the-wind person. But since that day I’ve tried to be a more biblical person, trusting more in God and less in my own abilities. I must say, it’s a great way to go.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do I strive to act in accordance with the spirit of love that animates the law and the prophets? Do I value and carry out the “small” stuff that leads to the “big” stuff?
2. Do we believe that God has qualified us to be ministers of the new covenant and that our strength for our apostolic ministry comes from him?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
you form us into a covenant people
through the law and the prophets.
Let your spirit of love animate us.
Help us to transcend the letter of the law
and to act by the love of the Spirit.
With Christ in the Spirit,
let us perceive the meaning of the law and the prophets
and lovingly fulfill it with devotion.
We bless and praise you, now and forever.
Amen.
***
God of love,
our strength comes from you.
You have made us ministers of the new covenant,
in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We trust in you alone and not in our ability.
We thank you
for calling us to share in Christ’s apostolic ministry
to bring salvation to the world and the entire creation.
We praise and glorify you.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
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.
“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Mt 5:17) // “Our qualification comes from God.” (II Cor 3:5b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Carry out your duties to God as well as the greater society, e.g. social service, paying taxes, etc., with personal dedication. // When your apostolic work becomes frustrating and overwhelming, put your trust in the Lord God who qualifies us for this ministry.
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June 15, 2013: THURSDAY – WEEKDAY (10)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us the Path of Reconciliation … He Makes God’s Light Shine in Our Hearts”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Cor 3:15-4:1, 3-6 // Mt 5:20-26
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 5:20-26): “Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”
(Gospel Reflection by Bong Tiotuico, ASSOCIATION OF PAULINE COOPERATORS- Friends of the Divine Master, Antipolo Unit, Philippines)
Anger, Hatred and Reconciliation: According to the Jews at the time of Jesus, righteousness is equated to one's ability to follow the law. Scholars of scripture describe the attitude of Jesus regarding the law. He rejects erroneous interpretations of the law while he holds firm to its original intent, i.e. the practice of a greater justice which is love. In this gospel, Jesus teaches a higher standard of adherence to the law that is more stringent than the "Thou shall not kill; whoever kills will be liable to judgment" commandment handed down through Moses.
Jesus denounces murderous anger and hatred as immoral. From this, the Church teaches, if anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity although it is also praiseworthy to impose forms of restitution to correct vices and maintain justice. Yes, there is such a thing as righteous anger when we face oppression, greed, corruption and other forms of injustice. But most people are not righteously angry: most of the time they are "sinfully" angry. We experience deliberate hatred toward other human beings because of wounded pride. We want to get even from a perceived hurt.
Husband: When I get mad at you, you never fight back. How do you control your anger?
Wife: I clean the toilet.
Husband: How does that help?
Wife: I use your toothbrush.
We always need to teach the usual suspects a lesson they will never forget. Like when you get seriously angry with that colleague who, due to a misunderstanding, starts spreading lies behind your back. And there were moments when you secretly wished that neighbor down the corner bad fortune because you were simply envious of his brand new red Porsche.
From human experience we learn that anger, like sin, grows like a seed in our hearts, then becoming like a weed that chokes and displaces love, kindness, patience and other virtues, ultimately leaving no room for God. It is likewise compared to an acid which does more harm to the container in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. What is the antidote to these commonly occurring but overpowering feelings? Long before anger management therapy was invented, St. Paul (Eph. 4:31-34) advises, "Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words, slander and malice of every kind. In place of these, be kind to one another; be compassionate and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ." With our human weaknesses and limitations, how do we follow these prescriptions? With God's grace, nothing is impossible. We pray for patience, humility and for God to fill our hearts with love and forgiveness so we can better deal with that obnoxious next-door neighbor. In the same light, as they say in another part of the world: "If you are right, there is no need to be angry. If you are wrong, you have no right to be angry. Jesus tells us not only to reconcile with the subject of our anger but to do it without delay so that we can proceed to an authentic and perfect form of worship. Furthermore, to paraphrase St. James (Jas 1:19-20) "Let every person be quick to hear and listen, slow to speak, slow to anger like the heavenly Father, for anger does not fulfill God's justice."
B. First Reading (2 Cor 3:15-4:1, 3-6): “God has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God.”
In today’s First Reading (2 Cor 3:15-4:1, 3-6), Saint Paul asserts that if the Jews will turn to God, then the veil of unbelief will be lifted from them just as the face of Moses was uncovered when he turned to God. The glory of God shines forth perennially on the face of Jesus Christ and we are called to reflect that glory with “uncovered faces”. That same glory, coming forth from the Lord, transforms us in his likeness through the Spirit. The task of Saint Paul is a service to the “glory of God shining in the face of Christ”. Trusting in the merciful God who has qualified him for the task, Paul’s ministry is to proclaim the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. Saint Paul’s vocation is geared towards a “ministry of true light”. Just like Jesus Savior, he is called to make God’s light shine in our hearts.
God continues to make the light of his glory shine that we may give him glory and praise. The following is a modern day example (cf. Marilyn Morgan King in Daily Guideposts 2010, p. 15).
One of the earliest memories is of sitting in St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in McCook, Nebraska, gazing at the stained glass window above the altar. I must have been three or four years old and bored by a sermon I couldn’t understand. That was when I started gazing at the colorful window. The sun was at exactly the right height to shine directly through the glass, radiating stunning blues, emerald greens and deep maroons onto the white choir robes and even onto my lap. The colors were so jewel-like, they seemed magical to me.
Pulling on Mother’s sleeve and pointing to the window, I said in a loud whisper, “Look! God is smiling at us from heaven!”
She put her finger on her lips and whispered, “No, dear. It’s just the sun shining through the colored glass.” But with preschool certainty, I was sure I was right. I had no doubt that those beautiful colors came from God and that He was smiling at me from heaven, just on the other side of the glass.
For the first of many times to come, I breathed in beauty and breathed out gratitude. Whether Mother knew it or not, I felt sure that beauty and the eyes with which to see it were special gifts from God – my favorite of all His presents.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. What do I do to manage my anger and to seek healing for sinful attitudes that lead to violence and acted-out anger?
2. Do we marvel at the light of glory that God let shine around us and within us? What is our response to the divine splendor radiated by Christ?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
heal us of sinful attitudes and unbridled emotions
that disturb our peace, harmony and dignity.
Give us the grace to pacify vengeful anger.
Let your Holy Spirit anoint the violent
with the balm of peace.
Help us to see that we are part of God’s loving creation.
Give us the grace to choose God and life.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
God our Father,
you are the font of beauty and light.
We marvel at the splendor that surrounds us.
We contemplate the beauty that is within us.
We thank you for Jesus Christ,
the light of the world.
He makes us bask in the radiance of your goodness and love.
Like Saint Paul,
may we participate in Christ’s “ministry of light”.
We give you glory and praise, now and forever.
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.
“Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” (Mt 5:22) //“God made his light shine in our hearts.” (II Cor 4:6)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By putting greater trust in Jesus, meek and humble of heart, strive to manage anger whenever it surfaces from your heart. Be a peacemaker to the people around you. // Today carry out in a special way the apostolate of radiating the light of God to the people around you by your kind word, good deed and the warmth of your smile.
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June 16, 2023: FRIDAY – THE MOST SACRED HEART
OF JESUS
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE SANCTIFICATION
OF PRIESTS
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is Meek and Humble of Heart”
BIBLE READINGS
Dt 7:6-11 // 1 Jn 4:7-16 // Mt 11:25-30
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 11:25-30): “Although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.”
The Gospel passage (Mt 11:25-30) proclaimed in today’s solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is about the mystery of the Kingdom revealed to the “little ones” and the call of Jesus, the meek and humble of heart. With this reading, the Church reminds the faithful that Jesus, the meek and humble one, reigns over all by the light of his wisdom and the yoke of his love. He is the instrument of revelation of the Father’s love. With Jesus, the yoke of submission to God’s plan becomes easy and the burden demanded by the love of God and neighbor becomes light. Indeed, united with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we experience the immense peace and joy of the Kingdom. In heeding his invitation “Come to me …” we discover that, far from being burdened, we are spiritually liberated. Love makes every burden light.
B. First Reading (Dt 7:6-11): “The Lord set your heart on you and chose you.”
The Old Testament reading (Dt 7:6-11) underlines that the Lord God “has set his heart on us” and has chosen us. During this feast of the Sacred Heart, we are reminded that we belong to God who loves us unconditionally and takes the first initiative. As Israel has been set apart by God to be his treasured possession, each one of us is called to be holy and blessed by his saving love. Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, the recipient of the visions of the Sacred Heart and chosen as an apostle to manifest to the world the treasures of the Sacred Heart, testifies: “And Christ showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin that made him form the design of manifesting His heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which it contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasure of which His heart is the source.”
C. Second Reading (1 Jn 4:7-16): “If we love one another, God remains in us.”
Today’s Second Reading (1 Jn 4:7-16) helps us to connect the cult of the Sacred Heart to God who is love. God has first loved us. He loves gratuitously, unmotivated by any worthiness on our part. He radically reveals his love by sending his Son Jesus as our Savior. God sends his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have eternal life. God loves us so much that we too must love one another. Whoever loves proves that he is born of God. The love revealed by God in Jesus is perceived by faith and must be responded to in faith. We “manifest” our communion with God by our love for each other. Indeed, by loving one another as brothers and sisters, God dwells in us and his love is made perfect in us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Son of our merciful God, is the great symbol of divine love.
Today’s feast is very meaningful to me personally. I grew up in the Parish of the Sacred Heart in Manila, Philippines and promoted in my family the First Friday devotion. When I made my religious profession, I was given a new name – “Sr. Mary Margaret” - in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the disciple of the Eucharist and the apostle of the Sacred Heart. The following article helps us delve into the meaning of the Sacred Heart devotion (cf. Fr. William Saunders, “The Sacred Heart of Jesus” in October 1994 issue of The Arlington Catholic Herald).
During a recent visit to my parish church, my Protestant friend was interested in our Sacred Heart shrine and the meaning behind the devotion. I told her that the Sacred Heart was a sign of the love of Jesus for us. Is there anything else I should say? What about the history of the devotion? – A reader in Alexandria
Actually, your answer “hits the nail on the head”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Pope Pius XII’s beautiful encyclical “Haurietes Aquas” (1956) states: “Jesus has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings without exception.”
To appreciate the rich symbolism of the heart, we must remember that in Judaism the word “heart” represented the core of the person. While recognized as the principle life organ, the heart was also considered the center of all spiritual activity. Here was the seat of all emotion, especially love. As the psalms express, God speaks to a person in his heart and there probes him. This notion of the heart is clear when we read the words of Deuteronomy 6:5-6: “Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.”
The heart has even greater depth when contemplated in light of the Incarnation. We believe that Jesus Christ, second person of the Holy Trinity and consubstantial with the Father, entered this world taking on our human flesh – true God became also true man. While Jesus’ heart obviously served a physiological function, spiritually His Sacred Heart represents love: the divine love our Lord shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity; the perfect, divine love which God has for us; and the genuine human love Christ felt in His human nature.
I think one of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels is our Lord saying, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden light” (Mt 11:28-30). Therefore, while meditating on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are called to share in the love of the Lord and strive to express our own genuine love for God, ourselves and our neighbors.
Throughout the Gospel, we see the outpouring of Jesus’ love from His heart, whether in miracle stories, the reconciliation of sinners, or the compassion for the grieving. Even on the cross, our Lord poured out His love for us. There the soldier’s lance pierced his side and out flowed blood and water (Jn 19:34). St. Bonaventure said the Church was born from the wounded side of the Lord with the blood and water representing the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and baptism.
The early Church Fathers clearly cherished this meaning of the Sacred Heart of our Lord. St. Justin Martyr (d. 165), in his “Dialogue with the Jew Trypho” said, “We the Christians are the true Israel which springs from Christ, for we are carved out of His heart as from a rock”. Likewise, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (d. 202) said, “The Church is the fountain of the living water that flows to us from the Heart of Christ (“Adversus Haereses”). Paulinus of Nola (d. 431) added, “John, who rested blissfully on the breast of our Lord, was inebriated with the Holy Spirit, from the Heart of all creating Wisdom he quaffed an understanding which transcends that of any creature.” Although these are just a few brief examples from the times of the early Church, we find a profound respect for the Sacred Heart of our Lord as a font of His love which gave birth to the Church and continues to nourish its members.
The devotion continued to grow during the Middle Ages and in 1353 Pope Innocent VI instituted a Mass honoring the mystery of the Sacred Heart. During the age of the Protestant movement, devotion to the Sacred Heart was practiced in hope of restoring peace to a world shattered by political and religious persecution.
Shortly thereafter, the devotion escalated due to the fervor surrounding the apparitions of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). For example, on Dec. 27, 1673, Our Lord revealed, “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love … that, not being able any longer to contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity. It must let them spread abroad through your means, and manifest itself to man, that they may be enriched with its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin.” The four apparitions provided the catalyst for the promotion of the devotion to the Sacred Heart: a feast day in honor of the Sacred Heart and the offering of our Lord’s saving grace and friendship if the individual attended Mass and received holy Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays of the month.
In 1989 Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since then, his successors have exhorted the faithful to turn to the Sacred Heart and make acts of personal consecration. They have also begged the faithful to offer prayers and penances to the Sacred Heart in reparation for the many sins of the world.
Considering our present day and age, the temptations and sins of the world, the growing apathy and secularism, we too should turn again in loving devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and ask Him to pour forth His grace. We must strive to make our hearts like His own, for He said, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8).
May we remember the words of the Preface of the Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “Lifted high on the Cross, Christ gave His life for us, so much did He love us. From His wounded side flowed blood and water, the fountain of the sacramental life in the Church. To His open heart the Savior invites all men, to draw water in joy from the springs of salvation.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
What is our personal response to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and his burning love for us? Do we promote the cult of the Sacred Heart? How?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Prayer “Anima Christi” (by Pope John XXII, 1249-1334)
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds, hide me.
Separated from you, let me never be.
From the evil one, protect me.
At the hour of my death, call me
and close to you bid me
that with your saints,
I may be praising you forever and ever.
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.
“I am meek and humble of heart.” (Mt 11:29)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your acts of mercy and compassion to the needy, suffering and grieving, let the love of the Sacred Heart console them and give them the strength of salvation.
.
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June 17, 2023: SATURDAY – THE IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
“JESUS SAVIOR: A Sword Pierced His Mother’s Heart… In Him We Are a New Creation”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Cor 5:14-21 // Lk 2:41-51
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 2:41-51): “Your father and I have been looking for you.”
When I was in India, I gained an insight into the “sword” that pierced Mary’s heart as indicated in the reading (Lk 2:41-51). I came into contact with the pain and anxiety of a parent who lost a child. The Italian lady, Sarah, and her adopted girl, Saraji, the six-year old daughter of a leper couple, were guests at our convent in Bangalore, India. One afternoon, they went downtown to shop. An hour later a very distraught Sarah came back. Saraji had wandered away and was lost. We prayed in earnest for her return. The deeply anxious Sarah, accompanied by some Sisters, searched for her. They found Saraji at the police station calmly eating an ice cream cone. Sarah was overjoyed to find her again.
The first words of Jesus ever recorded in Luke’s Gospel are full of meaning. To his mother Mary’s legitimate reproach: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety?” the boy Jesus responds: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” With these astonishing words Jesus makes a pronouncement about the meaning of his life and mission. He declares that the heavenly Father’s will is his priority. His life and mission transcend the relationship of his human family. This episode confirms Simeon’s prophecy of a sword piercing Mary’s heart. The bible scholar Carrol Stuhlmueller reflects on this Gospel episode: “Mary finds Jesus at his work; he is not simply her son, but the heavenly Father’s Son, sent on a mission in which she finds him totally involved; at this she sorrows for it means separation.”
B. First Reading (2 Cor 5:14-21): “For our sake, he made him to be sin who did not know sin.”
The reading (2 Cor 5:14-21) invites us to focus on Jesus Christ, who brings about the “new creation”. Like our heavenly Father, Jesus is sacrificial in his love. Through Jesus, God reconciled the whole world to himself. In his beloved Son, we are a “new creation”. Through Jesus, we become ministers of reconciliation and agents of “new creation”.
The biblical scholar Mary Ann Getty explicates: “All is new in Christ. Priorities have changed. All that matters is that one is created anew. The same God who created out of nothing is certainly capable of recreating and making us – however poor, unpromising, and undeserving – sharers of his work. God reconciled the world to himself in Christ. Further, in Christ, God overcame the obstacles of our transgressions so that we are enabled to become partners in the ministry of reconciliation. And not only the apostle, but all who are in Christ, have been sent out into the world with a single message: Be reconciled! This is both imperative and empowerment. For our sakes God made the sinless one sin so that redemption could penetrate the darkest, most forbidding, isolated, and inhuman part of our human experience. This was so that God, in Christ, could bring us to holiness.”
In the following excerpt from the vocation testimony of Sr. Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking, she illustrates her deeper journey into God’s renewing, reconciling love and the expansion of her ministry: initially, for the prisoners on death row and belatedly, also the families of their victims (cf. America, April 13, 2009, p. 36-37).
In my life I have ridden the current (of my true calling) as a Sister of St. Joseph, and as it turns out, the vessel of Sisterhood has proved a trustworthy vessel for me. I was carried a while, seeking to mold myself as an exemplary nun, until the current caught my boat to follow Christ in a very particular, unique work: accompanying death row prisoners to their deaths, being there for them faithfully; visiting, supporting, serving, praying, comforting and confronting, loving, writing and enlisting others to write and visit. Always seeking to show them the face, even as others strap them down to kill them – even when, as a service to society, the state disposes of their lives in a way that’s legal and approved with opinion polls backing it up, shoring up that yes, this is what the people want: your death. And being there to be the face, to be the presence, to assure them, tell them, witness to them even in the last moments of their lives: “You are a child of God, you have a dignity that no one can take from you. Look at me, look as they kill you, look, and I will be the face of Christ for you.”
Then, like St. John in his First Epistle, writing, speaking, traveling, proclaiming what my eyes have seen and my ears have heard and my hands have touched – the trembling shoulders of the condemned, led into the room where the gurney waits – that is, the Word of Life.
This is the amazing journey into the heart of the Gospel of Jesus: to love, to forgive, to allow no one to be enemy – at least for long – to feel the sufferings of others as our own and then to drop the stones at our feet, powerless now to hurl them at another. The call, I hear it, keep hearing it, to teach the people, to keep getting on planes to reach out to the people, to help them navigate the greatest heart journey of all: from vengeance to compassion, right straight into the heart of a merciful Savior: “Go and learn what this means. It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice.”
My own heart traveled first to the condemned, then belatedly to the families of their victims. Belatedly, because at first I did not get it, did not hear the call that I must not choose sides, that I must reach out in compassion to the families of perpetrators and victims alike. After Patrick Sonnier’s electrocution in 1984, the very first man I accompanied, I read with distress the angry letters to the editor in the New Orleans paper about me. My soul was untouched by their anger that I was coddling a cruel, cold-hearted monster. On that score my soul felt pure, untarnished by guilt. They just did not understand. They had not witnessed the torture, the anguish, the futility of his death.
No, the guilt came from my neglect of the victims’ families. “She didn’t throw us a crumb”, bereaved parents told reporters. They were right; I was wrong. I had not reached out to them. I was afraid. I was cowardly. I was afraid of their anger, their scalding rejection. So I had stayed away. But I was wrong. Guilt was salutary. The new call of God was in the guilt. I heard my own heart’s anguish. Guilt shoved my boat out onto new waters.
I reached out to victims’ families – even if they scorned me, rejected me, hurled insults at me. My suffering was nothing, piddling nothing, next to their great sorrow in the violent, tearing, irrevocable loss of their loved one.
Grace was waiting for me.
First it came in the compassionate, wide, loving heart of Lloyd LeBlanc, whose only son David had been killed by Patrick Sonnier and his brother. We prayed together, Lloyd and I, and soon I was seated at his kitchen table, eating with the family, they forgiving my terrible mistake, taking me in like a lost daughter.
As I write this, my heart still resonates with gratitude. Lloyd LeBlanc was my first teacher. Through him I got a peek into the chasm of suffering that families endure, who wake up one morning and everything is alive and humming and normal and by evening face the unalterable fact of the death of a loved one.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we truly appreciate the vital role of Mary in salvation history? Do we treasure her immense love for Jesus and for us? Do we have devotion for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and imitate her loving compassion?
2. Do we realize that in Christ we are a “new creation” for through him, we have been reconciled to the Father? Are we willing to be ministers of reconciliation and agents of God’s “new creation” in Jesus Christ?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
A Prayer to the Blessed Mother (by Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
Mary, mother of Jesus, be a mother to each of us,
that we, like you, may be pure in heart,
that we, like you, love Jesus;
that we, like you, serve the poorest
for we are all poor.
First let us love our neighbors
and so fulfill God’s desire
that we become carriers of his love and compassion.
Amen.
***
Almighty and merciful God,
you embrace us with tenderness
when we turn to you with tears of repentance.
Above all, we thank you for sending your Servant-Son Jesus,
our beloved brother and Savior,
to bring us back to you.
Jesus leads us to your reconciling embrace,
enabling us to feast at the banquet of your eternal kingdom.
In Christ, we are a “new creation”.
The old things have passed away
and behold, new things have come.
Help us to be efficacious ministers of reconciliation.
Teach us to be agents of “new creation” in the here and now.
We love you and praise you. now and forever.
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 week. Please memorize it.
“His mother kept all these things in her heart.” (Lk 2:51) //“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
When you experience some trials and difficulties, present them to Mary and unite them with her most Immaculate Heart for the salvation of souls. // Pray for the grace to be efficacious ministers of reconciliation and powerful agents of “new creation”. By your life of witnessing and service of charity, lead the “lost” to a joyful “homecoming” and enable them to experience the tender embrace of our loving God.
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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