A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 21, n. 53)
Week 34 in Ordinary Time: November 26 – December 2, 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: November 19-25, 2023 please go to ARCHIVES Series 21 and click on “Ordinary Week 32”.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY:
November 26 – December 2, 2023.)
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November 26, 2023: OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING
OF THE UNIVERSE
(34th or last Sunday of Ordinary Time)
N.B. Today the Pauline Family celebrates the “Dies Natalis”
or birthday to eternal life of their Founder,
Blessed James Alberione.
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Shepherd-King”
BIBLE READINGS
Ez 34:11-12, 15-17 // 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28 // Mt 25:31-46
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 25:31-46): “The Son of Man will sit upon his glorious throne and he will separate them one from another.”
On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church celebrates the solemnity of Christ the King. The feast of his kingship intensifies our expectation of his coming again in glory. Indeed, the end of the Church year is a traditional and opportune time for the Church to focus on the end time, which includes the last judgment. What we celebrate is the person of Jesus and the global mystery of him as the Christ who came, who comes, and who will come again.
Today’s Gospel reading (Mt 25:31-46), the passage that concludes Jesus’ eschatological discourse, is most appropriate for the feast of Christ the King. The last judgment scene that is described in the Gospel presents us with a different kind of king: a Shepherd-King who exercises his power and authority in favor of his people and whose sole criterion for judging our worthiness for citizenship in his kingdom is our exercise of love. The evangelist Matthew’s picture of the last judgment sheds full light on the nature and the object of Jesus’ saving mission as Shepherd-King and on the divine plan to reserve the kingdom for the little and the poor ones. The judgment scene enhances and is the summit of Christ’s teaching on service and love of neighbor. All will be judged on what has been done or not been done on behalf of the little ones who are Christ’s brothers and sisters.
The works of mercy that are done as an exercise of love can be interpreted literally – the whole world has more than its share of the homeless and the hungry – but we need to go beyond what is obvious. Harold Buetow remarks: “If we have compassionate hearts, which is the badge of nobility in Jesus’ Kingdom, there will swim into our vision thousands of ways to be of help to people who need us.”
The following modern day account is an example of how to share in the mission of the Shepherd-King (cf. Julie Garmon in Daily Guideposts 2014, p. 387).
I hurried home from running errands, dropped my shopping bags, and cheked by phone messages. “Hi, you don’t know me, but I read Daily Guideposts. I need a huge favor, hon. Call me please, and I’ll explain.”
Her voice sounded friendly but a huge favor? I still have to bake pecan pies, wrap presents, and write a blog post for a ministry site. Sighing, I dialed her number.
She lived in another state and asked me to visit a friend of hers – a ninety-five-year-old woman in a home not far from me. Hospice had been called in. “My friend’s a retired marine. She never married … such a sweet heart. Wish I could be there. Please wish her a merry Christmas for me, if it suits you to go.”
It didn’t suit me at all.
Jotting down the address, I promised to visit, but explained it probably wouldn’t be today or tomorrow. Graciously, she thanked me. I turned on my computer to sift through the facts for the blog, but all I could think about was the phone call. Lord, here’s chance to care about someone and I’m too busy writing about ministry.
I called the home, and the caretaker said to come on over.
The dear woman smiled from her worn recliner – short gray hair, pale-blue eyes, and so tiny. “Hi”, she said. “Come in.” Stepping inside her warm, cozy room, I bent beside her. She reached for my hand and gave a strong squeeze. “Merry Christmas”, she said softly.
As she welcomed me, a stranger, I blinked back tears. I hadn’t brought Christmas to her. Just the opposite. Kneeling in that small, quiet room, the gift of Christmas joy was given to me.
B. First Reading (Ez 34:11-12, 15-17): “As for you my flock, I will judge between one sheep and another.”
The fascinating Gospel scenario of the last judgment acquires greater depth and meaning against the backdrop of the Old Testament reading (Ez 34:11-12, 15-17). The prophet Ezekiel has stinging words of indictment against the false leaders of Israel who have failed in their responsibility for God’s people. These leaders seek their own political agenda and personal gain and do not care for the sheep, which are dispersed, alienated and killed by enemies. The political and religious catastrophes experienced by Israel, especially the Babylonian conquest and exile, are proof of their utter neglect. In today’s reading, we hear Ezekiel speaking a message of hope and consolation. God himself will shepherd Israel and heal the wounds and misery inflicted on his people by bad rulers and imperious foreign invaders. Under the staff of God, the benevolent Shepherd, a happy future is possible for the distressed and grieving people.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 4, comment: “In civilizations and cultures where pastoral experience is strong, the metaphor of shepherd is very rich. This is the case in the Bible. Shepherds exercise an undisputed authority over their flock, but at the same time they are very close to their sheep, surround them with care and thoughtfulness, know whether each one of the ewes is doing well or not, drive them with much prudence. This is why the Bible compares leaders of the people, kings, and even God, to shepherds. The passage from the Book of Ezekiel, read this year for the feast of Christ, the King of the universe, belongs to this tradition … God does not entrust to others the care of the flock he owns; like a good shepherd, he himself looks after it … God, the Good Shepherd, will intervene to maintain order in his flock. He will not allow the weak to be bullied by the strong; he will push these away in order to protect the more vulnerable.”
At the end of the liturgical year, let us meditate on the goodness of the Master-Shepherd and his sacrificial love for us so that we may respond with greater love and compassion to his special “presence” in the weak, the needy and the most vulnerable of today’s society. Jesus identifies himself with all who need to be served. Indeed, whatever we do to the “least” of our brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus himself. Mother Teresa of Calcutta asserts: “If sometimes our poor people have had to die of starvation, it is not because God did not care for them, but because you and I did not give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God, to give them that bread, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize Christ, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise.”
The following poem, entitled “Indifference” by G.A. Studdart-Kennedy (in Redemption: An Anthology of the Cross, ed. George Stewart, New York: Doran Co., 1927), is intense and haunting. In the midst of today’s apathy and indifference, Christ the King-Shepherd is willing to suffer anew the trauma of Calvary and release more intensely the saving energy of his death on the cross.
When Jesus came to Golgotha they hung him on a tree.
They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary.
They crowned him with a crown of thorns.
Red were his wounds and deep,
for those were crude and cruel days,
and human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to our small town they simply passed him by.
They never hurt a hair of him; they only let him die.
For men had grown more tender,
and they would not give him pain.
They only just passed down the street,
and left him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, “Forgive them, for they do know not what they do.”
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched him through and through.
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see.
And Jesus crouched against a wall and cried for Calvary.
C. Second Reading (1 Cor 15:20-26, 28): “Christ will hand over the kingdom to his God and Father so that God may be all in all.”
The Second Reading (1 Cor 15:20-26, 28) is very important because it underlines the cosmic character of Christ’s kingship. Saint Paul speaks of the all-encompassing authority of Jesus the King as a result of his resurrection: “For Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” The resurrection of Christ, the “first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” is the beginning of an entire harvest of risen people. This phenomenon of destruction of death and of being raised to new life is geared towards this cosmic goal: that God may be all in all.
Mary Ehle comments: “Because death (sin) came through Adam and we are linked to Adam because of our human nature, it was necessary that the resurrection of the dead also come through a man, through Christ. This new life can only come through him, who through his own death and resurrection erased the stain of sin and triumphed over death. As a result of his resurrection, he now reigns as king. At the end of time, Christ, having brought all things under him, will himself be subjected to the one who drew all things to him. As it occurs in this passage, subjected does not carry a negative connotation. Rather, it simply implies that everything is ordered to Christ first, and then to the Father. In the end, all will be one in God through Christ. Christ rose. Christ reigns. Christ will come again in glory. We will rise. The Lord is fully and completely God forever. This we celebrate on the solemnity that draws the Sundays of the liturgical year to a close.”
The following article circulated through the Internet illustrates the total participation of Christ’s apostles/disciples in the mystery of his death and rising to eternal life. They have the heart of Christ-Shepherd and, having laid down their life for the sheep, they now participate in the glory of his kingdom. Their life of pastoral sacrifice promoted the cosmic goal that God may be all in all.
Do you know how they died?
1. Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
4. John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death; John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
5. Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross. According to church tradition, it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ died.
6. James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller’s club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the temptation.
7. James the Great, Son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the Church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
8. Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.” He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
10. Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent.
11. Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. How does the assurance that the Lord God himself will pasture his sheep impinge on you?
2. How did you care for the needy? Did you try to manifest to them the compassionate heart of the Shepherd-King?
3. Do you look forward to the integration of all creation and the ultimate triumph of Christ the King at the end time? In what way do you promote the cosmic goal that God may be all in all?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving God,
give us the grace to experience more deeply
the caring heart of the Shepherd-King
and to follow him more intimately
into his kingdom of love, justice and peace.
Together with the community of the redeemed
and the entire renewed creation, we cry out with joy:
“For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, 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.
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father … Inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” (Mt 25:34)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray that, at the end of the liturgical year, our hearts may be filled with thanksgiving for the many graces and benefits we have received through the Church year. By your corporal works of mercy and other acts of compassion on behalf of our needy brothers and sisters, allow the kingdom of God to triumph more decisively so that we may attain our goal: “That God may be all in all.” To help direct more intently our words and actions to God’s kingdom and his ultimate triumph, make an effort to spend some quiet moments of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
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November 27, 2023: MONDAY – WEEKDAY (34)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Father’s Totus Tuus … He Guides Us by His Wisdom”
BIBLE READINGS
Dn 1:1-6, 8-20 // Lk 21:1-4
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 21:1-4): “He noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.”
We are almost at the end of the liturgical year. Through the sacred liturgy, the Church helps us to be thankful for the divine compassion and the providence bestowed on us every moment of our life. Likewise, the bible readings in these days, especially today’s Gospel about the widow who gives all (Lk 21:1-4), invite us to respond to God with a generous and total love. As we are completing the Church’s year of grace 2014, it is fitting to meditate upon the totus tuus quality of God’s relationship with us, as well as the totus tuus character of the response he demands from us.
The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “Totus tuus … “totally yours” … Such total self-giving is characteristic of biblical religion. It is not to be understood as a purely human initiative. Rather, it is the expected response to the redemptive love of God. It is he who loves first. Then empowered by that love, we can love God and neighbor in turn…God’s initial love is always a presupposition. Our lives are, or should be, one large thank you to a loving God. And the thank you must be expressed wholeheartedly. The Gospel reading exhibits this theme. The widow who gave her two small copper coins gave all that she had to live on. This was her version of totus tuus to God. Because it was that, it was worth much more than the huge donations of the wealthy … The emphasis is on the completeness of the human gift … Jesus is the Father’s totus tuus to us. When we respond, it must also be in the once and for all spirit of totus tuus. In Christianity, God has given his all once and for all. We are asked to respond in the same way … That is why we say right here and now to God: Totus tuus, Lord”.
Here is a daily life example of a totus tuus gift to God (cf. Rick Hamline in Daily Guideposts 2014, p. 60).
In the middle of a busy morning at the office, I’d just finished a long e-mail to a colleague when the phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but answered. A faint voice said, “I’m Bernadette.”
“I’m Rick Hamlin”, I replied, trying to remember if there was a Bernadette in any story I was working on. “May I help you?”
“I need someone to pray for me”, she said. My friend Mary is very sick from cancer. They’ve just put her on hospice care. I don’t know what to do …” Her voice broke.
They knew each other from childhood. They talked on the phone every day. The cancer had come very quickly. Bernadette was in shock. Each time she visited her friend she was afraid of dissolving in tears. “If I could just pray with someone”, she said.
I found myself asking, “Want me to pray with you right now?”
“Yes, please”, she said.
I closed my eyes and lowered my voice, hoping none of my colleagues would interrupt. I’m not sure what I said, but I trusted that the right words would come. “Be with Mary and Bernadette”, I ended. “Amen.”
“Amen”, Bernadette said. “Thank you, sir. That was nice of you.”
She hung up, and I returned to work. Maybe Bernadette was supposed to get my number. Perhaps praying for her was the most important thing I would do all day.
Dear Lord, let me know how to say yes when You call.
B. First Reading (Dn 1:1-6, 8-20): “None were found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.”
This is the last week of the liturgical year. The Old Testament readings are taken from the Book of Daniel, written when the Jews were suffering great persecution to encourage them to keep faith in the Lord. Today’s episode about Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Dn 1:1-6, 8-20) underlines that loyalty is rewarded. Together with other selected young men from the Israelite exiles, they are being trained to serve in the royal court. The king allots them a daily ration of food and wine from the royal table. Daniel and his companions make up their mind not to be ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court. They resolve not to compromise their identity as God’s people and refuse to violate the traditional dietary laws, a distinctive mark of Jewish identity.
With the help of a sympathetic guard, the Jewish young men nourished themselves only with vegetables and drink only water. At the end of the ten-day trial, Daniel and his friends look healthier and stronger than all those who have been eating the food of the royal court. So from then on the kindly guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provides. God rewards their loyalty with success. When King Nebuchadnezzar talks with the candidates, none are found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in wisdom and prudence. Thus they are assumed into the king’s service.
The prayers and reflections of the writer, Flannery O’Connor, gives insight into the spiritual wisdom and sterling qualities of the Jewish young heroes Daniel and his companions (cf. Lorraine Murray, “Love Letters to God” in Our Sunday Visitor, November 10, 2013, p. 6).
“I want to be the best artist it is possible for me to be”, writes the young Flannery O’Connor in a lovely treasure of a book called simply “A Prayer Journal” … Born in Savannah in 1925; O’Connor lived most of her life at Andalusia Farm near Milledgeville, Ga. There she completed two novels, two collections of stories and numerous essays – and was honored with the National Book Award posthumously.
The intensely personal prayer journal is best described as a collection of love letters to God. Not love in the sickeningly sweet, overly flowery sense that O’Connor would have deplored, but a longing to get closer to someone and to know them better … She opens on a plaintive note: “Dear God, I cannot love Thee the way I want to.” The obstacles to loving God, as she sees them, are her aspirations to be a writer and her hope for success. As she succinctly notes, “I am in the way.” … The entries are laced with distinctly Catholic references, especially in her devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and her belief that Catholicism offers an encounter with God “as nearly as we can get to Him on earth.” (…)
Grace is a recurring topic, which is not surprising given that it played a central role in her fiction. After all, this was the woman who would later declare that her stories at heart were about “the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil”. Here she prays, “Give me the grace, dear God, to adore you”, and also acknowledges that grace often comes after suffering. As for her own suffering, the young O’Connor suggests “there’s a terrific balance due”. The sad irony, of course, is that she would get more than her share a few years later when she began showing symptoms of lupus, which eventually took her life at age 39. In an eerily prescient moment, she asks God to “give me the courage to stand the pain to get the grace”.
Given the honesty and the passionate yearning expressed here – and the stirring, deeply Catholic stories that would later proceed from this author’s pen – it seems these longings were fulfilled.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Why is the donation of the poor widow in the Jerusalem temple most valuable and significant? How does her offering evoke Christ’s total gift of himself? In what does Christ’s totus tuus to the Father consist? Why is Christ himself the Father’s totus tuus gift to us? Do we strive to make of our life a totus tuus gift to God?
2. What lesson do we glean from the life of Daniel and his companions? How do their integrity before God and courageous stance before all adversities inspire us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for creating us in your image,
for redeeming us in your Son,
and for sanctifying us through the power of your life-giving Spirit.
Jesus Christ is your totus tuus gift to us.
On the cross of sacrifice,
he was the Priest and Victim par excellence.
By his passion and death on the cross,
you revealed your unmitigated love and compassionate care for us.
Dear Lord God,
we love you.
Like the widow who offered her last two coins at the Jerusalem temple,
let us learn to give all and everything – our totus tuus –
and be sustained by faith in your providence.
Bless us, loving God.
Amen.
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Almighty God,
glorious and praiseworthy are you!
You gave spiritual wisdom and inner strength
to Daniel and his companions
to live with integrity and in purity of heart.
By their faithfulness to the holy covenant and its sacred decrees,
you rewarded them with abundant blessings and success.
Grant us the courage of their faith
and help us to follow you with undivided heart,
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.
“This poor widow put in more than all the rest” (Lk 21:3) //“He was resolved not to defile himself.” (Dn 3:8)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray that our response to God’s compassionate love may be total, generous and wholehearted. By your personal dedication and service to the poor and needy, avow to God the totus tuus character of your love for him and your neighbors. // Be aware of examples of courage that surround us and let the “good news” mitigate the brutality that today’s mass media propagates in today’s world.
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November 28, 2023: TUESDAY – WEEKDAY (34)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Prepares Us for the Last Things … His Kingdom Will Never End”
BIBLE READINGS
Dn 2:31-45 // Lk 21:5-11
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 21:5-11): “There will not be left a stone upon another stone.”
The setting of today’s Gospel (Lk 21:5-11) is the Jerusalem Temple, where Jesus is teaching the people and proclaiming the Good News. A beautiful refurbishing of the Temple began about forty-six years before Jesus’ birth by Herod the Great. The Temple, though not yet complete, is already one of the wonders of the ancient world. Some of the granite stones in the Temple walls, as big as modern freight cars, are so expertly linked together without mortar that it is hard to see the joints. The magnificence of the Temple with its brilliant white marble and gold ornamentation awes the people. Today’s Gospel passage describes how some people are commenting on the Temple adorned with costly stones and votive offerings. In the midst of this enthused admiration, Jesus grimly utters a prophecy on the destruction of the Temple: “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Lk 21:6).
At his last appearance in the Temple, Jesus makes a final statement on its destruction. Indeed, there is an intimate connection between the destruction of Jerusalem and the events at the end of the world. The crisis that Jerusalem faces in Jesus’ ministry is a harbinger of the crisis that Jesus and his message, and above all, his coming as the Son of Man, will bring to all. Jesus does not give a definite date for the destruction of the Temple; neither does he give a specific time for the parousia, or his second coming. At the brink of his paschal sacrifice, Jesus asserts the faith reality that God will triumph over all the forces of evil. By predicting the destruction of the Temple and by giving warning signs of cosmic destruction, Jesus prepares his disciples spiritually for what is ahead - for the “last things”.
Harold Buetow remarks: “So what do we do now about our thoughts on the last things? For one thing, within ourselves we ought to develop a deeper spirit of responsibility so that we seek to become dependable rather than dependent, givers rather than takers, generous rather than addicted to self- interest … Outside ourselves, we are to be busy with the calamities around us; not just deplore the world’s trouble spots, but to help their victims.”
The following story is very heartening and encouraging (cf. Tom Price, “The Other Haiti” in America, October 18, 2010, p. 23-25). It is a modern day example of a responsible and creative stance in a cataclysmic situation. It inspires hope and teaches us how to promote the advent of the kingdom of God in the here and now … with toil and labor!
Try to imagine Haiti, ravaged by a massive earthquake last January, and images of rubble, masonry at crazy angles and huge homeless camps come to mind. Port-au-Prince, the capital, is still dotted with the camps that people spontaneously formed after the quake and white Land Cruisers of the United Nations and other relief agencies. While cleanup is underway, collapsed buildings and debris overwhelm the landscape. In Leogane, west of the capital and close to the center of the quake, barely a building is left standing. To see how the nation is changing and to glimpse its future, you have to take a road out of Port-au-Prince.
I recently traveled to Haiti for Catholic Relief Services to document the plight of rural Haitians. There I observed a number of projects fully or partially funded by C.R.S. that provide short-term jobs, grant micro-loans to small businesses, subsidize daily meals for Catholic schoolchildren and help local communities plant trees and grow food. A small agricultural school teaches men and women farming techniques to enrich the soil, increase crop yields and channel runoff. I also saw how the Haitian countryside has been affected by the quake.
In the southern and western departments (or provinces) island life is beginning to look more normal. The people here are poor, but the buildings are intact. Yet the quake has brought enormous pressures: Some 110,000 internally displaced people live in the Sud Department – more than the 80,000 of whom live in the two largest camps in Port-au-Prince to which the prominent visitors and film crews come. Many of the displaced people now in Sud lost their homes in the capital during the quake and have returned to their rural roots in these provincial towns to stay with family. The two neighboring departments of Grand Anse and Nippes also “host” displaced Haitians from the capital, almost 200,000 of them. With their arrival, household sizes in Sud have swelled by an average of five people. In rural areas like the small coastal town of Carrefour, I met many families who had left Port-au-Prince.
Meprilant Desire is philosophical when he talks about making ends meet with extra mouths to feed. “God gave them to us, so we make do. Some days we get enough, some days we don’t,” he smiles. Desire now supports nine children, four of his own and five who fled the quake. Recently widowed, he is caring for them alone. Straight across the dirt road that runs through the town, his neighbor Frisca Saint Juste, 23, has a similar story. He is sheltering his cousin and his cousin’s three children, plus his mother and father.
Both Desire and Saint Juste have planted seeds they received as part of a church distribution at a seed fair. They are both tending strips of peas and corn. The peas provide vital nitrogen to the soil for the next crop. Saint Juste depends on the crops he grows behind his small house. His cousin helps out, but it is backbreaking work, especially with no nearby water source to irrigate the crops. Saint Juste explains to me how bringing water close to the field, with a community water pump, for instance, would greatly help him and his neighbors. Desire is a man with a heavy weight on his shoulders. He is nevertheless optimistic about the future. He attributes his optimism to the new agricultural venture. “I got seeds at a seed fair, and I know enough not to eat them but to plant them”, he laughs. “I am stronger now, I have more energy, and I have the energy to plant more.” He has ambitions to plant peanuts next.
B. First Reading (Dn 2:31-45): “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed and shall put an end to all these kingdoms.”
There is something fascinating and awesome in dreams. Early in the morning – at around 3:00 A.M. on November 14, 2008 (Friday) – I dreamed that my 90-year old mom collapsed in my arms and that I screamed to my elder brother for help. I woke up startled. What was the meaning of the dream? After the Morning Prayer and the Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, I asked the Sisters in my community what could have been the meaning of my dream. But no one could interpret my dream. We hardly finished breakfast when I received a phone call from my younger brother in Sacramento informing me that my mom in Cebu, Philippines was seriously ill. She was in the ICU and wanted to see me. I was booked to fly to the Philippines the week after, but I was able to anticipate my flight that very Friday evening. I arrived in Cebu Sunday morning and hurried to see my comatose mom at the ICU. She passed away that very evening. Later my brother informed me that they brought my mom to the hospital on the past Friday at 7:00 P.M., which was the time I was dreaming in Los Angeles. Indeed, there was a message in my dream.
King Nebuchadnezzar, in today’s Old Testament reading (Dn 2:31-45), has a dream that worries him. He decrees that an interpreter from his kingdom should tell the details of the dream and explain its meaning. He does not trust any interpreter who cannot tell him the dream. The wise men in his kingdom argue that no human being, only a god, can tell a dream. The king is so angered that he decrees the death of all the royal advisers in Babylon, which includes Daniel and his companions. The four young men pray for deliverance. Their prayer is answered in a nocturnal vision in which God reveals to Daniel the mystery of the king’s dream. Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar his dream and gives the interpretation. In the dream, the king sees a huge human-like statue made of various materials that crumbled when it is struck at the feet by a mysterious stone. The symbolism of the destruction is explained as the demise of successive empires, beginning with Babylon. The smashing by the stone not cut by human hands is a sign of the end of the present age and the coming of an indestructible kingdom that the God of heaven is to establish. The heavenly kingdom will never end. In the eyes of faith, the kingdom that is symbolically presented in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dreams continue to fascinate us. Today, as we celebrate, the death anniversary of our Founder Blessed James Alberione (April 4, 1884 – November 26, 1971) it is fitting to recall a decisive dream he dreamt (cf. James Alberione, Abundates Divitiae, n. 151-158).
In moments of particular difficulty, re-examining his whole conduct to see if there were impediments to the action of grace on his part, it seemed to him that the Divine Master wanted to reassure the Institute, started only a few years previously.
In a dream which he had afterwards, he felt he was given an answer. In fact, Jesus Master said: “Do not be afraid. I am with you. From here I will cast light. Be sorry for sins.”
The “from here” came from the tabernacle; and with strength as to make him understand that from Him – the Teacher – comes all the light that has to be received.
He spoke of it to the Spiritual Director, explaining the light in which the figure of the Divine Master had appeared. He replied: “Be serene. Dream or otherwise, what was said was holy. Make it a practical program of life and of light for yourself and for all the members.”
From this he always oriented himself, and he drew all from the Tabernacle.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. What message do the tumultuous events in the world, natural and man-made calamities and the threats of ecological destruction, bring to us? What is our attitude towards the “last things”?
2. Do we believe that God gives us spiritual vision to see the presence and the power of his saving plan? Do we look forward to the glorious coming of the heavenly kingdom in Jesus Christ?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
your Son Jesus predicted the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple,
the jewel of the city
and the unique center of worship
for the people of the first covenant.
In his prophecy and revelation,
Jesus assures us
that your victorious saving hand is at work.
Although we do not know the hour
and the circumstances of the end time,
nor the specific moment
of the ultimate coming of Jesus in his glory,
we resolve to work perseveringly
in the final realization of his Kingdom.
We give you glory and praise, now and forever.
Amen.
***
O loving God,
you are all-knowing.
Give us the grace to dream of the messianic end-time
where your kingdom of justice and peace fully reigns.
Like Blessed James Alberione,
the founder of the Pauline Family,
let us be attentive to the vision that comes from the Tabernacle
and the saving inspiration that flows forth from Jesus,
the Divine Master, the Way, Truth and Life.
Through him, 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.
“All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone.” (Lk 21:6) //“The God of heaven will build up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people.” (Dn 2:44)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for the Jewish people and today’s city of Jerusalem in the Holy Land. In the Eucharistic celebration, proclaim the memorial acclamation with devotion and conviction. Allow the assurance of Christ’s coming to brighten your life and encourage you to labor mightily for the Kingdom of God. // By your acts of charity to the disheartened and those in distress, let them feel that there is hope for tomorrow and enable them to dream inspiring “dreams”.
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November 29, 2023: WEDNESDAY – WEEKDAY (34)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Wants Us to Persevere … In Him Is God’s Vindication”
BIBLE READINGS
Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28 // Lk 21:12-19
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 21:12-19): “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.”
The article, “A Tree Grows in Kenya” in Guideposts magazine (January 2004) deals with the inspiring effort of Wangari Maathai to fight off ecological destruction in her native land, Kenya. The author, Christopher Davis, narrates the gargantuan feat of this enterprising woman, whose perseverance epitomizes today’s Gospel exhortation: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives”.
In 1960 Wangari won a Kennedy scholarship to study in America. She earned a master’s in biology from University of Pittsburgh, then became the first woman from Kenya ever to earn a Ph.D. Wangari returned to her county in 1966 and was shocked by what she found. The forests had been cut down for lumber. Heavy rains washed most of the good soil away, since there was no longer vegetation to protect it. Rivers were silt-choked, the soil leached of nutrients. Nothing grew and nothing bloomed anymore … Worst was what had happened to Kenya’s most precious resource – people. Men abandoned farms for jobs in overcrowded cities, leaving wives and children behind. Trees in the countryside were so scarce that women walked miles to gather a few sticks for a fire – the center of village life.
“There were so many problems,” Wangari says. “I did not know where to start, except to pray.” Then she remembered what the missionaries said: Every forest begins with a single seed. She planted a tree. Then another. Then hundreds. In 1977 she founded a group called the Green Belt Movement, which promotes tree planting in rural areas and trains farmers in eco-friendly farming methods. Since the group started, it has planted some 20 million trees in Kenya and has changed the way Kenyans look at their environment.
On October 8, 2004, Wangari Maathai was announced the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. The patient perseverance of the tree planter, Wangari, who did not allow herself to be overwhelmed by a disastrous situation, but exhibited creative and life-giving attitudes under duress, anticipates the victorious quality of God’s coming at the end time. Indeed, by living out the spirit of stewardship and care of God’s creation, she presents to the world of today the patient endurance that leads to life.
The biblical scholar Carroll Stuhlmueller remarks: “Christians must adjust to a long period of waiting and persecution. In doing so, they are following the sorrowful way of the cross, taken by Jesus to arrive at glory.” Indeed, the basic tone that permeates the Gospel passage concerning the Temple destruction and the end time is the absolute assurance of the Lord’s control of history and his ultimate victory. Despite all the evil that can be imagined, the hand of God that guides our personal and cosmic destiny will emerge victorious.
Today’s Gospel reading (Lk 21:12-19) concludes beautifully with Jesus’ reassuring words: “Not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your life.” The promise that no harm will come to even one hair of a Christian disciple is simply a graphic statement depicting the ultimate spiritual protection of those who endure persecution for the sake of Jesus. After giving this heartwarming assurance, Christ then exhorted his disciples to manifest the sterling quality of perseverance – the courageous attitude that will help us participate in the ultimate victory of God.
B. First Reading (Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28): “The fingers of a human hand appeared, writing on the plaster of the wall.”
In today’s Old Testament reading (Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28), we hear of God’s vindication and of the swiftly punished sacrilege committed by King Belshazzar, the son of King Nebuchadnezzar. At a royal banquet, under the influence of wine, King Belshazzar orders that the gold and silver cups and bowls, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from the temple of Jerusalem, be brought in so that he, his guests, his wives and concubines can use them to toast the Babylonian gods. His desecration is dramatically halted when a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster wall of the palace that is illumined by bright lamps. The Jewish exile Daniel, who is extraordinarily brilliant and wise and who can interpret dreams, is brought to him. Daniel accuses Belshazzar for not honoring God and for acting against him. The prophet Daniel interprets the mysterious writing on the wall as a declaration of the end of the Babylonian Empire. That very night King Belshazzar is killed and Darius the Mede seizes the royal power.
The “writing on the wall” is ominous for the evil-doer. In today’s society, the witnessing of those who live their faith is like the “writing on the wall” that foretells God’s victory over evil. The following article gives an insight into what it means to uphold the sovereignty of God and to be pro-active supporters of belief in God (cf. Jonathan Luxmoore, “Secularization Taxes France’s Church-State Relationship” in Our Sunday Visitor, November 10, 2013, p. 5).
When Francois Hollande was elected France’s Socialist president in May 2012, his platform included policies to boost the flagging economy, but also featured liberalizing measures – from same-sex marriage to embryo research. Above all, Hollande promised steps to re-affirm the country’s guiding principle of laicite, excluding religion from the public sphere, which many Socialists believed had been eroded under his center-right predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. (…)
Some observers wonder how effectively the Church can resist the Socialist onslaught. Priestly vocations have fallen sharply in France, leaving many of the Church’s 36,000 parishes without resident priests and fueling fears that a fifth of its 15,000 listed churches could face closure by local councils.
Yet Renard, the Catholic family association president, remains upbeat. “Our bishop’s capacity to talk and act is restricted by official considerations – but Catholic organizations like ours have no limitations”, Renard told the OSV … Catholic campaigners have scored some successes. France’s appeals court has rejected attempts to bar religion from state kindergartens, while a judgment requiring parishes to erase the names of apostasizing Catholics from their baptismal registers was overturned in September. And France’s main police union has regretted the violent suppression of last spring’s demonstration against same-sex marriage.
Addressing French parliamentarians in early October at Saint Clothilde Basilica in Paris, Cardinal Vingt-Trois urges against fatalist views that Christians should “abandon responsibility for care of the world to those who ignore God.” Catholics like Renard fully concur. In a recent effort, La Croix said France was seeing a “multiplication of initiatives” against Socialist government plans, with one organization, “Actors for the Future”, formed by a priest from Versailles diocese, and another, “Founding Tomorrow”, set up by young professionals to promote “long term Christian engagement in politics”. They say they’ve received pledges of solidarity not just from France, but from around Europe too, and will step up their campaign before municipal and European Parliament elections in early 2014.
“Secular principles must be respected, but not if this means you’re not even allowed to talk about religion”, Renard said. “We’re accustomed to Catholics being treated as the enemy here. But it’s tragic and shocking that many people can no longer even imagine we believe in God, and just assume the Church is some old-fashioned organization that hasn’t understood how the world works. We now need to prove them wrong by appealing to consciences and mobilizing effort.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we endeavor to persevere in the love and service of our Lord Jesus? Do we trust that though we will be hated by all because of his name, “not a hair on our head will be destroyed”? Do we dedicate ourselves, in toil and labor, to promote the advent of the kingdom of God? How do we respond to Jesus’ comforting words and vigorous challenge: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives”?
2. What relevance does the “writing on the wall” have for you? Do you resolve to be pro-active in your faith and contribute to the triumph of God’s justice in the world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving God, victorious over all,
we reverence your name.
Teach us to love and serve you faithfully
and to trust in your protection.
Help us to act responsibly and compassionately.
Let us be creatively involved
in helping our brothers and sisters
overcome the pain and distress of today’s fragmented world.
Help us promote your kingdom of justice, peace and love.
We eagerly await
the glorious advent of your Son Jesus Christ
at the end time.
We give you thanks and praise.
We adore and glorify you, now and forever.
Amen.
***
O loving God,
your “writing on the wall” indicates your vindication
and the triumph of your power over evil.
Give us the grace to be significant members of the faith community
and the courage “to write on the wall”
the victory of our Christian faith.
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.
“By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (Lk 21:19) //“You have rebelled against the Lord of heaven.” (Dn 5:23)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray that the Christian disciples may continue to promote God’s kingdom in toil and labor. Assist the victims of natural and man-made calamities to cope with the pain and hardship of their situations. // Resolve to be pro-active in your Christian witnessing and allow your faith to permeate today’s culture and society.
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November 30, 2013: THURSDAY – SAINT ANDREW, APOSTLE
“JESUS SAVIOR: Andrew Is His First-Called … His Apostle Andrew Proclaimed His Saving Word”
BIBLE READINGS
Rom 10:9-18 // Mt 4:18-22
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 4:18-22): “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
The call of the first disciples (Peter and Andrew, James and John) is part of the prophetic fulfillment of the “great light” dispelling the gloom of darkness. Jesus, the “great light”, offers the gift of ministry to the fishermen by the lake: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”. In effect, he invites them to share in his mission of radiating the life-giving light of God. He summons them to follow him who is the light of life and to abide by his light. He calls them to share intimately in his life and messianic mission of being light to the nations. The response of the fishermen is immediate and decisive. They left their nets, boats, and relations to follow Christ. Through the grace of vocation, these disciples are rendered capable of being fishers of men and of spreading the light of Christ to the world.
We too are called to be fishers of men and to spread the light of the Gospel. The apostle Andrew, honored in the Eastern Church with the title “Protoclete” or “First-Called”, is a model of total response to this call. Saint Andrew, the apostle, shows to us what it entails to proclaim the Gospel and to enable people of all nations to hear and respond to the word of faith. Here is his biographical profile taken from the Internet’s Wikipedia.
The New Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter, by which it is inferred that he was likewise a son of John or Jonah. He was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that he will make them “fishers of men”. At the beginning of Jesus’ public life, they were said to have occupied the same house at Capernaum.
The Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him and another unnamed disciple of John the Baptist to follow Jesus. Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother. Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus.
In the gospels, Andrew is referred to as being present on some important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus. Andrew told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and fishes (John 6:8), with Philip told Jesus about the Greeks seeking him, and was present at the Last Supper.
Eusebius in his Church History 3,1 quotes Origen as saying Andrew preached in Scythia. The Chronicle of Nestor adds that he preached along the Black Sea and the Dnieper River as far as Kiev, and from there he traveled to Novgorod. Hence, he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium (Constantinople) in 38 A.D., installing Stachys as bishop. According to Hippolytus of Rome, he preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is also mentioned in the apocryphal “Acts of Andrew”, written in 2nd century. Basil of Seleucia also knew of Apostle Andrew’s mission in Thrace, as well as Scythia and Achaia. This diocese would later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Andrew is recognized as its patron saint.
Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras in Achaea, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese. Early texts, such as “Acts of Andrew” known to Gregory of Tours, describe Andrew as bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew has been crucified on a cross of the form Crux decussata (X-shaped cross or “saltire”), now commonly known as a “Saint Andrew’s Cross” – supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.
Cypriot tradition holds that a ship which was transporting Saint Andrew went off course and ran aground. Upon coming ashore, Andrew struck the rocks with his staff at which point a spring of healing waters gushed forth. Using it, the sight of the ship’s captain, who had been blind in one eye, was restored. Thereafter, the site became a place of pilgrimage … Other pilgrimages are more recent. The story is told that in 1895, the son of a Maria Greogiou was kidnapped. Seventeen years later, Saint Andrew appeared to her in a dream, telling her to pray for her son’s return at the monastery. Living in Anatolia, she embarked on the crossing to Cyprus on a very crowded boat. Telling her story during the journey, one of the passengers, a young Dervish priest became more and more interested. Asking if her son had any distinguishing marks, he stripped off his clothes to reveal the same marks and mother and son were thus reunited.
B. First Reading (Rom 10:9-18): “Faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes from the preaching of Christ.”
Today’s First Reading deals with the confession of faith of Christian believers. Our faith in Jesus Christ must be expressed fully in our words and actions, indeed, by our very lives. Our inner conviction must be confessed and our faith in the Risen Lord must be witnessed to all. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 2, explain: “Paul is speaking of the word of faith, the object of apostolic preaching that announces Jesus dead and risen. To profess on the lips and from the heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead brings righteousness and gives access to salvation: none of those who have this faith will regret it at a time of judgment … To call on the name of Jesus is, therefore, a total act of faith in the Risen Lord who saves. It is an unconditional welcome to his power of resurrection, his strength for salvation … Such a path to salvation is open to all.”
The following testimony of a young lady physician gives insight into the meaning and challenges of making a confession of faith in today’s world – a faith confession already made by Saint Andrew in his life of ministry and martyrdom (cf. Cailin O’Reilly, “What God Means to Me” in Alive! September 2015, p. 10).
When I was younger I felt embarrassed about displaying my faith. One memory I still laugh at is the first day I moved into my halls in the University. I was so frightened about leaving home for the first time, and I decided to bring along my picture of the Sacred Heart. It was too big to fit into my luggage so I had to carry it into halls. Every person I met along the way stared at me as if I had three heads. I felt so mortified at the time as I thought everyone would make fun of me. They didn’t, thank God.
My picture of the Sacred Heart reminded me of the presence of God I my heart, and this is what gave me the inner strength to work for my dream of becoming a doctor. I have four brothers, one of them my twin, and I grew up in Armagh City. We are a very close family. I did my medical degree in University College Dublin, graduating in June 2014.
Mother Teresa once said: “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” These words epitomize what God means to me – he is love. He is reflected in how we choose to treat others and how we choose our lives. God has always been there to guide me in very choice I make. (…)
In Today’s society it is hard to keep God where he should be, t the very heart of our lives. It is so worth it if we try. He will help us through life which, as we all know, can be a struggle at times. When I struggle or stress, with every tear I say a prayer to God, Our Lady, my guardian angel. They carry me over every obstacle I hit.
It was caring for my beloved Nanny Mullen after her diagnosis with a brain tumor that inspired me to follow my vocation to care for the sick. Working alongside the hardworking nurses and dedicated members of the medical team, I am so blessed to be able to help the lives of those struggling with illnesses.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Like Saint Andrew, do you respond positively to the call of Christ to participate in his saving mission as the light of the world? What do you do to spread the Gospel and facilitate the people’s response to Christ, “the light to the nations”?
2. Do we imitate Saint Andrew in his zeal to proclaim the Gospel and in his sacrifice for the Gospel? Are we awed by the many people he touched by proclaiming the saving Word?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for the miracle of vocation
and the grace of faithful response to that call.
We thank you for the prompt and radical response
of Peter and Andrew, James and John
to the call addressed to them by Jesus:
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”.
Their intimate participation in the saving love of Jesus
transformed them into bearers of light and torchbearers of faith.
O dear Father! Let the light of Christ shine upon us.
Fill us with the warmth of his compassion
and the flame of his apostolic zeal.
Let us replicate in today’s troubled world
the saving event that happened in the Galilee of the Gentiles,
when the people of gloom had seen a great light.
Help us to imitate Saint Andrew, the “First-Called”,
in radiating the light of the Gospel to the nations on earth.
You live and reign, now and forever.
Amen.
***
Lord,
in your kindness hear our petitions.
You called Andrew the apostle
to preach the gospel and guide your Church in faith.
May he always be our friend in your presence
to help us with his prayers.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, 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 week. Please memorize it.
“At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Mt 4:20) //“Faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your words and example, and by material and spiritual means, promote priestly and religious vocations in the Church. Imitate Saint Andrew in his zeal to spread the Gospel. // Today resolve to share a kindly word with those around you and, in any way you can, let them hear the word of faith proclaimed with passion and devotion.
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December 1, 2023: FRIDAY – WEEKDAY (34)
“JESUS SAVIOR: His Words Will Not Pass Away … He Is the Son of Man that Is Coming on the Clouds of Heaven”
BIBLE READINGS
Dn 7:2-14 // Lk 21:29-33
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 21:29-33): “When you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
In today’s Gospel (Lk 21:29-33), Jesus underlines that the signs of the arrival or “advent” of God’s kingdom are as obvious as the change of season. Jesus remarks that “the fig tree and all the other trees” – when their buds open – they indicate that summer is near. The trees seem “dead” during winter, but with the annual return of sap through the bare spiky twigs, the trees burst with new life. Just as the blossoming trees in spring indicate that summer is coming, so also the occurrences of messianic “signs” and apocalyptic convulsions point to the coming of the kingdom. One “sign” is the imminent destruction of the Jerusalem temple. The Parable of the Fig Tree emphasizes the certainty of the fulfillment of salvation history. It is ongoing, but it will be completed. The “blossoming” of the tress likewise evokes the future destiny of the Church: only after the faith community has withered the storms of winter and experienced the agony of “paschal” death will the kingdom be near. The final words of Jesus are powerful: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The words of Jesus endure because of his absolute authority. As the Son of God, he is not just a foreteller of the course of history, but its origin, meaning, purpose and goal.
Like the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, the 9/11 tragedy is an apocalyptic “sign” – not of total destruction – but of the power of life. The faith, love, prayers and heroism that emerge from the rubble and ashes of 9/11 show that evil does not have the final word. The Lord Jesus has the ultimate say for “heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will not pass away”. We believe that in the midst of tragic events the kingdom of God is near at hand and that God is in control. Here is a faith testimony about the 9/11 event (cf. Brigitte Weeks in Daily Guideposts 2014, p. 279).
The elevator stopped at the twenty-second floor and I got off, just as I did every weekday. “Hey”, Elizabeth said, “I heard there’s been a plane crash somewhere downtown.” We had no information and no idea of the enormity of what was happening on that September day in 2001.
We all crowded together with questions that had no answers. There was a portable TV in the conference room, so we strained to make sense of the blurry images of what was happening only a mile and a half from our office. We were transfixed and horrified. As the truth of the disaster became clearer, those with family and friends in the financial district tried to make contact. We held hands with those who could get no response, while the sounds of police cars and fire trucks became one high-pitched wail.
As information trickled in, we began to feel panicked, helpless, unable to function. I felt a kind of unimaginably heavy responsibility because I was the boss. “Let’s go to my apartment”, I said. It was within walking distance, and we could stay together and find out more what was happening. Ten of us came together and prayed. Some prayers were simple: “Help us.” Others were the same prayer that was being said all over the city: “I am safe. Are you safe? I love you.”
As we prayed for all those who would never say those words, and for those whose lives were forever changed, we were grateful for the hands we held and the comfort we share.
Lord, comfort those who will never forget, and bring Your peace to the nations of the world.
B. First Reading (Dn 7:2-14): “I saw one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.”
In today’s Old Testament reading (Dn 7:2-14), the vision of Daniel concerning the four beasts represents the rise and fall of the four major kingdoms that ruled over God’s people from the exile to the time when the book of Daniel was written in the 2nd century B.C. His vision of the “son of man” coming on the clouds of heaven and receiving dominion, glory and kingship originally represented the vindication of the persecuted people of Israel, bitterly oppressed under the reign of the detested pagan Syrian king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, whose kingship was about to be shattered. The image of the human figure enthroned in glory, however, later came to be applied to the expected Messiah. Christians see the fulfillment of this apocalyptic vision in the person of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the prophet Daniel’s fascinating vision of one like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, who receives the homage of all peoples, nations and languages and wields an everlasting dominion, is a prophecy par excellence of Christ’s glorious coming in judgment at the end-time or parousia. The final advent of the Messiah-Almighty King is one of restoration and communion.
Daniel’s prophecy that the Son of Man receives “dominion, glory and kingship” and that “nations and peoples of every language serve him” is a reality that we have experienced in the Walk for Peace and Vocations that we made in Fresno on the eve of Christ the King this year. The participants are from all walks of life, from all ages, speaking different tongues and proud of each one’s culture. At the end of the pilgrimage walk, we celebrated our oneness in the Lord at the Eucharistic table, extolling Christ as the King of us all and of all creation. The sense of belonging to the kingdom of Christ and the perception that “we walk by faith” with him are special graces we have received in the “Walk for Peace and Vocations” that we organized on November 23, 2013 to culminate the Year of Faith.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we believe in the saving power of Jesus who said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”? How do we collaborate with Jesus in bringing salvation history to completion?
2. What are the feelings and insights generated in us by the prophet Daniel’s apocalyptic vision of “one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven … who received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him …”? Does the figure of the “son of man” who receives everlasting dominion increase in us the conviction that the forces of evil would not prevail and that the reign of God would ultimately triumph?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you are the Lord of history.
You are its origin, purpose, meaning and goal.
You bring the divine saving plan to completion.
Your word of love and Gospel of salvation will endure.
Help us to cooperate with you
in bringing forth the advent of God’s kingdom.
We trust in you who said,
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
Loving Father,
we thank you for giving us a vision of your glory and power.
We thank you for the vision of the “Son of Man”
coming on the clouds of heaven.
He is Christ the Lord, our eternal King.
He is worthy of our love, adoration and absolute service.
Let him reign in us, 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.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Lk 21:33) //“His dominion is an everlasting dominion.” (Dn 7:14)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
In the midst of today’s culture of death, renew your trust in God, the Lord of history. In your daily life, make choices that will promote the saving design of God. // In your daily life, let the kingship of Christ reign in your hearts, mind and will. By word and deed, let the people around you feel that you really belong to him.
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December 2, 2023: SATURDAY – WEEKDAY (34); BVM ON SATURDAY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Exhorts Us to Be Vigilant … He Assures Us of Final Victory”
BIBLE READINGS
Dn 7:15-27 // Lk 21:34-36
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 21:34-36): “Be vigilant that you may have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent.”
I had filed my application for a religious visa at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, and was scheduled for an interview on September 3, 2002. At 4:30 A.M. I was on my way to Manila from our convent in Antipolo City. At 6:30 A.M. I was at the gate of the Embassy patiently waiting for what I thought was an 8:30 A.M. interview. I finally realized that I belonged to a group of about 50 applicants whose papers began to be processed at 8:30 A.M. There were several groups ahead of us and other groups waiting behind us. At 10:00 A.M. we were ushered into a big room where American consuls were interviewing the applicants. It was a lengthy period of waiting. We had to stay awake, alert, and ready to be called at any time. I could not afford to doze off or take a break for fear that I would miss my opportunity for the interview. At 2:30 P.M. my name was called. After a three-minute interview my visa was approved. I went home happy and relieved. My patient waiting and vigilant expectation paid off.
The Gospel (Lk 21:34-36) proclaimed today – the end of the liturgical year - challenges us to prepare for the Lord with vigilance and renewed watchfulness. Jesus instructs his disciples how to live until the closing of the age: “Stay awake … Do not become drowsy … Be vigilant at all times … Pray that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man!” The followers of Christ are watchful to receive the Lord’s daily visitation and ready to welcome him at his glorious return in the end time. Creative and forceful vigilance is a vital characteristic of Christian discipleship. It enables us to be ready for the unforeseen but sure advent of the Lord.
B. First Reading (Dn 7:15-27): “Kingship and domain shall be given to the holy people of the Most High.”
On the last day of the liturgical year, the reading (Dn 7:15-27) assures us that “kingship and dominion shall be given to the holy people of the Most High”. The reading is about Daniel’s vision of the “fourth beast”, which symbolizes the kingdom of the Greeks. The “ten horns” of the fourth beast represent the divided Greek empire of Alexander the Great while the blasphemous “little horn” represents the ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanus, who persecuted the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea from 168 B.C. to 165 B.C. Senselessly and brutally, King Antiochus IV attempted to do away with the Jewish feasts, the Sabbath and the whole Mosaic Law. His reign lasted “a year, two years, and a half-year”, or a period of “three and a half years”, that is, half the perfect number “seven”. The duration of his reign thus symbolizes a period of intense evil and suffering for the Jews.
The angel who interpreted Daniel’s vision assures him that though the presumptuous “little horn” wars against “the holy ones of the Most High”, its power will be destroyed finally and completely. Moreover, the angel asserts that the power and greatness of all the kingdoms on earth will be given to the people of the Supreme God, whose Kingdom is everlasting and whose dominion is over all.
The following World War II account gives insight into the victory and liberation that the “holy people” would experience (cf. Diane Rondo Fanelli, “When They Saw Us, They Wept” in Reminisce, June/July 2015, p. 28).
My father, Herbert E. Rondo Jr., served as a motor machinist mate on the USS Brister from 1943 to 1946. Just days after the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, the Brister was one of the first Allied units to enter the heavily mined waters of northern Formosa (Taiwan today) to evacuate 1,200 U.S. and Allied prisoners of war from the island.
In a letter he wrote to his parents several days later, my father described the risk of maneuvering through the mined harbor, where they shelled two mines. Yet he never though he was in a real danger until the ship tied up. “We found the Japanese fully armed with swords and rifles, and we also noticed the huge shore guns trained on our ships”, he wrote. “They could have blown us out of the water, and we could have done nothing about it. But we also found out that they were plenty afraid of us. They didn’t bother us in the least, but I didn’t feel very safe walking round so many of them.”
The former prisoners were taken to the ships by train, most having been imprisoned for three and a half years. He wrote, “They were a pitiful sight physically … but spiritually they were the happiest men in the world. When they saw us, they wept.”
The Brister took aboard 180 former prisoners, who ate their first bread, butter, and meat in years. “We fed them like kings and went without ourselves.”
My brother and I did not learn of this remarkable account until we were grown.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Are we intent on living righteously in constant readiness for the coming of the Son of Man? What does our renewed vigilance for the Lord’s coming consist in?
2. Do we believe that the power of evil will be taken away “by final and absolute destruction” and that the “holy ones of the Most High” will savor the joy and peace in his everlasting Kingdom?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you want us to be vigilant at all times
that we may be ready for the day of your coming
and may have strength to escape the imminent tribulations.
Give us the grace to make you the center of our life
so that your final advent may be for us a day of salvation.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
O loving God,
your Kingdom is everlasting
and your dominion is over all.
Grant us faith and courage
in the threat of evil and the pain of persecution.
Let us experience your saving power
and the comfort of your vindication.
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.
“Be vigilant at all times and pray.” (Lk 21:36) // “His Kingdom shall be everlasting; all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (Dn 7:27)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
With fraternal solicitude seek to alleviate the various forms of poverty and injustice in our local and world community, e.g. the tragedy of hunger, the plight of the homeless, the loneliness of the elderly, the persecution of Christians, the terror of war and ecological destruction, etc. // Thank the Lord for the blessings you have experienced in the liturgical year that is about to end and embrace with hope the new liturgical year of grace, knowing that God’s power is almighty and his Kingdom is everlasting.
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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