A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 33)
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – July 9, 2006
“The Perils and Sufferings of a Prophet”
BIBLE READINGS
Ez 2:2-5 // 2 Cor 12:7-10 // Mk 6:1-6
N.B. This new series of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY presents a biblico-liturgical study of the First Reading of each Sunday Mass to serve as background for a better understanding of the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy. For a biblico-liturgical study of the Gospel for each Sunday, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
A few years ago, there was a liturgy class for seminarians at Maryhill School of Theology in Metro Manila, Philippines that included the topic “Liturgy and Creation”. An ecology team from Barrio Ugong was invited to speak to the class to give the students a background on some of the ecological endeavors in the country. The team was composed of extremely enterprising housewives. Though none of them had a college or even a high school degree, they became a leaven of transformation for their local community. Barrio Ugong was judged one of the best barrios in the entire Philippines, definitely through the help of such conscientious women. Speaking in Tagalog, for none of them was proficient in English, the medium of instruction in higher Filipino schools, the housewives conducted the seminar on waste management, recycling, composting, organic gardening, etc. in very simple terms, but with great confidence and expertise. One thing that these remarkable housewives shared was the terrible rejection and resistance they had experienced when they were spearheading their community development project. Especially brutal and obnoxious was the hostility of the macho men who spent much of their time drinking, gambling and in sheer indolence. The women steeled themselves from their unjust attacks and continued their endeavor with single-hearted devotion and courage. Their patience, persistence and prophetic stance finally paid off.
This Sunday’s readings from the Gospel (Mk 6:1-6) and the Old Testament (Ez 2:2-5) speak of the challenges, perils and sufferings of a prophet and the courageous stance demanded of him. The poignant experience of Jesus in his hometown, where the people’s familiarity with his humble beginning made them contemptuous of his fame and suspicious of his newly revealed wisdom and mighty deeds, is already prefigured in the pathos and sufferings of the prophet Ezekiel. Indeed, a prophet must speak, whether or not people listen. A prophet must act, whether or not people accept him. A prophet must prophesy, whether or not people welcome him.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, remark: “Prophets are often sent where they do not want to go, charged with announcing a message which will cost them dearly and which has all the chances of exposing them to trouble and dangers and persecution. Ezekiel has this painful experience. God duly warns him that he is giving him a mission particularly unpleasant to fulfill and even impossible (Ez 2:2-5) … Ezekiel, a priest, is in the land of the Chaldeans, among the exiles … He has a terrible vision and falls upon his face (Ez 1:3). Then the spirit enters him and sets him on his feet; and the Lord tells him what his mission was to be. I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have revolted against me to this very day. Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. They are the very opposite of a welcoming and well-disposed audience.”
The agony and ecstasy of a prophet sent by God result from the Lord’s uncompromising solicitude for his people and stem from his indomitable compassion and saving plan. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explain: “The prophet is neither a flatterer nor a demagogue; he proclaims what God has ordered him to say. Therefore, he must expect not to be well received by all. God does not entertain illusions. But neither does he get discouraged. He is like the sower who throws the seed by the handful, although he knows that a part of it will fall upon ground in which it will not germinate … God wants to give everyone a chance. He cannot resign himself to seeing the least plot of land remain fallow. His love causes him to hope against hope. He knows the fecundity of the Word that, in any event, will bear fruit. The fact that he sends a son of man as a prophet in the midst of the people shows, on the contrary, an unflagging solicitude. The presence of his spokesperson shows to all that he remains ready to welcome those who will listen, even after having first rejected the prophet. God is not naďve, but knows that through hearing his unceasing calls, every sinner can finally experience a movement of wisdom, abandon bad ways, and be converted. All sinners will always find near at hand a prophet ready to help them and welcome them in the Lord’s name. God places harsh words in his prophets’ mouths in order to lead the most obdurate sinners to an awareness of grave consequences should they remain blind. Acting in such a way, God manifests his mercy.”
In his perilous mission, the prophet is not alone for he is strengthened by God’s spirit. While commissioning Ezekiel to speak his words to the people of Israel exiled in Babylon, the Lord filled the prophet with his spirit to strengthen him and set him on his feet (Ez 2:2). The spirit of the Lord enabled Ezekiel to be attentive to the Lord’s presence and the meaning of his words. The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly comments: “It is said that spirit entered into Ezekiel. This means a special power coming from God enabling him both to hear the word of God and to communicate it to others. This is an indication of the extreme difficulty of the prophet’s task. The word was one of doom; he would need spirit. He would need spirit, above all, because of the people to whom he would preach. They are hardhearted and rebellious … Nevertheless, the power of God would be manifested, not necessarily in the conversion of the people, since that requires their free response … They will know that a prophet has been among them. On the basis of that knowledge, let them choose.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION # 1
By Fred La Porte
Westlake Village, CA – U.S.A.
Today’s gospel tells us about the time Jesus returned to his own town of Nazareth and the events that happened there. Although the people who lived there remembered him, they were surprised at his wisdom and knowledge. They also heard of the many miracles that he had done and, in spite of all they knew about him, they refused to listen to what he had to say, because they were rigidly set in their ways and nothing could change their minds. Perhaps the old adage that “familiarity breeds contempt” has always been true, even today.
How many of us are also set in our ways and beliefs so that we close our minds to what God knows is best for us, even though we hear it from someone we know well, and would rather form our own ideas, right or wrong?
PERSONAL REFLECTION # 2
By Heather Jacobs
Bluff City, TN – U.S.A.
As I reflected on the Gospel reading, the question kept coming to mind, why did Jesus’ relations and countrymen respond to him the way they did? Even though they saw the miracles and heard His profound wisdom, they still would not accept Him.
As I applied this question to my personal experiences I realized that oftentimes, we do the same thing with our own family members and those whom we have known for a period of time. When we’ve grown up with someone and known them through various stages of their life, we often take that person for granted. There doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary about them. They become another increment of our regular, predictable everyday life and we can’t imagine that person as anything else except the ideas we’ve formed about them through our limited experiences of that person.
Often, we limit our knowledge, respect and love for a person to just the roles they’ve played in our own lives. For example, when I think about my dad it’s hard to think of him in any way other than as fulfilling the classic role of the father. He helped raise me with discipline and love and worked hard to provide for my needs. All this is very important, but I must recognize that there’s more to him than just this, much more. To know him more fully, I have to learn to step outside my own personal experiences of him and try to walk in his shoes. A few years ago, my dad entered the deacon program. Now, each time I go home to visit he seems more and more different from the person I grew up knowing. It can be difficult to readjust and accept change, even when that change is positive.
I think a similar thing happened with Jesus’ relatives and countrymen. They helped raise Him, they fed Him and played with Him. They helped clean Him and change Him when he got dirty as a young one. They helped teach and instruct Him. Suddenly, this man who they thought they knew so well returns and has profound wisdom and is working incredible miracles. They grew up with Him, what’s so special about Him that such a change has occurred? How and why did this change come about? If Jesus was a stranger to them and they didn’t have such preconceived ideas about Him, they probably would have accepted Him.
From this I realize that we need to learn to take a step back and try to view our acquaintances (especially those we know most closely) in a new way, rather than taking them for granted and just settling in our limited perspective of them. Most of all, we need to step back and ask: how is God working in and through this person? What is special and unique about this person? And how can I love and know this person more fully and completely by recognizing who they are as an individual, not just according to the way I’ve chosen to perceive them from my limited experiences of them.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Do we thank the Lord for Jesus, the true and absolute prophet that God, in his great love, sends into our midst? Do we open our hearts to receive Jesus and his prophetic voice that challenges our mediocrity and complacency? Do we allow our own prejudices and/or limited experiences to condition our response to the prophetic voice of Jesus that is addressed to us in the here and now?
B. Do we believe that we too are called by God to be prophets in and with Jesus? Do we experience the joy, anguish and ecstasy of being God’s prophets in today’s world? What do we learn from the deep experience of suffering and pathos by Jesus and Ezekiel in their prophetic ministry? Do we feel that the Lord God strengthens us with the power of his Spirit? Do we thank the Lord for the Spirit of Jesus that enables us to be prophets of his love, truth and compassion today?
C. Do we allow the adage “Familiarity breeds contempt” to take hold of us negatively and thus diminish our positive response to God’s marvelous actions and prophetic voice? Are we open to the positive change that occurs in the people around us? Do we welcome the “surprises” that each new day brings to our life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
you sent Ezekiel and the Old Testament prophets
to speak your word of saving mercy to your erring people.
In their prophetic ministry,
they have experienced the agony and the ecstasy
as humble servants of your all-powerful word.
In the fullness of time,
you sent to us your divine Son, Jesus the Incarnate Word.
He is the ultimate prophet and message bearer,
the radical revelation of your saving love.
Together with Ezekiel and the other prophets you had sent,
your Son Jesus experienced to the utmost
the perils and the sufferings of a prophetic stance
against an unbelieving and obdurate world.
The prophets have courageously uttered your word of judgment
and offered continually your gift of reconciliation to your people
whom you love with an unconditional love.
In their fidelity to the inner truth of your saving word
and strengthened by your Holy Spirit,
Jesus and the prophets have communicated your abounding mercy
and manifested your uncompromising solicitude for your people.
As Christian disciples,
we too are called to an active prophetic ministry in the world today.
Give us the grace to live out our own prophetic vocation
with personal dedication and fidelity.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
in unity with the Holy Spirit,
one God forever and ever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“They shall know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ez 2:5)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that Christian disciples may be faithful to their prophetic ministry and be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in their task of witnessing to God’s message of truth, salvation and liberation. Pray that the modern means of social communication may be used to promote the truth and not to distort the truth. Offer your helping and healing hand for modern day prophets who are being ostracized, abused and persecuted.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help appreciate more deeply the prophetic stance of Jesus who came to speak God’s message of truth, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 2, n. 33): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
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