A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 13, n. 28)
The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ and Weekday 10: June 7-13, 2015*
(N.B. The pastoral tool BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year B from three perspectives. For reflections on the Sunday liturgy based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 1. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 4. For reflections based on the Second Reading, open Series 7. Please go to Series 10 - Series 13 for the back issues of the Weekday Lectio. For the Lectio Divina on the liturgy of the past week: May 31 – June 6, 2015, please go to ARCHIVES Series 13 and click on “Week 9”.
(Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY: June 7-13, 2015.)
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June 7, 2015: THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLODD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Gives Us His Body and Blood”
BIBLICAL READINGS
Ex 24:3-8 // Heb 9:11-15 // Mk 4:12-16, 22-26
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
I was a student in theology when I came upon an intriguing issue: the inculturation of the Eucharistic species. The visiting Scripture professor, a Belgian missionary, challenged us to look into the possibility of using bread and fish instead of bread and wine in the Mass. His thesis that fish could be used as a Eucharistic species is based on his study of the Gospel accounts of the multiplication of loaves and Jesus’ Easter appearances, which have a Eucharistic implication. I was tantalized by the idea of using fish as a Eucharistic species.
It was not until I studied in Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute under Fr. Salvatore Marsili, a few years later, that I had better insight into this issue. Note that the Jewish rite of Passover involves two distinct moments – the lamb-unleavened bread, symbol of liberation, and the blood of the covenant-cup of wine, symbol of the constitution of Israel as God’s chosen people. Viewed in this light, it would be a betrayal of the meaning of the Eucharist, the Christian Passover, to substitute bread and fish for bread and wine. At the Last Supper, Christ uses the breaking and sharing of the bread and the drinking of the cup of wine as the sacramental sign of our liberation from the power of sin. We become God’s covenant people through the sacrifice of his body on the altar of the cross and the pouring out of his blood on the tree of life on Mount Calvary.
Indeed, the people that are nourished by Christ’s gift of bread for new life are the people of the covenant. All the readings today dwell on God’s covenant relationship with his people. The core of this Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 14:12-16, 22-26) is the account of Jesus’ actions and words at the Last Supper, which he shares with his disciples. He breaks the bread and shares the cup of wine, saying: “This is my body … This is my blood of the covenant which will be shed for many” (verses 23-24). The breaking of the bread signifies the saving event of the body of Jesus being broken and wounded at the paschal sacrifice for the life of the world. The drinking of the cup signifies the redeeming event of his blood being poured out on the cross – the blood of the eternal covenant - which ratifies God’s intimate relationship with the new, redeemed people he constitutes as his own. God’s Son, the only Savior of the world, pours out his life-blood for us on the cross and opens the way for a radical relationship between us and the Father. By receiving the bread of new life and the cup of the covenant in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Christ’s self-gift for us, we declare our willingness to live this covenant.
***
When I was a student in the elementary grades, one of my favorite subjects was Social Studies. I enjoyed Philippine History and was enthralled when I saw a painting entitled, “The Blood Compact”. It showed the Spanish conquistador, Legazpi and a local chieftain, Rajah Lakandula seated at a table, with a cup and a knife lying on top of it. Their arms were bleeding. According to the explanation of our teacher, they were having a blood compact. They were sharing a drink, mixed with each other’s blood, from a common cup to ratify a compact or a covenant. They were to treat each other as blood brothers and share life at the level of intimate friendship. The succeeding events of Philippine history, however, would show that the meaning of the blood compact they made was not really respected. Spain subjugated the Philippines and made it a colony.
The Church invites us today to focus our attention on the meaning of the new and eternal covenant that Christ ratified with his sacrificial blood. The Old Testament reading (Ex 24:3-8) provides us with a deeper perspective on the meaning of the new, definitive and everlasting covenant in his blood.
The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly comments: “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you … When Moses pronounced those words at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they must have struck an awesome note in the minds and hearts of the Hebrew people standing about. They had just seen Moses splash half of the blood of the young sacrificed bulls on the altar that symbolized God. The rest of the blood he sprinkled on them. That strikes us as a strange rite, indeed. But it had a powerful meaning for those people. The blood, as always in the Scriptures, symbolized life. Sprinkled on the altar and on the people, it symbolized a community of life shared by God and Israel. God, moved only by love, was making a covenant with them. He shared his life; they responded by keeping his law. The religious experience was what constituted Israel as a unique people, God’s special people. Though they did not realize it at the time, that covenant was an anticipation of another and new covenant, whereby a new people of God would be constituted, this time with no restrictions as to race or nationality. Blood was to be a symbol of the new covenant, too. The new covenant is, of course, the one made by God through Jesus Christ with all people. And the blood of Christ, shed on Calvary, symbolizes the new life God shares with us.”
The salutary feast of Corpus Christi – of the Body and Blood of Christ – reminds us of the tremendous depths of our faith and helps us consider the challenging implications as a people of the new and eternal covenant. The celebration is an invitation to respond and to surrender ourselves completely to the loving God who had initiated this covenant and had brought it to fulfillment through the outpouring of the blood of his Son Jesus Christ.
The liturgical theologian Romano Guardini remarks: “Holy Mass is the commemoration of God’s new covenant with men. Awareness of this gives the celebration an added significance that is most salutary. To keep this thought in mind is to remind ourselves that Christ’s sacrificial death opened for us the new heaven and the new earth; that there exists between Him and us a contract based not on nature or talent or religious capacity, but on grace and freedom; that it is binding from person to person, loyalty to loyalty. At every Mass we should reaffirm that contract and consciously take our stand in it.”
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In this Sunday’s liturgy and especially through the Second Reading (Heb 9:11-15), we are invited to contemplate the sacrificial outpouring of Christ’s blood to bring about the ultimate and unsurpassable New Covenant. The mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ, the ultimate High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies, atoned for our sins, cleansed our consciences from dead works, and sealed a New Covenant in his blood to make of us God’s privileged chosen people.
The letter to the Hebrews underlines the incomparable efficacy and superiority of the sacrificial act of Jesus, the High Priest. Eugene Maly explains: “The second reading describes the superiority of Jesus’ sacrifice over that of the bulls and of the new covenant over the old. The author says that Christ passed through a more perfect tabernacle and entered the sanctuary of heaven. He is referring to his passing from earthly life through suffering and death to a new life with the Father, a new life that would be shared with the new people of God. In doing this, Jesus did something that was foreshadowed by what the high priest did in the Old Testament. The priest entered into the sanctuary in Jerusalem and sprinkled the blood of animals on the altar and the Ark of the Covenant. This symbolized the new life effected by the remission of sins. The author of our reading asks how much more efficacious is the blood of Jesus in cleansing our consciences. Jesus did this once for all, as our reading puts it. The sacrifice of Jesus was so radically effective that the Father accepted it as valid for all ages. Jesus does not have to shed his blood anew every time the eternal covenant is renewed.”
Indeed, in this beautiful feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we delve into the profound depths of our Eucharistic faith and are impelled by the tremendous demands of charity and service it imposes upon us. Moreover, we are challenged to surrender ourselves completely to Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest, who renews each day, and especially in the Eucharistic mystery, his everlasting covenant of love with us – his chosen people.
Today I would like to cite some episodes in the life of Saint Damien De Veuster, who offered himself as a “living sacrifice” for the exiled lepers in Molokai. Like Jesus, the Eucharistic victim and ultimate High Priest, his self-giving was complete. Saint Damien risked contagion and indeed became a leper as he endeavored to bring solace and comfort to the afflicted flock of a Hawaiian leper colony in the nineteenth century. The following passages are from Hilde Eynikel’s excellent book, MOLOKAI: The Story of Father Damien (New York: Alba House, 1999, p. 169-170, 196, 294).
CORPUS CHRISTI 1882: One of the ways in which social practice in the leper settlement differed from the world beyond was in the degree of co-operation and harmony among the different religious groups. The Corpus Christi procession of 1882 was an example of this. (…) Members of all the different creeds took part in preparing the festival and the feasting, and likewise participated in the processions and religious ceremonies. The procession was somewhat chaotic, with the various religious groups that participated joining in one another’s hymns and music, not always successfully. Damien and Montiton took it in turns to carry the holy sacrament, and they were careful to adjust the pace of the procession to take account of the invalids who found it difficult to walk. The whole event was a festival of respect for one another and Montiton expressed this when he said, in Hawaiian, “This celebration is unique. We Christians who are present here wish to demonstrate our belief in God, who is three in one. Today we worship Jesus Christ, our Eucharistic king, the Lord and Savior who is present in the Holy Sacrament. We worship his love for mankind and the Holy Sacrament that he instituted on the day before his death.”
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Damien had pain in his left leg. Sometimes a warm footbath helped. He put a kettle on the fire and poured water into a basin. He put his foot in and waited for the pain to ease. He looked into the basin and saw pieces of skin floating on the water. He drew his foot out of the basin, looked at it, and found it was badly scalded. Damien had not felt the scalding, so he must have leprosy. He screamed. Priests came running to him and asked what was the matter. Damien could say nothing, except, “I’ve scalded my foot” and “I’m a leper”.
***
Damien was willing to pose for the photographer on this occasion and Bingham caught in his lens a frail man with a swollen face and a broad coat. He sat bolt upright, with his arm in a sling. He was surrounded by his boys. The next day, 20 February 1889, Damien visited Kalaupapa for the last time. Mother Marianne wanted him to come into the parlor, but he refused, because he was unclean. That evening, he did not have the strength to climb into the buggy. He did not dare to knock on any of the parishioners’ doors to warm himself, although he was very cold. He thought for a moment of asking Mollers for shelter, but the German priest was already so depressed and was not allowed to take in lepers. Evening came on. Lamps were lit in the windows and suddenly the wandering priest had an idea. He would just take a rest on the Sisters’ verandah and then he would have the strength to return to Kalawao. He lay down and dozed off. Sr. Leopoldina found him there the next morning. He awoke, looked astonished and then frightened and ashamed. “He is dying”, said a weeping Leopoldina over breakfast. “Death is in his look.” (…) Damien wrote, “I am trying slowly to complete my way of the cross and hope to reach Golgotha.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
How do we unite ourselves with the saving event of Christ’s ultimate saving sacrifice? What is our response to the tremendous gift of his Body and Blood? How do we translate into our daily lives the meaning of Christ’s sacrificial and covenant love?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for the life-giving Body and Blood of your Son Jesus Christ,
the eternal High Priest and the mediator of the New Covenant.
Through his Eucharistic sacrifice on the cross,
he cleansed us of our sins
and brought us back to you as a reconciled people.
His body was “bread broken” for our healing and redemption.
His blood was shed as a “cup of sacrifice”.
By the blood outpoured in his passion and death on the cross,
he sealed the New Covenant
and we became your covenant people.
By your grace, we are privileged to share in your divine life.
In the sacrament of the Eucharist,
we proclaim this mystery of faith
and are brought deeper into its depths.
Help us to translate into our daily life
the covenant love that our communion in the Eucharistic meal signifies.
Give us the grace to incarnate
the self-giving of Jesus, our Eucharistic Master,
and his priestly ministry on the cross.
In celebrating the ultimate gift of the Body and Blood of Christ,
may we be “bread broken” and “wine poured out” for the life of the world.
We praise and thank you,
we adore you and serve 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 day. Please memorize it.
“This is my body … This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” (Mk14:22, 24)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray that our priests may be deeply animated by the spirit of the Eucharist and be strengthened for their ministry on behalf of the poor and suffering. By your own acts of service and charity, strive to bring God’s covenant love to the people around you, especially the poor and the needy.
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June 8, 2015: MONDAY – WEEKDAY (10)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Shows the Way of Beatitudes”
BIBLE READINGS
II Cor 1:1-7 // Mt 5:1-12
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
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!”
***
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 (I 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.” (II 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 9, 2015: TUESDAY – WEEKDAY (10); SAINT EPHRAIM, Deacon, Doctor of the Church
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us to Be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World”
BIBLE READINGS
II Cor 1:18-22 // Mt 5:13-16
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
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.
***
In the reading (II 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.
***
June 10, 2015: WEDNESDAY – WEEKDAY (10)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us to Meaning of the Law”
BIBLE READINGS
II Cor 3:4-11 // Mt 5:17-19
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
(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)
***
Today’s reading (II 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.
***
June 11, 2015: THURSDAY – SAINT BARNABAS, APOSTLE
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us to Manage Our Anger and to Proclaim the Gospel”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 11:21b-26 // Mt 5:20-26
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
(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."
***
Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Barnabas, apostle. Born in Cyprus and named Joseph, he was converted shortly after Pentecost. He gave up all his possessions and was nicknamed Barnabas (“Son of Consolation”) because of his helpful, optimistic nature. In today’s reading (Acts 11:21b-26), he is described in glowing terms as “a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith”. Sent by the mother Church in Jerusalem to Antioch to verify the phenomenon of conversion there, he is true to his optimistic nature. He sees the grace of God at work in this nascent Church of Antioch. He rejoices and encourages them to remain faithful to the Lord. He brings many people to the Lord. He even goes to Tarsus to look for Saul to help him teach and nourish the fledging Christian community in Antioch. Together with Saul of Tarsus, Joseph Barnabas of Cyprus is chosen by the Holy Spirit for a special missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel to the nations.
Saint Barnabas is faithful to his apostolic mandate even unto death. The following, circulated on the Internet, is an account of his martyrdom.
Church tradition developed outside of the canon of the New Testament describes the martyrdom of many saints, including the legend of the martyrdom of Barnabas. It relates that certain Jews coming to Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and, after the most inhumane tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body.
According to the History of the Cyprus Church, in 478 Barnabas appeared in a dream to the Archbishop of Constantia (Salamis, Cyprus) Anthemios and revealed to him the place of his sepulcher beneath a carob tree. The following day Anthemios found the tomb and inside it the remains of Barnabas with a manuscript of Matthew's Gospel on his breast. Anthemios presented the Gospel to Zeno at Constantinople and received from him the privileges of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, that is, the purple cloak which the Greek Archbishop of Cyprus wears at festivals of the church, the imperial scepter and the red ink with which he affixes his signature.
Anthemios then placed the venerable remains of Barnabas in a church which he founded near the tomb. Excavations near the site of a present day church and monastery have revealed an early church with two empty tombs, believed to be that of St. Barnabas and Anthemios. St. Barnabas is venerated as the Patron Saint of Cyprus.
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 imitate the sterling quality of the apostle Barnabas, “a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith”? Do we try to be positive-minded and encouraging like Saint Barnabas? Do we emulate his apostolic zeal?
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.
***
(Cf. Opening Prayer, Memorial of Saint Barnabas)
God our Father,
you filled Saint Barnabas with faith and the Holy Spirit
and sent him to convert the nations.
Help us to proclaim the Gospel by word and deed.
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 day. Please memorize it.
“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Mt 5:17) // “He was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.” (Acts 11:24)
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. // Imitate the positive and good natured character of Saint Barnabas and his apostolic zeal. Today pray especially for the Christian community in Cyprus.
***
June 12, 2015: FRIDAY – THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
“JESUS SAVIOR: From His Pierced Side Flowed
Blood and Water”
BIBLE READINGS
Hos 11:1,3-4,8c-9 // Eph 3:8-12, 14-19 // Jn 19:31-37
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
(Gospel Reflection by Sol Tiotuico, ASSOCIATION OF PAULINE COOPERATORS- Friends of the Divine Master, Antipolo Unit, Philippines; Illustrative Story provided by Sr. Mary Margaret, PDDM)
When we meditate on the Gospel of today’s feast of the Sacred Heart (Jn 19:31-37), we see a story of deliverance and penance, redemption and atonement, pardon and freedom, justification and sanctification, and cleansing and expiation. But the greatest story of all is the story of LOVE.
In the busy-ness of their preparation day, there was an urgency to bury the bodies of those dying on the crosses, before the evening when the Passover was to begin, so as not to contaminate the festivities. Pilate ordered that their legs be broken and they be taken down. When the soldier saw that Jesus was already dead, he pierced Jesus' side with a lance to make sure he was indeed dead.
The blood and water that flowed out of the pierced side of Jesus were prophetic signs of the two things that benefit us all: blood for the atonement of our sins and water for our purification - to be worthy again of His love.
From our Redeemer on the cross flowed forth the great LOVE that caused Him to offer up His life for our everlasting and perfect salvation. This great LOVE should put to rest the doubts of some Christians, give them HOPE and inflame their FAITH in the just and forgiving Lord who, from His pierced side, flowed out WATER to cleanse our sins and BLOOD to expiate those very same sins. We are saved, we are sanctified, and we are loved!
Illustrative Story: The following account from “Stories of Eucharistic Miracles”, circulated on the Internet, illustrates the beautiful mission of being a missionary of the loving Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In Valpariso, Chile, at the beginning of the 20th century, Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC., well known as the great Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a young priest. Fr. Mateo told this story wherever he preached and he found that where people were prepared to earn "three golden coins" with love, many graces were obtained and many conversions followed.
He relates that one day an 8 year old girl told him that Jesus spoke to her every time she received Holy Communion. Father was somewhat skeptical and requested her to ask Jesus to give him proof. The proof Father requested was the sudden conversion of a certain man who was a big sinner, a fallen away Catholic, and enemy of the Church ... and also that this man should come to him for Confession.
About a week later when Fr. Mateo was hearing confessions, the young girl told him that this sinner was coming up to the church. As the priest was leaving the confessional, the fallen away Catholic came into the church and walked over to Fr. Mateo and asked him to help him with his confession. He said that it was the first one since he was baptized. He did not know what came over him that morning but he suddenly understood the necessity of going to confession. Father realized that he had received the proof he requested.
The young girl told the priest that Our Lord revealed to her that He would give the graces to repent and mend his ways to this fallen away Catholic, and also to many other souls. He said, "Always ask Me for souls and I will give them to you, and tell Father Mateo to ask Me for souls. I will give them to him, too, but first you must become My missionary.”
She thought she was too young to be a missionary. Our Lord assured her that He would make her His missionary and that she would have to pay a certain price for souls. "I want you," said Jesus, "to earn three golden coins a day." Our Lord then explained what He meant by golden coins.
- The first golden coin was her prayers to Him for souls.
- The second golden coin was her little sacrifices, especially acts of obedience.
- The third golden coin was a promise: "never to miss Mass or Holy Communion through your own fault and to visit Me often in the Blessed Sacrament.”
***
The reading (Hos 11:1-4, 8c-9) is a masterpiece of beauty and grace. It is most fitting for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, font of forgiveness and love. Hosea’s description of God as a doting parent is one of the highpoints of revelation of divine love in the Hebrew Scriptures. Israel can self-destruct by her evil choices, but God is a loving parent. He does not give up on a wayward child. God has cared for his people since he called them out of Egypt and continues to teach them to walk in his ways. God cares for Israel like a mother who tenderly draws her child with love and affection. Israel however is an ungrateful child who needs to be disciplined and brought to his senses. The disobedient people may be subjected to a rigorous divine pedagogy, but God’s basic and ultimate stance is loving mercy: “My heart is overwhelmed … my pity is stirred … I will not give vent to my blazing anger … I will not destroy Israel again … for I am God and not man.”
The following story illustrates a remarkable response to God’s forgiving and unmitigated love (cf. Anne Nolan, “Just When We Think All Is Lost” in Alive! June 2014, p. 6).
On 1st October 1957 Jacques Fesch, the son of a wealthy banker, was guillotined for killing a policeman in Paris. The police officer, aged 35, was a widower with a 4-year-old daughter. But in a strange twist, it’s the murderer who could end up being declared a saint.
Born in April 1930, the son of an atheist father and Catholic mother, Fesch idled his way through school, spent a short time in the army, then in a bank, before adopting a playboy lifestyle, living off his parents’ wealth.
At the age of 21, in a civil ceremony, he married a neighbor’s daughter who was expecting his daughter. Yet he continued to see other women. With one of these he had a son, whom he abandoned to state care. Soon after, he and his wife separated, but remained friends.
At this point he decided to buy a boat, sail off to the South Pacific and begin a new life in the sun. Tired of his antics, however, his parents refused to fund his venture. Fesch then came up with the idea of robbing a currency dealer, Alexander Silberstein. On 25 February he and a friend arrived at the dealer’s office. He pointed a gun at the dealer and demanded the cash from the till. His companion, meanwhile, had fled.
Silberstein tried to reason with him, but Fesch hit him twice across the head with the revolver butt, grabbed a small amount of cash and ran. Outside he tried to calmly mingle with the passers-by, but Silberstein arrived, shouting that he has been robbed.
Chased by the crowd Fesch was cornered. A policeman, Jean Vergne, drew his revolver and ordered him to raise his hands. Instead Fesch pulled out his own gun and shot the officer through the heart and wounded one of his pursuers in the neck. But the crowd overcame him. He knew he would face the guillotine.
Having abandoned his faith when he was 17, he mocked the many efforts to bring God back to his life. “No need to trouble yourself about me”, he told the prison chaplain. But one year after the murder, on the night of 28 February 1955, Fesch experienced a dramatic change of heart.
“I was in bed, eyes open, really suffering for the first time in my life”, he wrote shortly before his death. “Then a cry burst forth from my breast, an appeal for help, ‘My God’, and instantly, like a violent wind which passes over with nobody knowing where it comes from, the spirit of the Lord seized me by the throat. It was a feeling of infinite power and kindness and, from that moment, I believed with an unshakable conviction that never left me.”
The experience changed the remaining two and a half years of his life. He apologized for all the suffering he had caused and led a holy, prayerful life. To a young Benedictine he wrote: “In prison there are two possible ways: You can rebel against your situation, or you can regard yourself as a monk.”
In the journal which he now kept he wrote: “The last day of struggle, at this time tomorrow I shall be in heaven! May I die as the Lord wishes me to die … In five hours I shall see Jesus.”
When his journal and letters were published after his death they created widespread interest in France, touching young people especially. Not everyone, however, wants him to be canonized: “a patron saint for gunmen”, said one newspaper.
But in 1987, Cardinal Lustiger of Paris explained: “Nobody is ever lost in God’s eyes, even when society has condemned him.” He believed that Fesch as a saint would “give great hope to those who see themselves irredeemably lost.”
***
The reading (Eph 3:8-12, 14-18) underlines the divine grace received by Saint Paul to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ and to reveal the saving “mystery”, once hidden, but is now made known to Paul and to the apostles and prophet by the activity of the Holy Spirit. Paul is a minister of this “mystery” and an instrument to bring the infinite riches of Christ to all peoples. Like Paul, the Church has a mission in the breaking down of barriers and the coming together of people. In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God’s presence with all confidence.
Today’s reading also contains the apostle’s beautiful prayer of adoration and intercession. In a contemplative mood, Saint Paul prays that the faithful may be strengthened inwardly by the Spirit, that Christ dwell in their hearts through faith, that they be rooted in love so that they may have insight into the full extent of Christ’s love that surpasses all understanding. He prays that they may be filled with the fullness of God, who by nature is “love”.
On this feast of the Sacred Heart, we are called to be like Paul in manifesting to the world the infinite riches of God’s love. We need to prove our grateful love. The following story gives insight into how to incarnate the love of God (Anthony De Mello, Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations, New York: Image Books, 1988, p. 160).
It was time for monsoon rains to begin and a very old man was digging holes in his garden. “What are you doing?” his neighbor asked. “Planting mango trees” was the reply.
“Do you expect to eat mangoes from those trees?”
“No. I won’t live long enough for that. But others will. It occurred to me the other day that all my life I have enjoyed mangoes planted by other people. This is my way of showing them my gratitude.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
How does the image of the “blood and water” flowing from the pierced side of Christ impinge on us? What is our personal response to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and his burning love for us?
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.
Prayer to the Sacred Heart (by Blessed James Alberione)
Jesus, Divine Master,
I thank and bless your most meek heart,
which led you to give your life for me.
Your blood, your wounds, the scourges, the thorns, the cross,
your bowed head tell my heart:
“No one loves more than he who gives his life for the loved one.”
The Shepherd died to give his life for the sheep.
I too want to spend my life for you.
Grant that you may always, everywhere, and in all things
dispose of me for your greater glory
and that I may always repeat:
“Your will be done.”
Inflame my heart with holy love for you and for souls.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, make me love you more and more.
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.
“One soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” (Jn 19:32)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your acts of mercy and compassion to the needy, suffering and grieving persons, let the love of the Sacred Heart console them and give them the strength of salvation.
***
June 13, 2015: SATURDAY – WEEKDAY (10); THE IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BVM; SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, Priest, Doctor of the Church; BVM ON SATURDAY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us to Be Truthful”
BIBLE READINGS
II Cor 5:14-21 // Mt 5:33-37
Optional Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Lk 2:41-51
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
In today’s Gospel (Mt 5:33-37), Jesus teaches us that truthfulness is assured by the inner integrity of the person. The biblical scholar Adrian Leske comments on the reading: “The practice of making oaths or vows had become so commonplace by the time of Jesus that the rabbis spent much time discussing valid and invalid forms. Originally oaths were made before the altar in the presence of God, when the truth of a matter could not be substantiated, by witnesses or documents. Included in such an oath was the invoking of a curse if the oath was false. Later in order not to take the name of God in vain it became a practice to use circumlocutions for God’s name, and even beyond that, in popular practice, to swear by anything of value. Jesus points out that no matter how one words that oath, it is still an oath before God … Those who belong to the kingdom will speak in sincerity and faithfulness, so their simple yes and no can be accepted as trustworthy before God and people. While oath-taking today may be required by courts and other institutions, the essential point here is speaking with utter honesty and sincerity.”
The following story gives insight into the value of a man’s word – if he is a person of integrity (cf. Iris Deurmyer, “Let’s Shake on It” in Country, April/May 2014, p. 51).
On a spring day when I was 6, I rode to town with Uncle Art to buy seed for planting gardens and fields and get feed for the calves. As a young girl growing up in the heartland, I found a special joy spending time with him. As we traveled in the pickup truck, Uncle Art made up silly rhymes and we sang them together. He patiently taught me to say the ABCs backward.
After loading supplies at the feed store, Uncle Art visited with the owner outside and then pointed at the truck. “I forgot to sign for this”, he said. The owner said, “Arthur, let’s shake on it. Your handshake is worth more than most men’s signatures.”
Later, I asked him what the owner had meant. Uncle Art explained that if a man gave his word, it should be dependable as money in the bank. He said a trustworthy man’s handshake was like an unwritten promise to keep his word.
In the half century since that day, I’ve reflected on Uncle Art’s words and his reputation. I can still picture that handshake; it’s a permanent reminder that the word should be as good as money in the bank. Oh, and one other thing has stuck with me. I can still rattle off the alphabet backwards.
***
The reading (II 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.
***
Optional Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: When I was in India, I gained an insight into the “sword” that pierced Mary’s heart (cf. 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.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Am I trustworthy? Do my words have integrity?
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?
3. 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?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O Lord Jesus,
you called me.
Help me to say “yes” and to follow you with integrity.
Make me a servant of your word
and make me trustworthy.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
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.
***
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.
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.
“I will follow you.” (I Kgs 19:20) // “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’.” (Mt 5:37) //“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.” (II Cor 5:17) //“His mother kept all these things in her heart.” (Lk 2:51)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Resolve to be faithful to the demands of Christian discipleship. Make every effort to be honest and truthful. // 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. // When you experience some trials and difficulties, present them to Mary and unite them with her most Immaculate Heart for the salvation of souls.
***
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