A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 16, n. 40)
Week 22 in Ordinary Time: September 2-8, 2018
(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: August 26 – September 1, 2018, please go to ARCHIVES Series 16 and click on “Week 21 Ordinary”.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY: September 2-8, 2018.)
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September 2, 2018: TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY
IN ORDINARY TIME
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us to Follow God’s Commands”
BIBLE READINGS
Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 // Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27 // Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23): “You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
The Gospel reading (Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) reminds me of a very amusing story about the Guru’s cat (cf. Anthony De Mello, The Song of the Bird, New York: Doubleday, 1982, p. 63). A prescription that is contingent on a particularly mischievous cat became codified and ritualized.
When the guru sat down to worship each evening the ashram cat would get in the way and distract the worshippers. So he ordered that the cat be tied during evening worship. After the guru died the cat continued to be tied during evening worship. And when the cat expired, another cat was brought to the ashram so that it could be duly tied during evening worship. Centuries later learned treatises were written by the guru’s scholarly disciples on the liturgical significance of tying up a cat while worship is performed.
The Gospel passage speaks of human traditions and prescriptions that have been codified and made binding for the people of God, for example, ritual washing of the hands, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds, dietary legislations, etc. Last Sunday’s ritornello was Simon Peter’s avowal of faith in Jesus: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). Against this backdrop, the unmitigated legalism of the Pharisees and scribes seems pathetic. They have not adhered to Jesus who has “the words of eternal life”, but have chosen instead to bind themselves to human prescriptions that cannot give life nor refresh the soul. In their rejection of Jesus Christ, the Bread of revelation and the wisdom of God, they have disregarded the life-giving divine Word. They have sought salvation in the rigorous observance of what is merely human invention. Therefore, Jesus indicts them vigorously: “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’ You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition” (Mk 7:6-7).
Jesus lambasts his opponents for following the letter of man-made laws and not the spirit that animates them. They have lost sight of the Word of God as the true law that refreshes the soul. Indeed, the true meaning of God’s commands is to give life. The sweet yoke of God’s law is meant to focus our attention on the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Bread of revelation offered to us by the Father for the life of the world. Jesus, the Wisdom of God and the crystallization of the divine law of love, is the authoritative interpreter of the Law and the fulfillment of the life-giving meaning of God’s commands.
The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly comments: “God has revealed himself in history as a loving, saving God. If we respond to this God and accept his love, we will act properly. When we can say with conviction that no other god has shown himself as our God has to us, then we will follow his statutes and decrees, because we know they are for our good.” The person who loves Christ and is nourished by the Bread of his Word focuses on following the divine will and cannot be defiled from within. The words and deeds of that person, marked by personal dedication and self-giving, evince a life of loving relationship with God, the author of life.
B. First Reading (Dt 4:1-2, 6-8): “You shall not add to what I command you … Keep the commands of the Lord.”
When I was a student at Maryhill School of Theology in the Philippines, a lanky and amiable Dutch professor, a member of the religious congregation Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, taught the courses in Canon Law. He was both a Canon scholar and a moral theologian. His approach was so spirit-filled and refreshing that Canon Law, together with Sacred Scriptures, became my favorite course. Some of my friends could not believe that Canon Law had become a favorite. One of them joked that probably my professor disagreed with Canon Law – that could explain why the course became so interesting. I countered that the approach was what made the course special. The professor, with his quaint Dutch accent, helped his students understand the meaning and the function of the Law in the Church. He discussed various cases with insightful reflections. He introduced us to the principle of epikeia – that in a particular situation a law may not apply. Thus properly understood and interpreted, Canon Law ceases to be burdensome, constricting and legalistic. It becomes a very positive and regenerating element of the life and growth of the Church.
In the first reading (Dt 4:1-2, 6-8), we hear Moses exhorting his people to cherish the statutes and decrees that he was teaching them to observe. The Law that Moses transmits to Israel is part of the love relationship between God and his chosen people. It is meant to promote the wisdom and life of God’s people so that they may reach and take possession of the Promised Land. The Law is an instrument to teach God’s children to walk on the way of life to their privileged destiny as a “great nation that is truly wise and intelligent”. The Law or the Torah serves as directions for living and orients towards the holiness and greatness willed for them by the Lord God.
The liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent remarks: “The commandments and decrees that Moses transmits in God’s name are a sign of the Lord’s love for his people. They bring out the two major aspects of the covenant he is establishing with the Israelites. On the one hand, God chooses this people, leads them, protects them amid the many difficulties they encounter, and constantly proves his fidelity to them. On the other hand, God’s fidelity calls for man’s fidelity to him in return; concretely, man must hear and keep the commandments; he must observe them in their entirety without adding or subtracting anything. This then is how man should respond to the fidelity of God. If he hears and accepts the law, if he meditates on it and observes it, he will contribute to the carrying out of God’s plan of salvation. If and when Israel thus responds, she will show herself to the pagans as a great and wise people. The law is thus not meant as a crushing burden but as a leaven and a source of enthusiasm for Israel, which will find in the law both salvation and greatness.”
Indeed, our life that is an Exodus to the Promised Land necessitates walking in the way of God’s commands. The Word of God, of which the Law is a vital expression, summons us to a greater intimacy with God and to a deeper responsibility for the advent of salvation and the promotion of God’s glory.
C. Second Reading (Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27): “Be doers of the word.”
In the Second Reading (Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27) we are energized by the words of Saint James: “Be doers of the word!” His main concern is to help the Christian community persevere in conversion to God and to make the believers grow in the Gospel life. He underlines the intimate relationship between faith in God and love of neighbor, which characterizes our covenant relationship with God. The great pastor, Saint James, inspires us with his keen sense of the wholeness of Christian life. Indeed, there is an active and inseparable relation between religion and life. For Saint James, there is no fragmentation of faith and works, and there is no such thing as part-time Christians in the Church.
Adrian Nocent comments: “Saint James, the great apostle of Christian action in the world, gives good advice. We ought to welcome the Gospel with a truly teachable spirit: humble enough to learn, able to face the truth even when it hurts, not blinded by prejudice, and sufficiently self-controlled to accept discipline. We should practice true religion. He wants our faith to be not merely an abstract assent, but a practical application in human living. James’ orphans and widows (v. 22) are his shorthand for all the oppressed for whom religion calls us to care.”
It is our joy to present some notes concerning Alberto Hurtado, the remarkable Jesuit priest from Chile who was canonized by Pope Benedict on October 23, 2005, in Rome (cf. Luis Quezada, “I’m Content, Lord! I’m Content!” in The Word Among Us, August 2006, p. 51-56). St. Alberto Hurtado is an excellent example of a disciple who is both a “hearer of the word” and a “doer of the word”.
Alberto Hurtado was born in 1901, in Vina del Mar, a port city in central Chile. By the time he was five, his father had died and his mother had moved to Santiago with her two sons, after selling the family property to pay off debts. Having no home of their own, they lived with different relatives – an experience that acquainted Alberto with the struggles of the homeless and needy. He learned compassion from his mother, too. “It is good to put your hands together to pray, but it is better to open them in order to give”, she used to say. Young Alberto did this by sharing with poor children the coins his uncle gave him. Later, as a student, he devoted Sunday afternoons to helping serve the poor in Santiago’s most blighted areas.
He also prayed. In fact, as he sensed a growing call to be a Jesuit priest, he prayed long and hard that doors would open and that his mother’s financial situation would improve. Eventually, his prayers were answered in the form of a court ordered settlement that ensured his mother a decent income. In 1923, with a law degree in hand, Alberto entered the Society of Jesus. His long years of formation took him to Argentina, Spain, and Louvain, Belgium, where he wrote a doctoral thesis on the art and science of education. Upon being ordained a priest in 1933, he wrote a friend that he felt “completely happy” and wanted only “to live out my ministry with all the fullness of my inner life and my outer activities”.
Once back in Chile, Hurtado lost no time putting his dreams into action. He taught high school and university students, seminarians and lay people. Young people were drawn to him through the retreats he preached and the mission trips he led; it seemed that no matter what activity he was pursuing, he fired young hearts to give themselves to Christ and work for his glory. But in the midst of all these outreaches, Alberto was most concerned for the poor. He worried about the orphans who roamed Santiago’s streets and climbed onto city buses to sing for money, to beg, or to steal purses. While others ignored them, he was keenly aware of the homeless youths who spent nights around bonfires under bridges and in parks. Some, he knew, were addicted to drugs or drink and stole to support their habits; some had done jail time. What he saw broke his heart. “Every poor person, every vagrant, every beggar is Christ himself who is carrying his cross”, he often said. “As such, we ought to love him and care for him.”
In October 1944, a sick, shivering man came to Hurtado looking for a place to stay. He was the very picture of misery. Days later, still shaken by the encounter, Alberto spoke of the man’s distress at a women’s retreat. His heartfelt account of the poverty on Santiago’s streets was like seed falling on good soil. When he spontaneously suggested opening a shelter for the neediest and the street children, the women responded with generous donations of money, jewels, and land. “Christ’s Home”, the Hogar de Cristo, opened its doors the following May. Everyone was welcome, the only requirement being that they have a real need. Alberto was directly involved in the project, recalled Maria Opazo, whose husband often accompanied him when he went out at night looking for children in need. He drove a green truck and drove it fast, slamming on the brakes when he saw a child lying on the ground. Stopping briefly on the bridge over the Mapocho River, he would blow the horn, and the children would come out yelling, “It’s Papa Hurtado!” When the truck was full, he took the children to the Hogar and then started all over again. “This would go on almost every night from 10:00 p.m. to about 3:00 a.m.”, said Mrs. Opazo.
Fr. Hurtado opened more houses, some of them rehabilitation centers and vocational schools that offered people the skills they needed to earn a living. Above all, he wanted everyone served to come to respect “their value as a person and dignity as a citizen, and more so, as child of God.” Today, the Hogar de Cristo and its many affiliates carry on their founder’s vision by caring for thousands of children, teens, and adults throughout Chile. (…)
Alberto was only fifty years old when he experienced the first symptoms of the disease that would cut his life short. A year later, after suffering a stroke, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The illness meant a reduction in the amount of work he could accomplish and, ultimately, an early death, but he received the news as a gift from God. Wanting to make the most of his last days, Hurtado kept his door always open. His room became a place of pilgrimage for people of all social conditions. He said farewells, thanked everyone for “such evidence of love and devotion” – and never forgot the poor. In his last letter, written only days before his death on August 18, 1952, Alberto charged his friends to continue his work: “As the needs and miseries of the poor show themselves, find ways to help them as you would help the Master … I confide the poor little ones to your care, in the name of God.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we honor God with our lips and not with our hearts? Do we live according to God’s commands? Do we have a proper understanding of the purpose and meaning of law in the Church? Do we continue to cling to Jesus and avow our faith in him: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Based on Psalm 15 and John 6:68)
Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
Lord Jesus,
you incarnate God’s command
and thus give life to our soul.
In you and through you,
we discover that God’s decree is trustworthy.
You are joy for the heart,
wisdom for the simple
and light for the eyes.
God’s law is perfect – refreshing the soul.
It is more desirable than gold,
better than the finest gold.
Lord Jesus,
you are the word made flesh.
You embody the true spirit of God’s love-command
and perfect it.
The words you speak to us are life-giving.
They are sweeter than honey,
even than honey that drips from the comb.
Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
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.
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.” (Mk 7:14)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Ask the Lord pardon for the times when we have followed the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, and for the wounds and injuries caused by our legalistic attitude. Pray for our legislators and those in the law practice that they may be imbued with a Christian outlook of the role of the law in human society and the Church.
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September 3, 2018: MONDAY – SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, Pope, Doctor of the Church
LABOR DAY (USA)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Was Rejected in His Own Country … The Apostles Proclaim His as Christ Crucified”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Cor 2:1-5 // Lk 4:16-30
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 4:16-30): “He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor. No prophet is accepted in his own native place.”
(Gospel Reflection by Heather Jacobs, Bluff City, TN – U.S.A. // Illustrative Account by Sr. Mary Margaret, pddm)
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 other than 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 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.
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The rejection that Jesus has experienced from his countrymen continues to be replicated in the life of today’s Christians. The following modern day account, circulated on the Internet, is an example.
This was sent by Father John Pitzer, formerly at Holy Ghost Church and now in New Orleans. Please offer your prayers and share with as many people as possible.
Dear Friends,
Just a few minutes ago I received the following text message on my phone from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). We then spoke briefly on the phone and I assured him that we would share this urgent prayer need with all of our contacts.
"We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically!!! Oh, dear God, what a world we are living in!!!!!
This is the city we have been smuggling food to. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it's staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!"
Please pray sincerely for the deliverance of the people of Northern Iraq from the terrible advancement of ISIS and its extreme Islamic goals for mass conversion or death for Christians across this region.
B. First Reading (I Cor 2:1-5): “I came to you proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
In today’s First Reading (I Cor 2:1-5) Saint Paul personally exemplifies his assertion: “What seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” From the perspective of human standards, Paul’s mission to the Corinthians should be a failure: he is plagued with illness, his appearance is not impressive and his personal delivery is weak. But the very existence of the faith community in Corinth is a powerful testimony of the presence of the Spirit and of the power of God at work. The very human limitation of Paul, that is, his lack of convincing rhetoric, manifests more clearly that faith does not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power. Saint Paul does not tantalize the Corinthians with human wisdom and eloquence, but simply proclaims the saving message centered on Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.
The following is a modern day example of Paul’s “God-dependent way” of delivering the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. “Generations Unite” in Marian Helper, Fall 2007, p. 29-31).
In the opening minutes of the new DVD, Generations Unite in Prayer: The Divine Mercy in Song, you see the prayerful faces of children and hear their eager voices singing the words given by our Lord to St. Faustina: “For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and the whole world.”
The children are not actors. Rather, they are an answer to the prayers of Trish Short. Two years ago, Trish prayed for the people and the resources needed to create a DVD that responds to Christ’s call to St. Faustina. “Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you”, He says. “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death” (Diary of St. Faustina, 1541, 687). (…)
With Generations – the winner of a prestigious Telly Award for excellence in cinematography – Trish hopes to convince souls to approach Jesus with trust and to see Him for what He is: the love of our lives. She, for one, can attest to the power of the Chaplet.
One evening in the early 1990s, still suffering from the shame and guilt of having had two abortions, Trish took the advice of a friend. She knelt down by her bed and prayed the Chaplet for the first time. Suddenly, as never before, she felt Christ’s love and mercy break through her hardened heart. She made a good confession and knew she was forgiven. She also knew she had to tell others about the unfathomable mercy. “I once felt that the sins I’ve committed are unforgivable”, says Trish. “But, through the Chaplet, I learned that God’s mercy is a free gift that covers all sin. This is something that really can bring hope to a broken world.”
In particular, Trish’s focus in the DVD is on strengthening families. “I know what families are going through”, she says. “I come from a broken home. When we began this project, I knew the Lord wanted a strong witness of families – especially because fathers are leaving homes in droves, and there are so many problems with teens and drugs and sexual promiscuity.” (…)
Among those featured was Dr. Albert Kraft, a terminally ill Divine Mercy devotee, who sought to do one more thing for Jesus before he died. He was filmed in his bed surrounded by family members singing the Chaplet. He died shortly after the filming. His daughter Susan says his prayers were answered. He wanted to make it to the Divine Mercy Sunday to pray to Jesus and thank Him because he knew “this film would bring souls to Christ – the lost, the sinners, they would come back to Christ.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. 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?
2. Like Paul do we experience our human poverty and limitations and do we make it an occasion to let the power of God’s Spirit reveal itself?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
you sent prophets
to speak your word of mercy to your erring people.
In their ministry of salvation,
they experienced the agony and the ecstasy
that their proclamation entails.
In the fullness of time,
you sent to us your divine Son, the Incarnate Word.
He is the ultimate prophet and message-bearer,
the radical revelation of your saving love.
Jesus was rejected in his own native place.
As Christian disciples,
we, too, are called to proclaim your word today
and thus experience the agony and ecstasy of prophecy.
Give us the grace to be faithful to our vocation.
And let our poverty manifest more fully
the power of the Spirit at work in us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
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.
“No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (Lk 4:24) // “May your faith rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (I Cor2:5)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
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. Offer a helping hand for modern day prophets who are being ostracized, abused and persecuted. Pray that our poverty and limitations may manifest more clearly the power of God.
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September 4, 2018, 2018: TUESDAY – WEEKDAY (22)
“JESUS SAVIOR: His Word Is Confirmed by His Deed …
We Are Taught by His Spirit”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Cor 2:10b-16 // Lk 4:31-37
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 4:31-37): “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
Today’s Gospel reading (Lk 4:31-37) depicts the early phase of our Lord’s public ministry. Jesus is in the synagogue at Capernaum on a Sabbath, speaking the saving word of God and teaching with authority. The evangelist Luke describes the impact of his ministry on the worshipping assembly: “They were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority.” Jesus then manifests the power of God’s saving word by performing a healing sign. He cures a man possessed by an unclean spirit. His word is confirmed by his deed. Both word and action manifest that he is truly the Messiah sent from God.
Cardinal John Henry Newman remarks: “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. In him God is fully and truly seen, so that he is absolutely the way, and the truth and the life. All our duties are summed up for us in the message he brings … Christ has brought from his Father for all of us the full and perfect way of life. Thus he brings grace as well as truth, a most surprising miracle of mercy.”
A contemporary Church mission that is dear to me is the Vladivostok Mission: Reviving the Catholic Church in Eastern Russia. A way of collaborating is to send Mass stipends. I sent $20.00 requesting that a Mass be offered for two special intentions. Fr. Myron Effing’s letter of acknowledgment, dated July 31, 2012, contains an update of their mission and shows that their Gospel proclamation follows the way of Jesus, that is, by word and deed.
More good news, Sister Mary Margaret! You remember that our Lesozavodsk parishioner Vladimir needed to fly to Korea for a cancer operation – he came through the operation just fine, but now the extra good news. The two tumors were not cancerous! The doctor said that it was extremely dangerous anyway, and could be fatal if it had burst accidentally. He has returned home. And he says that for the first time in 57 years he feels normal! Most of his life he has lived with fever and a high white cell blood count. He wants to write a personal letter to all those who helped him with the operation. The donations for him from America came to just over $5000. Donations from the Russian side came to $3500. Most of this came from the active work of the parishioners of Visitation Parish in Lesozavodsk. Congratulations to everybody! Thanks be to God!
B. First Reading (I Cor 1:10b-16): “Natural persons do not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God: spiritual persons, however, can judge everything.”
Today’s first Reading (I Cor 2:10b-16) gives insight into the meaning of God’s wisdom and its implication for us. Paul does not deny that the Gospel is wisdom, but it is a different kind of wisdom, which the world cannot understand. Just as no one knows the secrets of a man except himself, so only the Spirit of God can discern the mysteries of God. Only God’s Spirit knows all about God. Whoever possesses the Spirit of the Lord thinks as Christ does and judges all things rightly from a supernatural point of view. The truly spiritual person can receive the revelation of God – a revelation summed up in the wisdom of the cross. Whoever does not have the Spirit regards the Christian mystery as sheer nonsense. Paul asserts: “We have the mind of Christ”. This stupendous grace enables the apostles and Christian disciples to respond to the truths taught by the Spirit.
The following modern day anecdote of a missionary gives an idea how human wisdom works (cf. John Geitner, M.M. in “Missioner Tales” in Maryknoll, May/June 2014, p. 8).
Ten months after arriving in Hong Kong and completing some beginner’s lessons in the Cantonese language, I was assigned to teach English and religion at the Maryknoll Fathers’ School in Kowloon Tsai. In its primary and secondary sections there were 1,500 pupils. Most of them were non-Catholic children from the refugee squatter huts in the neighborhood. I lived at St. Peter in Chains Church just across the way. Outside of the church, there was an open veranda where local youngsters liked to play. After classes, I would meet them to practice my faltering Cantonese.
One day, a girl who appeared to be about 12 years old asked me, “Where are your parents?” I told them that they were in the States. She then asked me, “Where are your wife and children?” I replied that as a Catholic priest I was not married and did not have any children. She looked at me quizzically and then asked, “Well, when you die, who will bury you?”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. How do we share in Christ’s prophetic ministry? How do we make the voice of truth resound in the world today? In imitation of Christ, are we ready to support our prophetic proclamation with prophetic action?
2. Are we receptive to the Spirit of Christ who enables us to put on the mind of Christ?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you are the true prophet.
The words you speak are confirmed
by marvelous signs and healing actions.
We thank you for revealing to us, by word and deed,
the mercy of God.
In you, we have received the vocation to proclaim the Gospel.
Give us the wisdom of the Holy Spirit
that we may fully discern and carry out the divine saving will.
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.
“What is there about his word?” (Lk 4:36) // “But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Cor 2:16)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Endeavor to bring the word of God and his healing love to a painful predicament and/or an unjust social situation. Resolve to make meditation an important part of your daily life.
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September 5, 2018: WEDNESDAY – WEEKDAY (22)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Heals, Prays and Proclaims the Gospel … We Are His Co-Workers”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Cor 3:1-9 // Lk 4:38-44
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 4:38-44): “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God because for this purpose I have been sent.”
Today’s Gospel (Lk 4:38-44) depicts our Lord Jesus as in full swing in his public ministry. The paschal victory of Jesus is prefigured in the healing he carries out on behalf of Simon’s mother-in-law afflicted with a severe fever, the many others suffering with various diseases and those possessed by demons. The healing ministry of Jesus is a sign that the kingdom of wholeness has come. By his mission of healing, he asserts that sickness, suffering, and death do not have the ultimate word.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The “dawn” of Jesus is poised in earnest towards greater intimacy with the loving Father and the proclamation of the Gospel. The saving ministry of the healing Lord is sustained by his life of prayer and personal dialogue with the Father. Hence, the restoring touch of Jesus reaches out more extensively and the Good News is carried even farther, propelled by a life of recollection and prayer. Indeed, the ability to make core decisions for God’s kingdom is made possible by his profound communion with the Father in a relationship of prayer. Jesus’ tryst at the dawn of day and his deeds of healing invite us to sustain our own healing ministry by a life of prayer.
The following story of a consecrated religious, Sister Blandina Segale (cf. Margaret and Matthew Bunson, “Woman of the Wild, Wild West” in Our Sunday Visitor, March 25, 2007, p. 12) made me smile. I find her life of total dedication to the service of God’s people very inspiring and interesting. United with the Lord, she heals, prays and proclaims the Gospel.
One of the most intriguing Catholic women serving the people of the United States was Sister Blandina Segale, a Sister of Charity who cared for those who journeyed along the dangerous Santa Fe Trail. In 1872, Sister Blandina was sent alone to Trinidad, Colorado, a Wild West haven for outlaws and renegades. She was 22 at that time. Because she was a Catholic nun bent on aiding the local Native Americans and the poor, Sister Blandina was not welcomed to Trinidad with overwhelming enthusiasm. The residents of Trinidad faced hard lives and did not fancy the sort of concerns that a nun might have. They were not cruel or insulting toward her, but they obviously had little interest in her labors. That changed rather abruptly, however, when her “patron” announced one day that he expected one and all to treat her with respect and courtesy. If any of the good people of Trinidad caused Sister Blandina any problems, he would deal with them personally. Actually, he promised to shoot them down like dogs.
The townspeople knew the “patron” well, and some recalled that he had shot a man for snoring too loudly at a campsite, so he was a man to take seriously when he made a threat. The “patron” of Sister Blandina was William Bonney, known in history as Billy the Kid. She had given nursing care to one of Billy’s companions when he was shot and left for dead in an abandoned hut, and the famous outlaw was repaying her for her merciful care of his friend. He also appreciated her efforts for others. The first time they met, actually, Billy the Kid had come to town to scalp the four doctors who had refused aid to his wounded companion. Sister Blandina talked him out of it.
She had also saved the life of another man soon after arriving in Trinidad. Caught after fatally wounding a companion in a gun battle, the man was about to be dragged from the jail by an angry mob. Sister Blandina hurried to the bedside of the dying victim and talked him into forgiving his attacker. She and the sheriff then walked the murderer through the streets to the victim, who did forgive his assailant and then died. When Sister Blandina announced the deathbed scene to the angry men standing outside in the street, the mob thought it was all a bit peculiar, but they lost their enthusiasm for a hanging and let justice prevail in a courtroom. (…)
Sister Blandina was transferred to Santa Fe in time, where she continued establishing charitable institutions and programs. She labored for 21 years in the American West, becoming famous and respected … In time, Sister Blandina was assigned to Cincinnati, where she continued her labors with her sister, who was also a nun. She died in Cincinnati on February 23, 1941.
B. First Reading (I Cor 3:1-9): “We are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
Today’s First Reading (I Cor 3:1-9) gives us a glimpse into the fledging Christian community in Corinth and presents Saint Paul’s insight regarding “servants of God”. Paul contends that the jealousy, quarrels and divisions in the Corinthian community are proof of their spiritual immaturity. In light of God’s wisdom, factions, based on the alleged superiority of one minister over another or of one group over another, are absurd. Their false assessment of the apostles needs to be rectified. When one pits Paul against Apollos, this is acting like worldly people. In fact, both Paul and Apollos are simply God’s servants, fulfilling the roles assigned to them for the growth of the community. Each one does the work which the Lord gives him to do: Paul plants the seed; Apollos waters the plant, but it is God who makes the plant grow. With these beautiful farming images, Paul underlines the unity and cooperation that characterize the task of God’s ministers and emphasize the common goals that animate them.
The following modern day account gives insight into Paul’s climactic assertion: “We are God’s co-workers” (cf. Mike McGarvin in Poverello News, January 2014, p. 1-2).
Twenty-three years is a long time to work with someone, and can be viewed as quite an accomplishment. When two stubborn Irishmen work together for twenty-three years without beating each other to a pulp, it’s more like a miracle.
Jim Connell became Poverello’s Executive Director in 1990. Back then, I was still young enough to be a bit of a rebel and a hothead, someone who didn’t particularly like taking directions (my adolescence lasted longer than most).
Anyway, Jim was hired and he brought with him some very outlandish ideas, such as sticking to something called a “budget”. I’d heard this phrase before, but I thought it was a dirty word. So right away, we started clashing: Jim the businessman, me the freewheeling ex-hippie. There was bound to be a collision.
The reason the collision wasn’t fatal was that in spite of Jim’s strong personality, he was smart enough and knew the benefits of compromise. At some point he realized that when it came to me and money, he was dealing with someone who didn’t understand the constraints of limited funds. He started making deals with me.
I was willing to come to the table, because I figured that if he was offering a deal, then that meant I was victorious. Little did I know that his long-term strategy was to lure me into being more responsible. He basically told me that he was giving me a monthly homeless fund, and I could spend it however I saw fit. If I put up someone in a hotel, or brought some kid a new bicycle, he wouldn’t question it; but each month, when my “allowance” was spent, that was it until the next month. I readily agreed to this plan.
Crafty Jim had succeeded in doing something no other Director had been able to do: he forced me to think through how I spent money and use it more wisely; and he did it without fighting me tooth and nail. In fact, I went along with the plan, thinking I had “won”.
On the other hand, Jim was open to learning, and coming from a business background, he had much to absorb about the realities of homelessness. However, learn he did, and after a couple of years of wrangling, he saw more of where I was coming from, and I actually began to see that budgets weren’t necessarily bad things, although I bought a coffee cup that had printed on the side, “Budgets are for wimps.” My intention was to annoy Jim with the cup, but my heart wasn’t in the fight anymore. Jim had used tactical thinking and Irish charm to outflank me and get me surrender. (…)
Jim brought great insights and positive changes to our Resident Program, the efficiency of our food service, the expansion of other services and our financial accounting system. His contributions here have been enormous, and have made things run so much smoother than in the “good old days”.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do I witness to the healing power of the Good News? Do I incarnate the healing compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ today? Do I derive strength and meaning for my healing ministry from deep communion with God in prayer?
2. Do we realize that as Christian disciples we are God’s servants for the nurturing of the Church? Do we relate to each other as God’s co-workers?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus, our healing Lord,
people are hurting more than before.
Hold the sick in your arms.
Comfort them.
Fill their lives with meaning.
Touch their sufferings with your gentle healing hand.
And though we pray for health and healing,
let us find you in the mystery of suffering
and continue to work as God’s co-workers.
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.
“He laid his hands in each of them and cured them.” (Lk 4:40) // “We are God’s co-workers.” (I Cor 3:9)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Anointing of the sick is understood incompletely by many as “extreme unction” to be administered to a dying person, with the result that the person no longer has control of his/her faculties and so is incapable of receiving it with complete awareness, faith and devotion. As part of your healing ministry as a Christian, encourage a seriously ill person to receive the Anointing at the proper time. Thank the Lord for the gift of God’s co-workers and endeavor to be a true partner in God’s saving work.
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September 6, 2018: THURSDAY – WEEKDAY (22)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us to Put Out into the Depths … He Teaches Us that We Belong to Him and to God”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Cor 3:18-23 // Lk 5:1-11
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 5:1-11): “They left everything and followed Jesus.”
Some years ago our class at Maryhill School of Theology celebrated the “Misa ng Bayang Pilipino”, the Filipino inculturated form of the Roman Mass, with the barrio inhabitants of Talim Island, located in the middle of Laguna de Bay, a beautiful lake in the Philippines. We lodged there overnight, hosted by several families. The following sunrise, we went to celebrate the Morning Prayer beside the lake. As we sat on the sand, we heard the waves gently touching the shore. We gazed upon small boats, called “bancas”, lying upturned on the sand and fishing nets hanging on bamboo poles and fences to dry. Indeed, the “bancas” and the nets are the life-blood of fishermen. In light of this experience, I can vividly imagine the episode described by the evangelist Luke at the Lake of Gennesaret. It is easy for me to glean the significance of Simon Peter and the other fishermen renouncing their boats and nets and leaving everything behind to follow Jesus.
The mission of Jesus is to bring salvation to all, in accordance with the Father’s saving plan. Today’s Gospel (Lk 5:1-11) describes him preaching beside the lake. In order to minister more effectively to the great crowd pressing on him, Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and asks him to put out a short distance from the shore. Jesus then sits down and teaches the crowd from the boat. Seated on that improvised pulpit, his voice as true Teacher resounds as the people listen attentively to his saving word.
The next scene portrays the power of the word of God. After proclaiming to the crowd on the shore, Jesus commands the boat owner, who has worked all night without a catch: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” If the night fishing has been unprofitable, the daytime fishing would be even more so. Hence, it seems preposterous for a village carpenter-turned-prophet to command that to a professional fisherman. Simon, however, acts upon the Master’s word. As a result, they catch such a great number of fish that the nets begin to tear. They signal to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. All are “awed” by the catch. Simon falls at the knees of Jesus saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus assures Simon and gives him a mission: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
The reading concludes with an image of a dynamic response: “When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.” The Lord who proclaimed the saving word of God to the eager crowd at Lake Gennesaret and challenged Simon and his companions to put out into the depths is the same Lord who calls us today to discipleship. The response of Peter and his companions inspires us to make a total commitment to Jesus and follow him into the depths of his paschal destiny. Like them, we too must be willing to launch into the deep waters and thus share in the bounty of salvation.
B. First Reading (I Cor 3:18-23): “All belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.”
In today’s first Reading (I Cor 3:18-23) Saint Paul continues to exhort the Corinthians to stop being “wise” in the world but “fools” by Christ’s standard. The apostle cites Job 5:12-13 (“God traps the wise in their cleverness”) and Psalm 94:11 (“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise; they are vain”) to substantiate his plea. In their prejudicial appraisal of the ministers of the Gospel, the Corinthians prove themselves to be “fools”, judging by the vanity of this world. They should not boast about human beings such as the leaders of the factitious groups to which they belong. Paul contends that they do not belong to such “leaders” but that all things belong to Christians. The leaders belong to the Christian community as “servants” for the good of all. The apostle Paul climactically asserts: “You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
The following modern day account gives insight into her “belonging to God” (cf. “Nun’s Win Is Global News, Almost!” in Alive! July/August 2014, p. 8).
A young nun from Sicily made news all over the world by her landslide win in the final of the Italian State TV talent show, The Voice of Italy. During the course of the competition she sang a duet with Kylie Minogue; and Whoopie Goldberg star of the movie, Sister Act, tweeted a link to one of her appearances, saying: “For when you want a taste of sister act!”
Gossip magazines have splashed her on their covers in her religious garb, and featured her in articles. BBC News, reporting her win, said that “Sister Cristina Scuccia, wearing her nun’s habit and with a crucifix around her neck, became an internet sensation” when she first appeared on the show. The New York Times told how she won 62% of the votes cast in the final, the Italian media complaining “she may have had a little help from above”. It added that “the show’s host noted her very original way of accepting”, leading the audience in the Our Father while some of the show’s judges were unsure how to respond.
Even the leftwing UK Guardian devoted almost a page to the story, with a large picture of the 25-year-old Ursuline nun holding up her crucifix in one hand and the winner’s award in the other. It quoted her: “The last word of thanks, the most important goes of course to him in heaven. And my dream is to recite a Padre Nostro together … I want Jesus to enter into this.” (…)
Sr. Cristina’s win, however, was ignored by the Irish media. But thanks to the internet this kind of news blackout no longer works. (…)
The nun was invited to take part in the competition by the show’s producers and did so influenced by the call of Pope Francis to all Catholics to “get out” to others with the Good News. (…)
As a teenager Sr. Cristina had stopped going to Mass. Aged 20 and studying for a degree in accounting, she was engaged to be married. Then she played the lead role in a musical organized by the Ursuline Sisters to celebrate the centenary of their order’s beginnings. Thanks to the experience, the young woman began to reflect more deeply on her life and her faith and began to consider that she might have a religious vocation. She spent two years in Brazil with the sisters, working with poor children, before making her decision. She discovered, she says, that “to answer the call of Jesus is liberating: it does not disappoint.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. What is our personal response to the Master’s command: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch”? Do we ever allow our human unworthiness and insufficiency to daunt us? Do we imitate the faith-response of Peter and his companions: “When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him”?
2. Do we act as “wise” fellows of this world or as “fools” for Christ? How does Paul’s affirmation that all belong to Christ and that Christ belongs to God impact you?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord and Master,
you challenged Peter to put out into the deep.
May we imitate Simon Peter’s faith response
and experience the bountiful catch.
May poverty and insufficiency never daunt us.
May we trust in your words: “Do not be afraid!”
Let us be heartened by the reality
that we belong to you and through you, we belong to God.
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.
“Put out into deep water.” (Lk 5:4) // “All belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.” (I Cor 3:23)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for all Christians that we may realize the greatness of our vocation as “fishers of men”. Offer special prayers and acts of charity for the increase and perseverance of priestly and religious vocations. In your words and actions show to the world that you belong to Christ and, through Christ, you belong to God.
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September 7, 2018: FRIDAY – WEEKDAY (22)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Bridegroom-Messiah … He Manifests the Motives of Our Hearts”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Cor 4:1-5 // Lk 5:33-39
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 5:33-39): “When the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast.”
Today’s Gospel (Lk 5:33-39) depicts Jesus as the Bridegroom-Messiah. He invites us to a new relationship that transcends mere legal observance and superficial piety. A loving relationship with the Bridegroom entails a radical transformation and infuses new meaning into such religious practices as fasting, an issue raised by some people when they observed that John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast, while Jesus’ disciples did not. Jesus answers them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, they will fast in those days.” The reference to the Bridegroom being taken away is an allusion to the death of Jesus that led to his saving glory.
Indeed, in the new dispensation that resulted from the paschal event of the death and resurrection of Jesus, his disciples would fast, but not in the meaning given to this religious practice by the disciples of John and the Pharisees. Following a new lifestyle based on the radical salvation won for us by Christ’s saving death on the cross, the Christian disciples would also fast, but for the right reason. An erroneous notion of fasting has no place in the messianic kingdom ushered in by Christ. Indeed, the followers of Jesus would exercise various forms of salutary asceticism, in a spirit of receptivity to the coming of the Kingdom. They would carry these out in anticipation of the full joy that is prepared for them by the victorious Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, in the nuptial banquet in heaven.
The radical newness of our relationship with Christ can be compared to a piece of new cloth which should not be sewn into an old cloak, for it will make the tear even greater. It can also be compared to new wine which should not be poured into an old wineskin for it will cause the skin to break and spill the wine. Indeed, the love-relationship with Christ, the Bridegroom, demands an exhilaratingly new vision and life-style, symbolically portrayed by Luke as “new wine” poured into fresh wineskins.
The Redemptorist John P. Fahey Guerra gives insight into Christian fasting as an opportunity to gauge our cooperation with God’s plan (cf. Ligourian, A Redemptorist Pastoral Publication, February 2012, p. 11).
We have formed attitudes, feelings, and beliefs about the poor and about poverty in our lives that are simply not in accord with our faith in the God of Jesus Christ. Many of these attitudes have become so habitual that they appear “natural” to us, and, as a consequence, we don’t see the need to reflect on them.
Fasting is a spiritual exercise that seeks to break the power these habits of mind and heart have over us. It is not deprivation for deprivation’s sake, but rather a distancing of ourselves from our present worldview so that our faith in God’s view of the world might take hold of us.
Our encounter with the poor family in Mexico was disconcerting to us; it broke the pattern of our comfortable view of the world. It questioned our way of living. It showed us that we were far from where we were called to be. Fasting is a way for us to intentionally bring into question our present way of living.
B. First Reading (I Cor 4:1-5): “The Lord will manifest the motives of our hearts.”
In today’s First Reading (I Cor 4:1-15) Saint Paul responds to the judgmental attitude of the Corinthians. The apostles are “servants of Christ” and “stewards of the mysteries of God”, charged with preaching divine revelation and not their own doctrines. What is required of them is trustworthiness, a conscientious devotion to the Master’s interests. The Corinthians have no right to pass judgment on them. Only the Lord, not even Paul himself, can judge the faithfulness of one’s service. Final judgment must wait until the Lord comes. He will expose what is hidden and manifest the intentions of our hearts. And then everyone will receive from God the praise he deserves. Hence, Paul and his companions should not be judged by human standards and certainly, not prematurely. Their “trustworthiness” as apostles is assessed by the Lord and will be brought to light at the Lord’s coming.
The following charming account illustrates how the Lord manifests the hidden thoughts of the heart (cf. Euphrasia Nyaki in “Missioner Tales” in Maryknoll, May/June 2014, p. 8-9).
One day while walking down the street in Joao Pessoa, a northeastern coastal city of Brazil, I saw a man sitting on the sidewalk, who appeared to be homeless and living on the streets. I had a pretty good hunch that he was going to ask me for a handout and knowing that I had nothing to give him that day, I tried to look in the other direction as I approached. When I got near to where he was sitting, I was surprised to hear him call to me.
“Hey, woman! Look at me!” he called out to me, “I’m not going to ask you for anything. I just want to see your beautiful face.”
As I turned to look at him, his face broke out into such a beautiful smile that I could not help but think of Jesus.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we respond to God’s eternal and faithful love incarnated in Christ, the messianic Bridegroom? Do we cherish the radical newness that God’s forgiving and renewing love brings to us through his Son Jesus Christ? Are we ready to share the tenderness of God’s love with the forlorn and abandoned of today’s world?
2. Do we trust in God who manifests the motives of our hearts?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you are the Bridegroom of the Church,
Renew us in your love
and pour “new wine” to our feasting.
Let us be faithful servants and trustworthy stewards.
Purify the motives of our hearts
that we may render God fitting 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.
“When the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” (Lk 5:35) // “The Lord will manifest the motives of our hearts.” (I Cor 4:5)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for those whose marriage bond has been adulterated and shattered. Offer your contribution to promote the healing of nuptial relationships and the integrity of the sacrament of matrimony. By regular examination of the heart, be attentive as the Lord manifests to you your inner motivations.
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September 8, 2018: SATURDAY – THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
“JESUS SAVIOR: His Mother Mary’s Birth Is a Prelude to Salvation”
BIBLE READINGS
Mi 5:1-4a or Rom 8:28-30 // Mt 1:1-16, 18-23
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her birth means that the coming of Jesus Savior is near. Her coming into the world is the dawn of salvation. Saint Andrew of Crete, bishop, remarks: “This radiant and manifest coming of God to men most certainly needed a joyful prelude to introduce the great gift of salvation to us. The present festival, the birth of the Mother of God, is the prelude, while the final act is the foreordained union of the Word with flesh. Today the Virgin is born, tended and formed, and prepared for her role as Mother of God, who is the universal King of the ages … Therefore, let all creation sing and dance and unite to make worthy contribution to the celebration of this day … The creature is newly prepared to be a divine dwelling for the Creator.”
Just like the Christ Child, the Child Mary is a promise of salvation. The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is likewise a sign of salvation. In view of the redemptive mission of the Christ Child, Mary’s birthday ushers in the fulfillment of the divine promise. The following story narrated by Sue Monk Kidd in an old issue of Guideposts magazine gives us an idea of the redemptive role not only of the Christ Child, but also of the Mother of God, who also became a child for us.
In 1977, the Baptist Church in Melba, a rural American town, was about to close its doors forever. Over the years, churchgoing had dropped off alarmingly. Some hurts and misunderstandings had divided and shattered the congregation. All that remained was about a dozen people on the verge of giving up. That handful of people gathered in the church one Sunday to vote whether to continue services or close down for good. Their meeting was interrupted when a child appeared – a child of only seven years – who wanted to join the Sunday school and the church service. Angela, for that was her name, returned the next Sunday, and the next and the next. That child became the reason for the Melba Baptist Church to go on. They struggled to live in order to nurture a young spirit from one Sunday to the next. Angela was their glimmer of hope. She was their future. The child’s appearance saved the congregation from extinction and sure death. The Melba Baptist Church has become renovated and increased in membership. As far as they are concerned, the little girl who came alone to the church that long-ago Sunday was sent by God.
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 1:1-16, 18-23): “She has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit.”
Steven Gemmen’s story, “Where Love Grows” in Guideposts magazine (October 2004, cf. p. 44-48) is a touching account of how he welcomed into his life the child conceived by his wife, Heather, a victim of sexual assault. Steve narrates how his anger at the rapist found its outlet in the baby. In the sixth month of his wife’s rape-pregnancy, however, Steve was given the grace to understand that the little creature in his wife’s womb had nothing to do with the crime of the father, an unidentified African-American young man who broke into their home. Steve accepted the baby as his own although there were bad times. Steve remarks: “Our lives haven’t been the same since that terrible night. They never will be. I’d thought nothing could make me love this child. That’s true. Nothing can make us love anyone or anything. Love is not a choice. It is the sovereign gift of God. And it was his gift that the child who stirred within Heather would make the unbearable not just bearable but miraculous.”
Steve’s compassionate stance towards his wife and the baby gives insight into the goodness of Joseph, foster-father and guardian of Jesus, born of Mary. Today’s Gospel story concerns the birth of Jesus (Mt 1:18-24) and delineates the important role of Mary and Joseph in salvation history. In the fulfillment of the messianic mission and divine saving plan, Mary and Joseph, the righteous man to whom she is betrothed, play a vital part. Joseph of Nazareth enables Jesus to be born into the royal line of David by assuming the legal obligations of paternity. Mary’s virginal conception and birth of Jesus underlines the divine origin of the Son and of the absolute newness that now breaks forth in the history of human beings.
The Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) contemplates the role of Mary as the ever virgin mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: “It is indeed fitting in every respect that when God decided to become incarnate for the sake of the whole human race none but a virgin should be his mother, and that, since a virgin was privileged to bring him into the world, she should bear no other son but the son who is God …And so Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, the child of her own flesh and blood. She brought forth the God who had been born of God before creation began, and who, in his created humanity, rightfully surpassed the whole creation.”
B. First Reading (Mi 5:1-4): “This is the time when she who is labor is to give birth.”
Today’s Old Testament reading (Mi 5:1-4) helps define the character of the child that is in Mary’s womb – the ruler of Israel of which she is the bearer. Micah foretells of an ideal messianic king who will inaugurate a new era after Israel’s period of exile. The mission of this highly idealized ruler is characterized as a good shepherd who protects his flock and keeps them from being scattered. This new king will be great and he himself will be peace. Prophesying in the late eighth century at about the same time as Isaiah, Micah pronounces an oracle that seems to identify Bethlehem as the city of a yet unborn ruler’s birth. This fascinating oracle contributes to a profound vision of Jesus as Messiah. As we celebrate the nativity of Mary, we extol her as the one who gives birth to Jesus, the King-Shepherd of the house of David who will bring justice and peace. The Blessed Mother is an intimate collaborator of the divine Savior in bringing forth a new people of God.
The following story of a young wife’s journey to the Catholic faith helps us appreciate the role of Mary in the divine work of salvation (cf. Rebecca Lengenfelder, “One in Faith” in Amazing Grace for Survivors, ed. Jeff Cavins, et. al., West Chester: Ascension Press, 2008, p. 70-72).
Little by little, the Catholic faith started to make sense to me … There was still one major hurdle I could not get over – Mary. I longed to be completely one with Kris, but I could not fully share his faith if it meant idolatry. I understood that Catholics ask Mary to take their intentions to her Son, Jesus, who is the one they worship, but years of having it impressed upon me that this was idolatry, blocked me from accepting a devotion to Mary.
I was raised with the idea of putting out a fleece. (Gideon does this in Judges 6:36-40) as a way of asking for a sign. Whether or not there was dew on the fleece in the morning determined his answer from God.) So I said: “OK, Lord, I want you to send me an unmistakable sign that could only come from you, that this Catholic devotion to Mary is right and that the Catholic religion is the true faith.” If he sent me that sign, I would become Catholic.
Two weeks before my due date, I began praying this daily. Instead of another long labor, the scheduled C-section would be more predictable. I was given an epidural in the delivery room. While lying on the table after the epidural, I suddenly felt very sick. Darkness clouded my brain as if I was on the verge of losing consciousness, and there was ringing in my ears. I gasped for breath, but I felt like a two-hundred-pound weight was crushing my lungs. Everyone was busy around the room, not noticing my crisis. Suddenly, my mind flashed to the doctor’s dire prediction that both the baby and I would likely die.
I tried to tell someone that I could not breathe, but no words came out. The only thing that came was tears. One of the student nurses, Risa, a friend from nursing school, noticed me crying. I finally expressed to her that I could not breathe. My heartrate skyrocketed, and the monitors started going crazy. This is it, I thought, I’m dying. All of a sudden, I started praying the Rosary. One mystery after another, I knew them and prayed out loud. Kris entered the room after washing up and putting on a gown. I had an oxygen mask on by then. He could tell I was praying, but did not realize it was the Rosary.
Once I started praying the Rosary, a restful calm surged through me and vanquished all fear. The tears kept streaming, but now they were tears of joy. It was my sign! I had never learned how to pray the Rosary! I never read about it or listened to one being prayed. I always left the room when Kris or his family began the Rosary. But suddenly, as if through a divine infusion, I knew each mystery from the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, just as they are taken from the life of Jesus in the Gospel.
My spirit soared! God had answered my prayers and let me know that I could become a Catholic. It was okay to honor Our Blessed Mother and ask for her intercession. As my second baby daughter, Alexandria (Ali), was lifted up for me to see, I was giddy with excitement and joy. Ali, my little girl, was joining a family that would be completely one. (…)
On April 15, 1995, three days before Ali’s first birthday, I was confirmed and welcomed into the Catholic Church. Kris bought me a new diamond for my wedding ring and we had it blessed to mark this occasion. When we look back, Kris and I still felt dumbfounded that we ever gave each other a chance but now, we thank God that we did.
C. Alternative First Reading (Rom 8:28-30): “Those whom God knew beforehand and predestined.”
In the alternative reading (Rom 8:28-30), Saint Paul assures the Romans that all things work for good for those who love God. He stimulates their zeal and enthusiasm in the midst of difficulties and persecution by reminding them that God’s plan of salvation leads to the glory that is their destiny. Called to be conformed to the image of his Son, nothing will ever happen to them that has not been foreseen by God and directed to their greater good from all eternity. God is in control of everything. The ultimate goal is to be configured to Jesus Christ, who in his paschal sacrifice, is totally glorified. On this feast of the birthday of Mary, we contemplate the Virgin Mother as one whom God has set apart, called for a specific purpose and glorified with and in her Son Jesus Christ.
Immaculee Ilibagiza, a great Marian devotee, survived the genocide on her native Rwanda. In the following incident, we realize the truth that all things work for good for those who love God (cf. Immaculee Ilibagiza, “The Road to the Rebels” in Amazing Grace for Survivors, ed. Jeff Cavins, et. al., West Chester: Ascension Press, 2008, p. 40-41).
“Dear God”, I prayed, walking as fast as I could and holding my father’s rosary tightly in my hand. “Only You can save me. You promised to take care of me, God – well, I really need taking care of right now. There are devils and vultures at my back, Lord. Please protect me. Take the evil from the hearts of these men, and blind their hatred with Your holy love.”
I walked without looking at my feet, not knowing if I was about to stumble over rocks or bodies, putting all my trust in God to guide me to safety. We were moving very briskly, but the killers were all around us now, circling us, slicing the air with their machetes. We were defenseless, so why were they waiting to strike?
“If they kill me, God, I ask You to forgive them. Their hearts have been corrupted by hatred, and they don’t know why they want to hurt me.”
After walking a half a mile like that, I heard Jean Paul say, “Hey, they’re gone … they’re gone!”
I looked around, and it was true. The killers had left us. Jean Paul said later that it was probably because they knew the RPF soldiers were close by, but I knew the real reason, and I never stopped thanking God for saving us on the road. A few minutes later we saw an RPF roadblock and several dozen tall, lean, stone-faced Tutsi soldiers standing guard. I broke into an all-out run and dropped to my knees in front of them. I closed my eyes and sang their praises.
“Thank God, thank God, we’re saved! Thank God you’re here. Bless you! Bless you all!”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
What is the meaning of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Why is her birth a sign of salvation? Just like Jesus and Mary, are we willing to be “signs” of God’s love and compassion in today’s world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Cf. Opening Prayer of the Mass “Birth of Mary”)
Father of mercy,
give your people help and strength from heaven.
The birth of the Virgin Mary’s Son
was the dawn of salvation.
May this celebration of her birthday
bring us closer to lasting peace.
Grant 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.
“This child has been conceived in her.” (Mt 1: 20)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
To celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary’s birthday, thank God immensely for her deep collaboration in salvation history and offer acts of mercy and kindness in her honor.
***
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