A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 13, n. 45)
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Weekday 27: October 4-10, 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: September 7 – October 3, 2015, please go to ARCHIVES Series 13 and click on “Week 25”.
(Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY: October 4-10, 2015.)
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October 4, 2015: TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches the Sanctity of Marriage”
BIBLICAL READINGS
Gn 2:18-24 // Heb 2:9-11 // Mk 10:2-16
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
This happened in the Philippines. Fr. Allan Lastimosa’s parents from Cebu Island visited him at his parish in Metro Manila. They joyfully celebrated his mom’s birthday at their family reunion. Soon it was time for his mom and dad to sail for their hometown. Fr. Allan brought his parents and nephew to the Manila pier and sent them off. That was the last time he would see his parents alive. They were among those who died when the ship was hit by a typhoon and sank. The nephew survived to tell the story. Fr. Allan’s dad refused to leave his fragile wife behind. He could have escaped the sinking ship, but chose to remain with her. Death perfected their marriage covenant.
Today’s Gospel (Mk 10:2-16) continues to underline the demands of Christian discipleship. Jesus teaches that spouses must live in faithful union until death. Citing Gen 1:27 (“God made them male and female”) and Gen 2:24 (“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”), Jesus presents marriage as the irrevocable union of a man and a woman. In the divine plan, the married couple constitutes “one flesh” and their covenant endures. Jesus Master asserts: “Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk 10:9).
Jesus enunciates the ideal of indissoluble marriage in the context of the advent of God’s kingdom, which surpasses all human relationships. But our weaknesses and sin tend to betray this noble ideal. Though aware of the painful issue of marital failure and divorce, the Church upholds, then and now, Christ’s teaching on the sacredness and inviolability of the nuptial covenant. In a world where marriage is a convenience, Christian couples are called to witness to the sacred and enduring character of the marriage bond. The love that impels a man and woman to be united in “one flesh” reflects the indefectible love of God for his creatures. God bestows upon spouses the grace and the mission to give witness to his enduring love.
Today’s Gospel reading concludes with Jesus’ encounter with children. The inclusion of this passage drives home the point that to accept Christ’s radical teaching on marriage requires the openness of children and a sense of dependence on God’s strength. Indeed, the remarkable response of spouses to uphold the sacredness and integrity of marriage is made possible through God’s mercy and grace.
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It was our joy in September 2006 to celebrate with Tomas and Lourdes Banaga their 50th wedding anniversary. This remarkable couple regularly comes to our Fresno chapel for the weekday Mass. Tomas, with his splendid voice, has greatly helped us in our music ministry. Lourdes, a “prayer warrior” and a devoted adorer of the Blessed Sacrament, has collaborated wonderfully in our Eucharistic apostolate. Tomas became seriously ill in December 2005 and fell into coma. Lourdes ardently prayed for his healing through the intercession of Blesses James Alberione. Lourdes made a vow that if Tomas recovered, they would enter the Holy Family Institute, founded by Blessed Alberione. On the third day of his coma, Tomas woke up and was restored to health. Tomas and Lourdes made good their promise. On the golden anniversary of their marriage, they were admitted to the Novitiate in the Holy Family Institute, which seeks to promote the holiness of married life.
The Old Testament reading (Tobit 8:4b-8) used at the Eucharistic Celebration of the renewal of their marriage vows was intensely appropriate. Tomas and Lourdes felt that the following prayer made by Tobit and Sarah on their wedding night was their very own:
Blessed are you, O God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever. You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said, “it is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.” Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age.
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Gen 2:18-24) contains the Yahwist account of the creation of man and woman in the Book of Genesis and offers a foundation for the theology of marriage as a sacrament of unity. This narrative underlines the vocation to human intimacy and communion of man and woman and reinforces the equality and dignity of both of them as perfectly matched partners. According to the biblical scholar Lawrence Boadt: “Being alone is not good for humans. God creates animals and allows man to name them and thereby enter into a living relationship with them, which includes stewardship over them. But none is fit for him. He needs a true partner, and to get one God initiates yet another act of creation. By putting the man into a deep sleep God assures the same autonomy to woman as to man – she depends directly on God for her being. The actual story may derive from an old folk tale that plays on the rib and the nearness to the heart. The heart is the source of both intellect and will in ancient thought and so God makes Eve as fully human as Adam. The description also plays on the attraction of love, which draws men and women to each other from the heart. The fitting identity of the two human creatures is made complete by the little poem in v. 23 – they are the same because he is ’ish and she is ’ishah, a pun in Hebrew that is like saying man and wo-man in English.”
The Yahwist narrative of human creation presents a very lofty and noble vision of human sexuality. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, comment: “It is the search for communion that drives man and woman toward union, and not the impulse of a carnal, uncontrollable, and blind instinct … It is a masculine-feminine world, and not a uniquely masculine world that God has created. From the beginning, he has placed woman at the man’s side, like to him, of the same nature, from the same flesh, as the Bible says in a more concrete and expressive manner. To break this unity, to harm this complementarity, to upset this dynamic and fecund balance introduces into God’s work a grave disorder, because it generates endless conflicts, painful competition for supremacy, perturbations of all kinds.”
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The depth and strength of the love relationship between God and his people, symbolized in a faithful and enduring marriage between a man and a woman, are reiterated in today’s Second Reading (Heb 2:9-11). The author of the letter to the Hebrews expresses the ideal relationship between God and his people in terms of a filial, intimate relationship. Jesus, who consecrates and redeems, and those he consecrates and redeems all have one origin. Thus, they are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. Christ’s incarnation and his redemptive suffering brought about the reconciliation and the intimate union between God and his prodigal children. The paschal mystery of the Servant-Son of God led to his glorification and the perfection of our filial relationship with God the Father. Indeed, because of Jesus’ deep solidarity with us, we are able to attain a profound, fruitful and life-giving relationship with our Creator God and Father.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explicate: “God allowed his Son to become of the same race as human sinners in order to save them. The broken relationship between God and humankind is thus marvelously restored, thanks to the Son of God made human being, by the initiative of the offended one. From all eternity united with the Father in an indissoluble way, from now on – one with humans through his incarnation and his experience of death – Christ has bridged the impassable abyss between heaven and earth.”
The following story is intense and thought provoking (cf. Christine Trollinger, “Healing Grace” in Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart, ed. Jeff Cavins, Matthew Pinto & Patti Armstrong, West Chester: Ascension Press, 1990, p.64-68). It illustrates the heroic, loving effort of the husband to be kind and faithful to his problematic wife. His patient suffering and his fidelity bore abundant fruits in the forgiving, charitable stance of his daughter and the eventual conversion and healing grace experienced by his wife.
Mother and I had never been close. She was very temperamental and domineering. Her quick temper had inflicted great emotional wounds on our family as we were growing up. My father, on the other hand, was a gentle soul. I adored him and was always Daddy’s little girl. As an adult I tried to leave the past in the past, but my mother’s behavior while my beloved father was dying brought fresh strain to our relationship. Mother was neither patient nor kind during Dad’s suffering. The disruption in her life angered her, and probably scared her. Yet, I could not accept her bad temperament during this time.
After my father’s death in 1985, however, I knew I had a responsibility to both God and Dad to forgive. It helped to remember how patient my father had always been. He loved my mother, faults and all. I recalled many times as a child that whenever Mom had been especially cruel, my father would come into my room, out of my mother’s earshot. He would hug me and say, “Please don’t hate her; she needs more love and forgiveness than most people do. She is God’s treasure just as you are.”
After Dad’s death, I wanted to honor my Dad. I knew his hopes and prayers were that I could love and forgive my mom. This was beyond my human frailties so I prayed to God for the grace to do so. As the years passed my feelings of distrust and resentment ebbed. I managed to lay the past to rest as Christ would have me do. Mother and I built a decent, if not perfect, relationship as mother and daughter. The past was just that – the past. The future I would leave to God.
Then during the first week of September 1992, I awoke from a dream sensing a very firm command: “Go home and see your mother.” I had ceased to question God’s inspiration when I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit. As soon as daylight broke, I packed my suitcase. My husband suggested we call to make sure she was all right. Everything was fine and Mother sounded very happy that I would be visiting her over Labor Day.
I arrived by mid-afternoon and Mom and I had an enjoyable time going out to dinner and visiting friends. Mother cut the evening short explaining there was a program on television she wanted to watch. When we got home I got ready for bed and sat in the living room reading my nightly scripture as Mom watched TV. The television volume gradually increased. Every few moments Mom asked, “Does that bother you?” “No, it’s fine”, I repeatedly told her. Finally she had turned the volume all the way up. “Does that bother you?” She asked in a loud but shaky voice. I put down the Bible and looked at her. “Well, it is loud. Are you trying to tell me something? Are you having hearing problems?” I asked. Mother looked at me with searching eyes. Still, I did not understand. Returning the sound back to normal, she explained, “No, what I mean is, does this program bother you?” For the first time, I looked over to see what she was watching. It was a program on child abuse. “I was not talking about the sound”, she said. “I meant, what do you think of parents who abuse their children?”
I was caught off guard. I stared into her eyes. For the first time I recognized pain and remorse. Huge tears trickled down her cheeks. My response was instinctive. “Mom, I love you”, I cried, truly meaning it. “And if you are asking for my forgiveness, you have had it for years. Don’t cry”, I said, coming over to kiss her cheek. “It is all in the past. It doesn’t matter any more.” I then hugged her and wiped her tears away. No more words were needed. It truly was now in the past. For my proud mother to humble herself to ask forgiveness was a grace I never imagined.
The next Saturday, we began with a visit to church to pray the Rosary. Tears of joy, and also of sorrow for all the wasted years streamed down my face. But I praised God for this new beginning. The rest of the day we filled with shopping and sharing as a mother and daughter who fully loved and respected one another. We went to an estate sale and found ourselves giggling and laughing like young schoolgirls. Mom bought me a statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart, which had seen better days. The face was chipped and it had no nose. But it was a precious treasure, representing our newfound love for one another. I basked in the grace of healing. (…)
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we believe in Jesus’ radical affirmation: “What God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk 10: 9)? What do we do to make Christian marriage what it is intended to be: the sign of the union between the bridegroom, Christ, and his bride, the Church? With regard to Christ’s radical teaching on the inviolability of marriage, do we respond to it with the openness of children and a sense of dependence on God’s strength?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Adapted from the Blessing of a Married Couple Outside Mass, cf. Book of Blessings)
Almighty and eternal God,
you have so exalted the unbreakable bond of marriage
that it has become the sacramental sign
of your Son’s union with the Church as his spouse.
Look with favor on those whom you have united in marriage.
They ask for your help and the protection of the Virgin Mary.
They pray that in good times and in bad
they will grow in love for each other
and be of one heart in the bond of peace.
Loving Lord,
in their struggles
let them rejoice that you are near to help them;
in their needs
let them know that you are there to rescue them.
In their joys
let them see that you are the source and completion
of every happiness.
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 day. Please memorize it.
“What God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk 10: 9).
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Spend a moment of quiet prayer thanking the Lord for the sacrament of marriage in the Church. Pray for all married couples, offering special petitions for those who are having marital problems. Next time you attend a Church wedding, pay attention to the text and rituals of the celebration. Try to capture the celebration’s message for you.
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October 5, 2015: MONDAY – WEEKDAY (27)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us to Be a Neighbor … His Cry of Distress Is Heard”
BIBLE READINGS
Jon 1:1-2:1, 11 // Lk 10:25-37
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Tim Montanari’s story, “Saving Melissa” in Guideposts magazine (July 2004) is notable in that it shows what it means to be a neighbor to one in need. Tim, a police officer in charge of the anti-vice squad at St. Petersburg, Florida, met Melissa Collora, the sweet little girl he used to babysit, after thirteen years as a crack-addicted prostitute, caught in a drug deal in an alley of a notorious neighborhood. Tim remembered being at the Collora’s home on steamy summer days when he was 15 or so, playing football in the yard with her brothers. Melissa, about three, would sit on the swing-set clutching her teddy bear, watching them with big brown eyes, so sweet and innocent. When she was eight, Mr. Collora died and her mother remarried. Melissa’s stepfather abused her. In 1993 her mother committed suicide. Melissa went to live with relatives outside New York City, where she discovered crack cocaine and life on the street. Tim, a man of faith who tries to see the best in people, made every effort to help Melissa, to no avail. “That girl’s a lost cause,” the officers in his squad said. “Why do you keep trying?” One day, Melissa was ready for a change and appealed to him for help. Tim’s court testimony on her behalf was instrumental in having Melissa’s imminent ten-year sentence at a state prison commuted to treatment at the Walter Hoving Home in New York. Now Melissa is doing well and recovering. Tim Montanari asserted, “What I did for her wasn’t much, but I think it was the best thing I could have done.”
The Gospel reading on the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), which is set in the context of Jesus’ paschal journey to the cross, underlines an important element of Christian discipleship: love of neighbor. The parable of the Good Samaritan delineates the Christian exigency of active service. Together with the story of the two pious disciples, Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38-42) on the pre-eminence of listening to the word of Jesus, the parable of the Good Samaritan helps depict Luke’s comprehensive image of discipleship as love of Jesus present in our neighbor (active charity) and in his living Word (contemplative prayer).
The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that the concept of “neighbor” is not a matter of blood ties, nationality, or religious communion. There is no theoretical definition of neighbor or practical limits to those whom we could consider a neighbor. Our “neighbor” is the one to whom we draw near because he or she is in need of our help and evokes our compassion. Harold Buetow, moreover, sees in this thought-provoking parable a new definition of neighbor: “In the Book of Leviticus, the neighbor was one to be loved, such as a countryman. The new definition of neighbor is one who loves.”
Furthermore, Luke’s parable helps us to focus on the figure of Christ, our ultimate “neighbor”. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, p. 129, write: “He is the Good Samaritan par excellence, beyond all comparison. No one has been or will ever be so completely the neighbor of each person. He did not encounter them by chance on the road. He voluntarily came to seek them, he, the Word of God who has taken flesh. He not only did everything for them, but he handed himself over for them; he died and rose that they might have everlasting life.”
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Today we start reading from the Book of Jonah, which portrays God as a God of love and mercy, who would rather forgive and save even enemies of his people, than punish and destroy them. In the reading (Jon 1:1-2:2, 11), God chooses Jonah to be his prophet to the people of Nineveh, to warn them of their sinfulness. But Jonah makes a desperate attempt to flee from God’s call. The story of his flight is a masterpiece of irony. Jonah confesses that he worships “the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the seas and the dry land”, but why does he escape to Tarshish and believe that Tarshish is far enough to escape from the Lord? When the storm breaks at sea, the sailors pray to their gods but Jonah sleeps. He seems to be humane to the sailors that he is willing to be thrown into the sea to placate the raging waters, but deep in his heart he is far from humane in his attitude to the hated Ninevites, the would-be recipients of his saving mission.
Jonah is a reluctant prophet, recalcitrant and a bit silly. But God does not give up on him as he would not give up on the Ninevites. At the Lord’s command a large fish swallows Jonah and he stays inside the whale for “three days and three nights”. It is in the belly of the fish that Jonah comes to his senses, experiencing the despairing situation to the bitter end. According to Saint Augustine, Jonah’s own passion prophesies that of Christ’s death and resurrection. Like Jonah’s supplication from the belly of the whale, Jesus’ cry of distress from the belly of the earth is heard by God. For both of them, their cry of distress becomes a prayer of thanksgiving.
The prayer for supplication in the midst of distress does not remain unheeded as the following modern account testifies (cf. Katie Powers, “Running on Faith” in Guideposts, October 2013, p. 60-64).
April 15, 2013, 3:00 P.M. MEDICAL Tent A, the Boston Marathon. My fourth year volunteering as a nurse. Our 150-person medical team was busy that afternoon - mostly treating runners with minor injuries and dehydration. I was taking the vitals of a female runner who felt light-headed – a typical post-race complaint. But there was nothing typical about the sound I heard while listening to her heartbeat, Thump, thump, BOOM! A powerful force shook the tent and reverberated through my body.
I yanked the stethoscope out of my ears and looked at the TV above my patient’s cot showing live footage from the finish line, about a hundred yards away. Plumes of smoke covered the picture. Probably just a celebratory cannon shot for Patriots’ Day, I thought, turning back to her.
BOOM! A thunderous explosion louder than the first rocked the ground beneath us. Sirens wailed. An acrid smell filled the air. I looked at the other volunteers as we struggled to make sense of everything. “Stay calm, and remain with your patients while we figure out what’s going on”, our medical coordinator, John, said over the loudspeaker.
Seconds later, I heard the screams of pain. Runners started staggering into the tent covered in blood and soot, their expressions frozen with shock. First responders wheeled in others with gruesome shrapnel wounds and missing limbs. Word spread that the sound we’d heard were bombs. Our first-aid tent was now a trauma unit. (…)
John continued to direct us while a trauma doctor relayed instructions to him “We need to prepare for triage”, John said. Patients would be quickly assessed 3, 2, or 1, according to the seriousness of their injuries. The most badly injured ones – the 3s – were sent to the back of the tent, where a handful of ambulances were waiting to transport them to one of the city’s major hospitals. “Stay calm and do what you are trained to do”, he added. “Treat one patient at a time.”
A rookie volunteer turned to me, trembling. “I’m a primary-care nurse. I’m not qualified to treat these kinds of injuries”, he said. I knew how he felt. No one could have been prepared for this. “You can do this!” I said, grabbing his face with my hands, willing him not to give up. And, in a way, maybe I was willing myself as well. “We have the supplies we need and we’ll work together to handle anything God sets in front of us.” “Okay, okay”, he said.
I didn’t want anyone else to be afraid either. Almost unwittingly, I thrust my hand up and waved it. “Does anyone want to pray?” I called out. “Prayer is powerful! It will give us strength!” Before I knew it, several volunteers had gathered around me. I said the first prayer that came to my mind, the Our Father. But when I came to the line “Give us this day our daily bread”, I quickly changed it to “Give us this day our skills and supplies.” Today, those were our daily bread. And when we got to the part about forgiveness, I found it difficult to say. How could we forgive this atrocious act of terror?
I followed the Our Father with a line from the prayer to Saint Michael that I said daily before leaving my house: “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.”
I looked around the tent. The pandemonium ceased as we all sprang into action. We worked together like a well-oiled machine. Then, a man was wheeled past me with two bones protruding from where legs should have been. Blood was everywhere and his face was completely void of color. More people in horrifying shape entered the tent. I repeated the prayer as we worked. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name …” Others joined in. Over the next two hours I continued praying that prayer with patients and volunteers. Hoping to comfort them and, in turn, comforting myself. I felt God’s presence at every cot. (…)
We processed an incredible 97 patients in the first 20 minutes following the explosions. Three people were killed and there were 264 injuries, but no one died in the tent that day. (…)
I’ll never understand why tragedies like this happen, why senseless acts of terror occur. But I know who helps us get through them. The One who gives us the strength to rise above fear when we aren’t sure we can …
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Did we ever ask the Divine Master the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” If yes, in what spirit or attitude did we pose that question? Are we truly neighbors to those in need? Do we respond to them with compassion? Do we trust that Jesus is the Good Samaritan par excellence and our true neighbor?
2. Do we find ourselves, like Jonah, trying to flee the Lord and his wise and compassionate plan? Do we ask ourselves why we flee from the Lord?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Jesus Master,
we no longer wish to ask,
“Who is our neighbor?”
But rather, we examine our heart and ask,
“Are we neighbors to those in need?”
You are the Good Samaritan, our ultimate neighbor.
With you living in us and we living in you,
may we incarnate your love
and serve those in need.
We love you and adore you, now and forever.
Amen.
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O loving God,
forgive us for running away
from your compassionate plan and loving wisdom.
Like the reluctant prophet Jonah,
we are lost in our own prejudices and selfish perceptions.
Bless us with the light of faith.
Let us follow you.
And teach us to speak your word of mercy
to the people in today’s society.
We give you glory and praise, now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29) //“From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God.” (Jon 2:1)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for all of our neighbors in need of love and compassion. By your kind words and deeds be a Good Samaritan and a true neighbor to those in need. // In distressing situations, let prayers of supplication be lifted up to the Lord, trusting that he will give us the grace and strength we need.
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October 6, 2015: TUESDAY – WEEKDAY (27); SAINT BRUNO, Priest; BLESSED MARIE-ROSE
DUROCHER, Virgin (USA)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us to Welcome His Word … He Calls Us Turn Away from Evil”
BIBLE READINGS
Jon 3:1-10 // Lk 10:38-42
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
One thing I have in common with Sr. Mary Adele Tozzi, now deceased, is a love for pasta. One day as we were enjoying a delicious serving of spaghetti cooked “al dente” and topped with dense tomato sauce and grated Parmesan cheese, she narrated a modern version of the Lord’s visit to Martha and Mary.
Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening attentively to his words. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord replied, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. A plate of pasta and a glass of wine will do.”
We hear in today’s Gospel (Lk 10:38-42) that in the course of his paschal journey to Jerusalem, Jesus stops in Bethany to rest in the home of Martha and Mary. They receive him with solicitude and hospitality. Martha’s type of hospitality, however, is full of anxiety and her concern misdirected. She is more concerned with the serving than the one served. Hence, Martha’s misguided hospitality provokes a good-natured reproach from Jesus. He invites her to sort out her priorities and examine her concerns. Jesus wants her to set aside the anxieties of a fretful hostess bent on preparing a perfect meal. It is important advice given by the Divine Master journeying toward the Easter glory. Martha’s desire to prepare a perfect meal and her anxiety for the “details of hospitality” detract from what really matters: to listen to Jesus, the life-giving Word.
In the context of the total paschal event in which Jesus becomes the Bread broken and shared for the life of the world, we can perceive that the true host in the Bethany home is Jesus himself. He breaks the bread of the living Word for Mary, whose spiritual hunger is satisfied as she peacefully sits beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak. As the host of the spiritual feast, Jesus also wants the hardworking Martha to be nourished by the bread of the Word. He seeks from her the hospitality that really matters – the one that her sister lavishes upon him. Indeed, Mary of Bethany is an image of a true disciple. She chooses the better part - the primary one - to listen to the Lord’s saving Word in order to act upon it.
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Today’s Old Testament reading (Jon 3:1-10) is about the mission of the reluctant prophet Jonah to the “doomed” Ninevites. The Benedictine scholar, Irene Nowell, gives us a background: “The Book of Jonah was written in Palestine around the 5th century B.C., when the Jews were still recovering from the Babylonian Exile, a serious threat to their existence … The returning Jews were convinced that they had suffered exile because of their infidelity to God. As a result, they developed an attitude of exclusivity and rigorous observance of the law. They avoided anything that might lead them away from God, such as foreign customs or even foreign wives … The author told this story to an audience that desired to avoid other peoples in order to be faithful to God. The story of Jonah presents the shocking truth that other nations may also be dear to the heart of God. It is a hard truth, conveyed through a powerful story.”
Inwardly hoping that the Ninevites would remain in their evil ways, and thus receive their just punishment from God’s wrath, the extremely prejudiced Jonah couches his message as a prophecy of doom: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed”. He deliberately omits any reference to God’s mercy in his preaching lest those wicked people repent. Spontaneous repentance, however, is the response of the Ninevites to the morbid threat of Jonah. The people of Nineveh believe God’s message, put on sackcloth and turn away from their evil ways. Seeing that they have repented, the merciful God does not inflict upon them the punishment they deserve.
The forgiveness that God has shown to the wicked Ninevites is the same gift that we need to offer to those who have offended us. The following story gives us an insight (cf. Marcus Weaver, “A Different Man” in Guideposts, September 2013, p. 52).
I sat on my bed with my Bible, trying to tear my eyes off the T-shirt crumpled on a chair beside me. The shirt was stained - with blood. A few weeks earlier, I’d survived one of the worst mass shootings in American history, at the Century movie theaters in Aurora, Colorado. A gunman had burst into a theater and fired dozens of rounds from a shotgun, killing 12 people. I was shot in the shoulder, one of the 58 injured. My friend Rebecca, who’d come with me that night to watch the new Batman movie, was one of the dead.
Now my shoulder was healing. My heart was slowly healing. Even my soul seemed to be healing. At least I knew it would heal if I could take some time to pray and collect myself. That’s why I was in my bedroom, clutching my Bible and staring at my T-shirt. I’d kept the shirt as proof I’d survived that nightmare. Somehow, God had saved me.
Yes, but saved me for what? My Bible was open to II Corinthians: “For it is God who said, ‘Let light shine out in darkness’.” My bedroom was dark. It was daytime, but I’d pulled the blinds and closed the door. I wanted to be alone. The days after the shooting had been a blur of media interviews, people rushing to help. Somewhere in there I’d said something about forgiving the killer. After that, all anyone wanted to ask was, “Do you forgive him, Marcus? How can you forgive something like that?”
I’d become known as the victim who forgave the killer. Inside, I was numb. For some reason, every time I read that passage about light and darkness, I heard something else: “Who do you really need to forgive, Marcus?” That was the question, wasn’t it? I knew forgiveness was the path I should take as a Christian. But James Holmes, the suspect with the dyed orange hair and crazed eyes, wasn’t the only one I needed to forgive. I’d carried my own darkness into that theater. A lifetime’s worth. Who did I need to forgive? I closed my eyes and remembered.
My parents weren’t married when I was born. In fact, my dad was engaged to another woman. He married her and walked out of my life. By the time I was old enough to know such things, my mom had married another man, Herbert Weaver. He’d been in the military, then went to work for the finance division of General Motors. He earned a good salary and seemed stable and upright. But Herbert was a monster. After he and Mom had two kids of their own, he treated me like an outcast. The abuse started with yelling. Then came vicious whippings with an extension cord. I was just seven the first time I ran away from home. Herbert always found me and dragged me back. He chained me to my bed. Once, he filled a trash can with concrete and chained me to that. He abused Mom too. We were all terrified of him. (…)
The gunman had wounded my body. But all these years later, Hebert Weaver was still tearing away at my soul. He damaged me because I let him. Because, like a wrestler, I refused to let him go.
“Do you forgive him, Marcus?” The reporters’ words echoed in my mind. I looked at my shirt. At my Bible. At the light behind the blinds. The silhouette was gone. In its place I saw plain old Herbert Weaver, a man who lashed out at others because he couldn’t face his own torment. His fate was in God’s hands too. I could let him go. I could let God’s light fill the shadow in my soul.
I took a breath. I closed my Bible, setting it beside my bloodstained shirt. I opened the blinds; sunlight streamed in. It was a beautiful summer day. I knew it wouldn’t be long before James Holmes had a court date. My phone would ring and the reporters would ask their question again. I knew what my answer would be. And this time, I knew exactly what it meant.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Are we hospitable? Why or why not? In what ways are we Martha? In what ways are we Mary? Is our Christian discipleship characterized by receptivity and true listening to the Word of God?
2. What does the conversion experience of the Ninevites and the Christian disciples tell me? What are its implications?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Adapted from a prayer composed by Blessed Alberione for the PDDM Sisters)
Come, Jesus Master,
deign to accept the hospitality
we offer you in our heart.
We want to prepare for you
the comfort and the reparation,
which you found in Bethany,
with your two loving disciples, Martha and Mary.
In the joy of welcoming you,
we pray that you may grant to us in our contemplative life
that intimacy which Mary enjoyed,
and the acceptance of our active life
in the spirit of the faithful and hard-working Martha.
Cherish and sanctify us,
as you loved and sanctified the family of Bethany.
In the friendly hospitality of that house
you spent your last days on earth,
preparing for us the gifts of the Eucharist,
of the priesthood,
of your own life.
Jesus Master, Way and Truth, and Life,
grant that we may correspond to this great love
by sanctifying our apostolic services
for the glory of God and the salvation of humanity.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
***
(“For All Who Preach the Gospel” by Henri Nouwen)
Dear Lord,
many people experience our era
as an apocalyptic time full of dangers and threats.
I pray now for all who witness for you in this time –
ministers, priests, and bishops,
men and women who have dedicated their lives to you,
and all those who try to bring the light of the Gospel
into the darkness of this age.
Give them courage, strength, perseverance, and hope;
fill their hearts and minds with knowledge of your presence,
and let them experience your name as their refuge from all dangers.
Most of all, give them the joy of your Spirit,
so that wherever they go and whomever they meet
they will remove the veil of depression, fatalism, and defeatism
and will bring new life to the many who live in fear.
Be with all who bring the Good News into this present darkness.
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.
“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:42) //“When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do with them.” (Jon 3:10)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Thank the Lord for the gift of himself and his life-giving Word. Endeavor to translate the Word you have received into your daily living. // Pray for the conversion of sinners that they may renounce what is evil and turn to God in a spirit of repentance. Extend your help and collaboration to the prison ministry and for the priestly vocations.
*** *** ***
October 7, 2015: WEDNESDAY – OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us to Pray … He Incarnates the Divine Mercy”
BIBLE READINGS
Jon 4:1-11 // Lk 11:1-4
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today’s Gospel (Lk 11:1-4) presents Jesus praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples asks, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” It is the custom of a rabbi to teach his disciples to pray and John the Baptist has done it. Jesus, the Divine Master, is happy to do it. Prayer is turning the heart toward God. When we pray we enter into a living relationship with God. The Christian disciples intuit that right relationship to the Father and to Jesus can be sought in prayer.
In response to their legitimate request, Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. It begins with a distinctive address for God – “Abba” – which means “Father”. “Abba” is a term of endearment used by Jewish children for their fathers. The word expresses the most intimate and personal relationship we could imagine of God. In the Jewish scriptures, “Abba” contains also something of what the word “Mother” signifies to us: tenderness, mercy and love. Jesus teaches us to pray first for the glorification of God’s name on earth (“Hallowed be your name”) and the full establishment of his kingdom (“Your kingdom come”). Then he shows us how to present to God our needs – our need for his continual protection and providence day by day and our need for his strength in the “final test”, so as not to succumb to temptation. Jesus underlines, moreover, that our petition for divine forgiveness is deeply linked to our resolve to forgive everyone in debt to us.
The following story illustrates the power of the Lord’s Prayer (cf. Helen Tutt, “A Gentle Prompt” in Guideposts, September 2012, p. 39).
It was nearly midnight. The halls of the hospital were quiet as I started my nursing shift. I flipped through the dayshift report to see which of the patients I would be handling as the charge nurse that night. When I got to one name on the list I froze. Mrs. C. Jackson. It had been years since I heard her name, but I had never forgotten it.
Mrs. Jackson taught second grade in our small Texan town. To my shy, sensitive daughter, Dana, she was a tyrant. Dana had always been a timid little girl. In a group of strangers she could usually be found hiding behind my skirt. But Mrs. Jackson had no patience for shyness. Often when Dana got home from school she would collapse right into my arms, sobbing over some harsh words from her elderly teacher. By the end of the year I disliked Mrs. Jackson just as much as Dana did.
But Mrs. Jackson was my patient now. I was determined to give her the same care I gave everyone else. But as I made my way to her room, all of my old anger came back, worse than ever. What kind of care did Mrs. Jackson ever show Dana? I thought. I stopped outside her door and put a smile on my face. I would show Mrs. Jackson the caring respect I gave to all of my patients, but I certainly wouldn’t have to feel it!
I pushed open the door. Is that really Mrs. Jackson? I wondered. The woman in the bed was so tiny and frail, nothing like the ogre in my memories. I was shocked at the change in her. She had frightened my little girl so much – now she looked completely helpless. Moving to her side, I heard her softly speaking. “And forgive us our …” she whispered. “And forgive us our …” Her forehead creased in frustration. She struggled to remember the words, but remained stuck on the same line.
Instinctively I took both of her hands in mine. “And forgive us our trespasses”, I said. “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” We finished the prayer together. Mrs. Jackson lay back into her pillows. I felt lighter too. My anger and bitterness was gone, carried off with the words I had just spoken. I hadn’t realized how heavy a burden I had carried until God took it away with a simple prayer.
***
Today’s First Reading (Jon 4:1-11) underlines the need for the education of Jonah’s heart. Disappointed that the Ninevites have repented and have experienced the clemency of God, Jonah is greatly displeased and angry with God. The indignant prophet feels that the Lord has robbed his life of all meaning by showing mercy, rather than blazing wrath, to the Ninevites, his enemies. Jonah’s misery is senseless and self-inflicted. The irony is that Jonah, an unworthy object of God’s mercy, begrudges that same mercy to others. The person of Jonah is a satire on the narrow-minded Israelites who, despite their long experience of God’s mercy, resent the limitless extent of divine mercy. But God continues to be patient with the sulking Jonah. He uses a gourd plant to teach him the grandeur and universal scope of divine mercy. Jonah is concerned with the plant, which costs him no labor and which he does not cause to exist. Should not God be concerned with Nineveh, the great city, with more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between good and bad, not to mention the many cattle? Should not God have mercy on his creation? The story is open ended. Like Jonah, we are challenged to answer these questions.
The following story gives insight into the gracious character of God’s loving mercy (cf. Anne Nolan, “Honor Made Him a Brave Man” in Alive! September 2013, p. 6).
Recently I read a marvelous report about a German ace pilot in World War II, Lt. Franz Stigler. On 20th December Stigler, aged 28, spotted a lone Allied bomber returning to England after bombing Bremen, and gave chase. It turned out that the bomber was holed all over by flak and bullets and was down to a single engine. One gunner was dead, the other unconscious and the rest of the 10-man US crew were wounded and in shock.
The pilot, 21-year-old Charlie Brown, had worked miracles to get the plane this far, but was losing height fast and would probably not make it back to England. Stigler quickly took in the scene, even spotting crew members huddled together, and eased his finger off the trigger. But instead of just letting the bomber escape, he decided to try and save it and its crew.
Up ahead he knew, were antiaircraft batteries along the coast, and they would quickly take down the low-flying airplane. Stigler signaled to Brown to head for neutral Sweden, but his signs were misunderstood and taken as hostile. He now decided to accompany the plane, risking being shot down himself, but gambling that the gunners on the ground would hold fire if they saw his Messerschmitt alongside the enemy. If reported he could also face court martial and execution for treason. Having done all he could, Stigler saluted and headed back to the base, not knowing if the bomber ever made it home.
Not till 42 years later, then living in Vancouver, did he learn that Charlie Brown had pulled it off. Retired to Florida, Brown was, in 1985, finally free to tell his story at a veteran’s reunion. For the next five years he tried in vain to trace the Luftwaffe pilot, finally writing his story for a newsletter for German fighter pilots. There Stigler came across it by chance.
Only when the two men met did all the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place. From their meeting came a friendship that lasted until both died in 2008. But their story is told in a new book, A Higher Call, by Adam Makos. And what was the “higher call”; why did Stigler not finish off the bomber? Because he saw himself as an honorable man.
The first time he went into combat as a young man was with a much admired officer who told him he might be tempted to fight dirty to survive, but honor was everything. “You follow the rules of war for you, not for your enemy”, said the officer. “You fight by rules to keep your humanity. So you never shoot your enemy if he is floating down on a parachute.” Stigler remembered the lesson. On that day in 1943 he muttered: “I will not have this on my conscience for the rest of my life.”
***
Today, the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, we present the following Rosary miracles circulated on the Internet.
Rosary Miracle in Hiroshima: On August 6, 1945 during World War II, an atomic bomb was dropped on the town of Hiroshima, Japan. 140,000 people were killed or injured. There was a home eight blocks (about 1 kilometer) from where the A-Bomb went off. This home had a church attached to it which was completely destroyed, but the home survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries who prayed the rosary in that house faithfully every day. These men were missionaries to the Japanese people, they were non-military, but because Germany and Japan were allies during WWII they were permitted to live and minister within Japan during the war.
Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed and examined numerous times (Fr. Schiffer, a survivor, said over 200 times) by scientists and health care people about their remarkable experience and they say "we believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home”.
***
The Rosary Defeats Muslim Forces in the Battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571: At the end of the Crusades, Catholic naval forces, in a battle with Muslim forces, were at a decided disadvantage in numbers and resources. While performing his duties in the Vatican miles away from battle, the good Pope is said to have suddenly stood up at the moment of victory, gone over to a window and exclaimed, "The Christian fleet is victorious!" while shedding tears of gratitude to God. Through the power of the rosary, the Catholic forces soundly defeated the Muslim Turks. In another point of interest, Admiral Andrea Doria commanding the Catholic forces carried a small image of Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. This image is now venerated in the Church of San Stefano in Aveto, Italy.
***
The Rosary Priest: Fr Patrick Peyton was born on January 9, 1909, in County Mayo, Ireland. He was the sixth among a family of nine children. At age 19 he and his brother, Tom, emigrated to the United States. He wanted to become a priest but his family in Ireland could not financially afford the required education.
He moved in with his sister Nellie and obtained a job working as a janitor at St. Stanislaus Cathedral in Pennsylvania. With help from Monsignor Paul Kelley, Patrick was able to pursue his schooling to become a priest. He entered the seminary at the Congregation of Holy Cross in Notre Dame, Indiana in 1932.
In October, 1938, he started coughing blood and doctors discovered he had an advanced stage of Tuberculosis, which was incurable in those days. His sister Nellie encouraged him to ask our Holy Mother for help. Patrick consecrated himself completely to Mary and devoted himself to praying the Rosary.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we treasure the Lord’s gift of prayer and do we allow the power of the Lord’s Prayer to transform our life?
2. Do we allow ourselves to be embraced by God’s all-inclusive love and do we strive to imitate his loving mercy that has no barriers or confines?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Father,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.
Amen.
***
Heavenly Father,
you are a gracious and merciful God,
slow to anger, rich in clemency and loathe to punish.
We have been the object of your loving mercy.
Do not let us begrudge this mercy to others.
Help us to avoid the recalcitrant stance
of the sulking and narrow-minded Jonah.
Let us imitate your love “without frontiers”
and may we rejoice in your all-embracing mercy.
We praise and glorify 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.
“Lord, teach us to pray.” (Lk 11:1) //“Have you reason to be angry?” (Jon 4:4)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Thank Jesus for teaching us to pray the Lord’s Prayer and make a conscious effort to translate into life the contents of this prayer. // When you are tempted to be parochial and when you refuse to be all-inclusive in your love and service of others, call to mind the story of Jonah and the lesson of the gourd plant.
*** *** ***
October 8, 2015: THURSDAY – WEEKDAY (27)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Teaches Us Persevering and Trusting Prayer … He Teaches Us to Trust in the Lord”
BIBLE READINGS
Mal 3:13-20b // Lk 11:5-13
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
In today’s Gospel (Lk 11:5-13), Jesus Master exhorts us to persevere in prayer and to trust that our prayer to the “Abba” is answered. In the parable of the Friend at Midnight, he tells us that a homeowner locked in for the night and already in bed with his children, obliges to give loaves of bread to an imploring and persistent friend. Through this parable Jesus teaches us to humbly present our needs to God. In contrast to the “sleeping friend” inconvenienced by a midnight request, our Father in heaven never sleeps and is ever ready to help us. God does not have to be cajoled into giving us what we need, but it is fitting that we acknowledge intensely our needfulness for his grace. The exaggerated case of a father giving his children snakes or scorpions drives home the absurdity of thinking of the heavenly Father as harsh and cruel whenever our prayers are not answered. God always responds to our prayers in ways that are best for us, though not always according to our expectation or liking. The loving God wants the best for us - to the point of bestowing upon us the Holy Spirit, his ultimate blessing. Jesus thus encourages us: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Mother Angelica of EWTN gives insight into the meaning of persevering and trusting prayer (cf. Mother Angelica with Christine Allison, “Mother Angelica’s Answers, Not Promises”, New York: Pocket Books, 1987, p. 102-104).
There is such a thing as a persevering prayer, and I want to mention it now so that you can get your head out of “gimme” mentality with God. I’m not saying, “Don’t ask him for things”. I’m simply saying that you might need to ask and ask and ask, and that this might be His way of drawing you closer to Him or of building your faith or of increasing your holiness.
A woman from Louisiana called the live show one evening when our guest was Sister Breige McKenna, who has a healing ministry. The woman had an eleven-year-old boy who was paralyzed from the neck down. “For five years I have prayed for his healing, Mother, and I’ve asked for the courage to stick with it. I’ve received more strength than I ever knew was possible, and I know and believe in my heart that my son is a perfect human being. But should I keep praying for his recovery?”
Sister Breige answered with a story. She told the woman about a family of seven from the Midwest. Their youngest child was a little boy who had a brain tumor. In her beautiful Irish accent, she explained, “The doctors had thrown up their hands. ‘No hope. No hope,’ they said. But the family continued to pray for the boy’s recovery. “Every night before bed they would gather in Tommy’s room and pray for him together. Two years passed, and the boy grew worse. ‘God’s made up His mind’, the father said, and he stopped praying completely. But the mother and the children persevered. Slowly, Tommy started showing improvement. Day by day, he started to get better. And today, he is as normal and healthy a child as you have ever seen. It was the father who told me this story”, Sister Breige continued. “’If Tommy had been healed instantly’, he said, ‘the other children would never have known about the power of prayer and the need for sticking with it. And neither would I.’”
God permitted this child’s condition only because He knew that this family – all seven of them – would be transformed by it. So always keep praying for your needs no matter what. Never, ever stop asking God for His intervention and His mercy. (…)
We all have worries and concerns about ourselves and other people. When there is pain, especially another person’s pain, we want a resolution immediately, and we see only one course of acceptable action. “Take the pain away.” “Help me find a job.” “Bring my wife back.” “Heal my son’s drug problem.” But God is answering your prayer for this resolution in many ways, through many voices and even through Silence. Listen to Him. His answer may not be the answer you want or expect right now, but He is telling you something at this very moment. Open your heart to Him and let Him in.
***
At times, the power of evil seems so overwhelming that even persons of faith began to falter. This is evident in the following account:
Archbishop Romero offers her a chair. Marianela prefers to talk standing up. She always comes for others, but this time she comes for herself. Marianela Garcia Vilas, attorney for the tortured and disappeared of El Salvador, does not come this time to ask the archbishop’s solidarity with one of the victims … This time she has something personal to say to him. As mildly as she can, she tells him that the police had kidnapped her, bound, beat, humiliated, stripped her – and they raped her. She tells it without tears or agitation, with her usual calm, but Archbishop Romero has never before heard these vibrations of hatred, echoes of disgust, calls for vengeance. When Marianela finishes, Archbishop Romero, who always gives advice and comfort, is weeping like a child without mother or home. He who always gives assurance, the tranquilized assurance of a neutral God who knows all and embraces all – Archbishop Romero doubts. He weeps and doubts.
In today’s First Reading (Mal 3:13-20b) is the encouraging message of God’s decisive triumph over the power of evil. The day is coming when all that is evil will be brought to nothing. This is the message of hope addressed by the prophet Malachi to the returned exiles around 450 B.C. Malachi, whose name means “my messenger” or “Yahweh’s messenger”, voices dire threats that will befall the confirmed sinners on judgment day. At the same time, he has words of hope for the just.
The liturgical scholar, Adrian Nocent comments: “This text refers to a time of great discouragement for Israel. The exiles have been back home for fifty years, and the Temple has been rebuilt, yet there is great disillusionment. The returning exiles had not been well received; their possessions had been taken by others; they were isolated and poor; there was little concern for them. The city was insufficiently fortified and often subject to raids. All this had serious repercussions on the religious life of the people. They were disillusioned, and their faith was weak; fidelity to the covenant was undermined. The disillusionment is summed up in words that Malachi quotes a little before today’s pericope: It is vain to serve God (3:14). Malachi now endeavors to revive the people’s spirit by telling them that the Day of the Lord is coming. First, the wrath of God will be unleashed against the wicked and the arrogant. They will burn up like straw, and there will be neither root or branch left of them … Fire symbolizes the chastising wrath of God … The second phase of the Lord’s coming will be the appearance of the sun of righteousness, the rays of which bring healing … In this passage the sun symbolizes the powerful intervention of the Lord in defense of the poor and the oppressed … The clear vision of our destiny in God makes illegitimate any kind of morose disillusionment; on the contrary, it should, as in Malachi, rouse our courage and make us vigilant.”
In our times, people oppressed and wounded by structuralized violence and injustice can draw hope from Malachi’s words. In them, Bishop Romero’s anguish – and that of many hapless victims in today’s world – finds a fitting answer.
The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly explains the impact of the apocalyptic or end-time message: “The underlying conviction of the apocalyptic authors was not that the end was coming now, but that the end would witness God’s victory … It is the absolute assurance of the Lord’s control of history and of his ultimate victory at the end that is at the heart of apocalyptic literature. Despite all the evil that can be imagined, he will emerge victorious … We look forward to the second coming of the Lord. The certainty of that coming is a prominent part of the Christian faith. The assurance of it is to brighten our lives and encourage us to labor mightily for the kingdom of God.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we respond positively to Jesus’ teaching on persevering and trusting prayer? What is our reaction when our prayers do not seem to be answered?
2. Are there times when we feel that the power of evil is overwhelming and we begin to falter? How do we respond to the powerful images presented to us by the prophet Malachi? How does the image of the blazing fire relentlessly burning the wicked stubble in the field impact us? How does the image of the sun’s healing rays console us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
we thank you for teaching us
persevering and trusting prayer.
Even when our prayers seem unheeded,
we desire to persevere in them.
We trust in you for you act in ways that will be best for us
and for our greater good.
Help us never to reject our “new life” in the Spirit,
the ultimate blessing.
You are our loving Savior, now and forever.
Amen.
***
Lord Jesus,
help us to trust fully
that you are in absolute control.
Let our eyes gaze confidently
toward your final victory.
Grant us the strength and faith we need
to persevere in trials
and to overcome the forces of evil
that assail us and wound our society.
May the options we make
and our actions in daily life
be shaped by your final victory.
We adore you as our triumphant Lord,
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.
“For everyone who asks receives.” (Lk 11:10) //“But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” (Mal 3:13-20b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Today be very conscious of the power of persevering and trusting prayer and of God’s awesome response to our prayer. Carry out a ministry of intercession for the people around you and for today’s fragmented society. // Resolve to overcome the forces of evil that block God’s compassionate plan for each of us. With the grace of God and his assurance of ultimate victory, endeavor to overcome the poverty, injustice, oppression and falsehood that confront us daily in our community and society today.
*** *** ***
October 9, 2015: FRIDAY – WEEKDAY (27); SAINT DENIS, Bishop, AND COMPANIONS, Martyrs:
SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, Priest
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Exorcises by the Finger of God … He Prepares Us for the Day of the Lord”
BIBLE READINGS
Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2 // Lk 11:15-26
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
In today’s Gospel episode (Lk 11:15-26), Jesus drives out a demon from a mute man and cures him of his affliction. But his compassionate act is perceived very negatively. Some accuse him of exorcising through the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Others ask for a further sign to make them believe. Jesus argues that Beelzebul is not so foolish as to allow “infighting” and self-destruction. But rather, the Lord Jesus routs out demons by “the finger of God” and brings about the “in-breaking” of God’s kingdom. Jesus exorcises demons victoriously. He is the “stronger one” who vanquishes the forces of evil. He is the mighty one who deserves our loyalty. With regards to our relation with Jesus, there is no middle ground. Those who are not for him are against him and they scatter. The example of the wandering unclean spirit that brings back seven more wicked spirits to the place originally possessed reinforces the need to commit wholeheartedly to Jesus. If the place vacated by the demon is not incorporated into the kingdom of God, it is still Beelzebul’s and even more susceptible to his domination. To be totally free from “inner demons” we need to belong wholeheartedly to Jesus, who reigns over us.
Mike McGarvin (“Papa Mike”) of the Poverello House in Fresno gives insight into the human struggle to be free from “inner demons” (cf. Poverello News, August 2011, p.1-2).
When a friend handed me an out-of-print book entitled Skid Row Beat, by Loren Christensen, my curiosity was piqued. When my friend explained the author was an ex-cop and a black belt in three martial arts, I was pretty much sold. I started reading and couldn’t put it down. I’m not necessarily recommending the book; it’s definitely not for the faint-of-heart. The author worked a police beat in Portland’s extensive skid-row district for many years. As a rookie policeman, he was shocked by what he saw. In later years as a veteran on the force he was more callused. However, his book makes it clear that he was able to grasp the humanity behind the debris and see humor in some of the revolting situations. (…)
Christensen divided his book into four sections: Sex, Violence, Excretions and Characters. Those categories sum up what I’ve seen down here over the course of almost forty years. Homelessness isn’t pretty, and I’ve gagged many times at the sights and smells I’ve encountered.
There’s only one category that I think the author omitted: Jesus. My entry into Christianity was through the Franciscan perspective. My early training in San Francisco encouraged me to believe that in every food line on skid row, Jesus is mysteriously present.
As Poverello grew, I came into contact with more and more Protestant and Evangelical volunteers. Like the Franciscans, these people believed that Christ was out there among the prostitutes, winos and addicts, but they also were confident about Jesus changing the hearts and minds of people who seemed beyond hope. Some of them were disappointed when they faced the stubborn reality of hopeless resistance to change; others hung in there and nurtured along some miracles.
Finally, I began meeting people from Twelve-Step programs who had faith in a Higher Power. For some of them, that Power was Christ. A.A. (Alcoholics Anonymous) and N.A. (Narcotics Anonymous) are spiritual programs, and have been responsible for helping countless addicts find recovery, against all odds. Many people who were down and out at Poverello House now have homes, jobs, and happy, purposeful lives thanks to Twelve Step programs. (…)
The Catholics, Protestants and people in A.A. and N.A. changed how I viewed the human destruction of homelessness. Believe me, the ugliness is real, and it’s something that repels many people with good intentions. However, beyond the ugliness, the deeper reality is spiritual. The spiritual reality helps me to realize that each person walking into Poverello House, no matter how physically degraded or emotionally tortured, is a precious child of God. Without that belief, I doubt that I’d have the heart to continue showing up here each day.
***
Today’s First Reading (Jl :13-15; 2:1-2) was written in the 5th or 4th century B.C. during the time of the Persian Empire. The prophet Joel describes a terrible invasion of locusts and a devastating draught in Palestine. The tragedy is overwhelming: the harvest has failed, the yield has dried up and withered, there is no grain or wine for temple offering, the land instead of a blessing has become a curse. The prophet sees in this event a sign of the coming Day of the Lord, a time when the Lord will punish those who oppose his righteous will. The Day of the Lord is a day of final conflict and will unleash God’s terrible might. The prophet Joel therefore calls the people to repent and do penance, and to assemble for a communal lament and prayer of supplication to the Lord. This present catastrophe impels them to rally close about the Lord God and his temple to seek salvation.
The following excerpt describing a natural disaster gives insight into the Day of the Lord, a day of “destruction” leading to a new era of blessing and grace (cf. Richard Martin Stern, Tsunami! in Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, vol. 4, New York: The Reader’s Digest Association, 1988, p. 115-118).
Jimmy Silva had appeared on the top of the bluff, and with him, Joe Hines. They stood silent, looking seaward. Because of the sheer drop-off on the ocean side of the point, they were unable to see the enormous swell as it met the rocks, but the solid sheet of water flung skyward at impact, high above the top of the rocks, told the story all too well.
They watched in near disbelief as that sheet of water, now reinforced from behind, crashed down upon the top of that point. It caught up Todd’s parked car, threw it high into the air and carried it forward across the land on the swell’s crest, to slam it down finally into the waters of the bay, where it disappeared.
Peter said, “Look at the channel! That incoming wave is thirty feet high and still building!” “More like forty”, Joe Hines said. “Houses there are sixty feet above high water.” Johnny Silva said, “There go the first houses. See there, middle of the peninsula. And the wave isn’t even slowing.”
It was not. The huge mass of solid water was sweeping across the peninsula, burying houses within its monstrous body, bringing the sea itself across the land until the ocean and the bay were one, the peninsula no longer visible. Still the wave swept on, its top a dirty whitish gray color now, frothing as a breaker froths, neither slowing nor collapsing in the manner of surf, but continuing its relentless surge. It reached and engulfed the coast highway and slammed itself at last against the solid mass of the high bluff with a crash and a shock that could be heard and felt by those above, as if there had been a massive underground explosion.
Solid water and spray flew high and fell like a cloudburst on the onlookers, leaving them drenched and stunned. “We ought to get underwater pay”, one of the cameramen said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. No one even smiled.
Unbelievably, almost as rapidly as it had come, the water began to recede. The backwash uncovered the bay, the scattered and smashed boats torn from their moorings. It uncovered the peninsula, displaying wreckage of the cheek-by-jowl houses, some shattered, some still partially standing in drunken attitudes, as if the slightest push would bring them crashing to the ground.
What remained of the beach on the ocean side of the peninsula was gradually visible again, but what had been smooth, plump contours were now gaunt, jagged stretches of rock, with the wreckage of houses, carried seaward by the backwash, strewn along the shore as far as one could see.
The entire process had taken only a matter of minute or so. And now all was changed. The seas retained their stormy character; the wind still gusted in howling fury, still snatching spray from the wave tops. But the monster wave was suddenly gone, retreated back into its watery lair, its fury spent, and the scene, instead of turbulently chaotic, seemed by comparison almost peaceful.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we trust in the power of Jesus to drive away demons? Do we commit ourselves totally to Jesus and allow him to deliver us from all evil?
2. Do we prepare ourselves for the coming of the day of the Lord, a day of destruction and gloom for those who oppose his righteous will?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ
who liberates us from the power of sin and evil.
Let your beloved Son-Savior reign in our hearts
that we may be delivered from all that could harm us.
In Jesus Christ we are victorious
and we rejoice in the glory of his name.
Help us to imitate the faith of Abraham
and let us rejoice in the fulfillment of that faith
through your Son Jesus, who died for us on the cross.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
Loving Father,
be near to us in our distress.
The day of your coming
is a day of darkness and gloom
for those who have rejected your plan
of justice and peace.
Listen to our plea for mercy
and save us from calamity.
Deliver us from evil, Lord.
Bring us into the joy of your kingdom.
We give you glory and praise, now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“It is by the finger of God that I drive out demons.” (Lk 11:20) // “The day of the Lord is coming.” (Jl 1:13-15)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Humbly turn to Jesus for deliverance from all that could harm us. Be an instrument of compassion and liberation for those in the bondage of sin and evil. // Take to heart the sufferings of the victims of natural and man-made calamities. Do what you can to aid them in their distress.
*** *** ***
October 10, 2015: SATURDAY – WEEKDAY (27); BVM ON SATURDAY
“JESUS SAVIOR: His Mother Is Greatly Blessed … He Will Defend Us on the Day of Judgment”
BIBLE READINGS
Jl 4:12-21 // Lk 11: 27-28
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
In today’s Gospel episode (Lk 11:27-28), in contrast to Jesus’ detractors who hurl indignities upon him, whom they falsely accuse of diabolic connivance, a woman in the crowd esteems him. She indirectly shows her admiration for Jesus by uttering words of praise for his mother. Jesus delights in her praises, but wants to make their meaning complete. Mary is undoubtedly blessed for having carried him in her womb and for nursing him at her breasts. But in the context of Christian discipleship, in which spiritual relationship is above physical relationship, Jesus asserts that those who hear the word of God and observe it are more blessed. Mary is blessed to be his mother, but as the first and true disciple, she is even more blessed for listening to the word of God and acting upon it.
We too are blessed to have Mary as our mother. Mary continues to teach us conversion of heart and obedience to God’s saving word. The following story circulated on the Internet shows how Mother Mary aids her children in distress.
The Rosary Converts Pompeii from Satanic Influence, Late 1800's
Bartolo Longo was born in 1841 to a devout Catholic family. When Bartolo grew up he decided to study law. Naples at that time was undergoing a tremendous spiritual crisis. Paganism and Satanism of all sorts were abounding. Bartolo was not immune to these influences and became a satanic priest, much to the chagrin of his family who tried their hardest to get him to convert.
As Satanism began to torment his mind, his family convinced him to make a good confession. Alberto Radente, a saintly Dominican priest, helped lead him back to the Catholic faith and encouraged his devotion to the rosary. Bartolo had a miraculous conversion and in 1870, he became a third order Dominican and chose to live a life in penance for all the terrible sins he had committed against the Church.
One day, he nearly succumbed to the sin of despair, feeling that God could never forgive the tremendous sins he had committed against the church. At that moment he received divine inspiration and remembered the Blessed Virgin’s promise that she would help in all their necessities those who propagate her rosary.
He set out to restore the dilapidated chapel at Pompeii and promote the rosary to whoever would listen. Pamphlets about the rosary were distributed to help the people learn to pray this powerful devotion. He tried to find an image of Our Lady of the Rosary worthy of hanging in the chapel, but was only offered a worm-eaten painting with an image that he felt was coarse and not worthy of veneration, however he accepted it from the convent in which it was stored.
As Bartolo continued his work of propagating the rosary, the chapel’s membership grew tremendously and many miracles began to be associated with Our Lady of Pompeii. Cures and spiritual conversions occurred due to the devotions through this new shrine. The people pledged their support to have a large church built that would properly honor Our Lady of the Rosary.
In 1894, Bartolo and his wife gave the church over to the care of the Vatican. The original image found in the convent was restored for the last time in 1965 and Pope Paul VI crowned the heads of Jesus and Mary with diadems given by the people of Pompeii. On October 26, 1980, Bartolo Longo was beatified by John Paul II who called him “the man of the Madonna” and the “Apostle of the Rosary”.
Pray the rosary to receive Our Holy Mother's heavenly aid in saving souls!
***
The reading (Jl 4:12-21) underlines that the day of judgment has come for sinful and warring nations, who surge upon God’s chosen people as hordes of locusts. They are very wicked and the image of a ripe harvest and fruitful vine signifies it is time for the execution of just punishment upon them. Moreover, the prophet Joel conveys God’s assurance of blessings and protection upon his people. Joel’s vision reaches its high point with the presence of God in the midst of the people. This divine presence is the source of refuge and strength for the beleaguered and the suffering. Indeed, the Lord who dwells on Mount Zion promises to defend them in time of adversities.
The following story gives a glimpse into the exquisite quality of God’s benevolent promise of presence and protection (cf. Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger, Christmas Miracles, Avon: Adams Media Corportaion, 2001, p. 47-50).
During the push to Berlin during the latter stages of World War II, Bryan Potter and a group of other bone-weary GIs were quartered in a brick farmhouse and told to get a good night’s rest. The order was as unnecessary as telling a starving man to eat everything on his plate. The men were cold and exhausted in the bleak December of 1944, and although there was little to burn in the fireplace and the antiquated kitchen stove, any warmth at all was greatly appreciated.
They had just finished a sparse, but somehow comforting and filling meal, when one of the men started tapping his fork on his metal mess kit. “Fellas”, he said, when he had everyone’s attention. “Do you know what today is?” (…) And then the realization seemed to strike everyone in the crowded kitchen at the same time.
It was Christmas Eve. (…)
One of the men shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden bench, then spoke up before he lost his nerve. “I think we should do something to observe Christmas Eve – you know, like singing a Christmas hymn. Something like ‘Silent Night’ or ‘Little Town of Bethlehem’.”
“If he had been expecting ridicule from the hardened, tough men around him, he received none that cold and lonely Christmas Eve far away from our homes”, Potter recalled. “Softly at first, as some of us struggled to remember the words, we began singing ‘Silent Night’. Then as we got more into the spirit of the hymn, our voices became stronger and stronger until the rafters of that old farmhouse were reverberating. By the time we got to the third verse, most of us were just humming along, but even that had a good Christmas sound to it.”
Then, suddenly, someone carrying a bright light slammed open the kitchen door and shouted: “Everyone out! A mortar shell is about to hit!” Potter and his buddies scrambled for the door, ran several yards, then threw themselves headlong on the frozen, snow-packed German terrain. Seconds later, the demolished farmhouse erupted in a fiery explosion and began to rain pieces of brick down on them. Nazi mortar fire had scored a direct hit on their temporary sanctuary.
“It was a good thing for us that even though we were bone-tired, we simply reacted on our training and our war-honed instincts”, Potter said. “None of us thought to stop to ask the stranger with the bright light just how he knew that a mortar shell was about to hit the specific target of our particular farmhouse.”
“Whoever the guy was, he didn’t burst in among us and shout, ‘Heads up! The Jerries are going to start shelling!’ He told us to get out because a round was about to hit us. That statement required special and specific knowledge, and if any of us had stopped to interrogate the fellow concerning the source of such intelligence, none of us would have survived the direct hit.”
Peter and his buddies spent the rest of the night in the ruins of a barn, huddled around a sheltered fire. One of the men commented that Christmas Eve was the perfect night to sleep on a pile of straw near mangers and cattle pens. “Later, when some of us had a chance to talk about the incident, a couple of the guys were already calling it a miracle”, Potter said. “After discussing it at great length, we all agreed that the man who burst into the farmhouse was not carrying a bright light, he was the light.
“When we compare our collective memories, we concluded that the stranger was surrounded by a brilliant kind of illumination. We were convinced that an angel saved our lives on Christmas Eve in 1944 by warning us to get out of the farmhouse immediately before the mortar shell hit us.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. What role does Mary carry out in our life? Do we look upon her as truly blessed as the Mother of God and as a true disciple who hears the word of God and keeps it?
2. Do we believe that on judgment day and the threat of destruction, we will be saved by the Lord as long as we trust in him?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving Father,
we thank you for Jesus,
your beloved Son and Word made flesh.
We thank you for Mary,
who carried him in her womb
and nursed him at her breasts.
We thank you for her beatitude
as the mother of Jesus and the disciple of the Word.
Help us to imitate Mary
in hearing the Word and acting upon it.
Let Mary guide us in our quest for peace and unity.
You live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
***
Loving Father,
we thank you for your indwelling
and the abundant graces you pour upon us.
Be our refuge and strength
on the day of distress and trial.
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 week. Please memorize it.
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Lk 11:28) //“The Lord is a refuge to his people.” (Jl 4:16)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Practice daily Bible reading and meditation that, like Mary, we may learn to hear the word of God and observe it. // When you are distressed and anxious about something, pray and put your trust in the Lord. Be an instrument of God’s comfort to those whose hearts are filled with fear and anxiety.
***
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