A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 5, n. 11)
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – February 11, 2007
“Those Who Trust in the Lord”
BIBLE READINGS
Jer 17:5-8 // I Cor 15:12, 16-20 // Lk 6:17, 20-26
N.B. Series 5 of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year C from the perspective of the First Reading. For another set of reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 2.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
I arrived at the Manila International Airport from the States, where I am based as a missionary, on February 1 around midnight. Two PDDM Sisters were patiently waiting for me in a place teeming with passengers arriving from different cities of the world and those who came to fetch them. After the hustle and bustle at the crowded airport, we were on our way to our convent at 2:00 A.M. There were lots of motor vehicles on the road, enough to create traffic, although not as heavy as during the day. When our car stopped at an intersection, my heart almost broke from the depressing scenario of child labor that confronted me. I saw a young malnourished boy selling cleaning “wipers” made out of scraps of clothes and plying his trade at a very unholy hour of the night. That boy ought to be sleeping and resting at home instead of risking his life selling his ware to passengers of vehicles in the middle of the street. This lamentable situation of poverty and social injustice impacted me with greater poignancy and intensity, especially since I was just coming from the States that is blessed with much material wealth and economic prosperity. I felt sad, dejected and confused.
The sight of that young boy in the street resurfaced dramatically as I was praying over the Gospel reading of this Sunday (Lk 6:17, 20-26): “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you …” The evangelist Luke’s version of four beatitudes, followed by four woes, keeps us from overly spiritualizing the meaning of the beatitudes and woes. Jesus was speaking about truly poor people, the anawim of the Old Testament, whose poverty and destitution inclines them to depend on God.
Luke’s antithetical statements on the blessedness of the poor and the woe to the rich should be seen in their proper context. The biblical scholar Eugene Maly explains: “Part of that context would be Jesus’ consciousness of the Kingdom present. So powerfully present was it to him that it said to him, ‘The end-time is now.’ ‘The Father reigns.’ ‘Nothing material counts, or is even an obstacle.’ If that is the context of the statement as originally intended, then we do have to understand them for us in a special way. While we believe that Jesus has inaugurated the end-time, the Father’s reign, we realize, too, that the world and its history continue. In that continuing history material goods can have a relative, but never an absolute value. They are even necessary for sustaining progress in the world. Even Luke speaks, with apparent approval, of a great dinner given for Jesus by the wealthy Levi (5:29). Also whenever the word ‘rich’ is used elsewhere in the New Testament in a disapproving manner, the author assumes one of two things. Either the riches have been unjustly acquired, in which case the rich are warned to ‘weep and wail’ over impending doom (Jm 5:1-6), or they are seen as a powerful temptation, as the source of one’s trust in place of God (Lk 12:16-20); especially I Tm 6:17). In the same way poverty is seen as something good, not in an absolute way as a value in itself, but as one of the most powerful means for trusting God alone. So powerful a means it is, in fact, that poverty is almost presented as a synonym for trust in God. To be poor is to be dependent on the Lord.”
The primordial and absolute importance of the Kingdom value enables us to pursue with greater focus and intensity the completion of God’s saving plan. It enables us to give ourselves with greater generosity to the social concerns that challenge us day by day. In our Christian challenge to alleviate the lot of the poor and in the proclamation of the Good News of salvation, the message of the Old Testament (Jer 17:5-8) reading is for us an encouragement: God is our sole refuge. The Jeremiah text is a word of wisdom inviting us to trust God in our work for the Kingdom: “Unhappy is he who trusts in man; happy the man who trusts in the Lord.”
According to Aelred Rosser: “In a pair of neatly matched metaphors, we see the contrast between those who trust in God and those who trust in merely human powers … The metaphor of the barren bush is quite vivid and merits contemplation. Consider the image of a desert bush, struggling to stay alive in a wasteland where sustenance is scarce and no rain comes to nourish it. The soil from which it tries to draw life is itself lifeless, made sterile by salt. Yet the shrub hangs on in a meager existence, unable to alter its arid environment … The tree beside the waters is a vivid contrast. The source of its nourishment is abundant and unfailing. The tree undergoes the same vicissitudes of harsh weather and periods of drought, but it flourishes in spite of these things – for its roots have stored up strength for the trials … No happy accidents are involved in our free choice to place our trust in God, The vivid images in this reading prompt us to make that choice.”
In our fundamental choice for the Kingdom value and in making the beatitudes a reality, the following words of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyr of El Salvador, remind us not to rely on our efforts and inspire us anew to trust humbly in the power of the Lord God, the Master Builder of his Kingdom.
It helps now and then to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing that they will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
By Rev. Fr. Tim Cardoza
Pastor: Parish of St. Mary, Queen of Apostles
Fresno, CA-U.S.A.
1) As I read over the scriptural readings for today’s liturgy I was reminded of so many people around today who may be considered sophisticated in the realm of theology. They purport theological positions that are truly sophisticated. But what remains is for us to decide as to whether or not we subscribe to their theological conjecture.
2) While in the seminary, we studied various theological works written by various authors. Some of the books had been published decades ago, but they are still valid today. It was interesting to observe the career of some of these writers. In the beginning their works were sound, orthodox, but as time progressed and they grew more “sophisticated” their theories became less and less recognizable as Christian, Catholic, or even theological. Unfortunately among many of these writers (whether it was in the area of scripture, philosophy, or dogmatic theology) there existed a growing tendency toward removing the awareness of God’s transcendence and presenting him and his miracles in a more humanly acceptable framework.
3) Some authors, for example, would go to great lengths to show that the miracles in the Bible are simply natural events that have been embellished by the sacred author. Some have gone so far as to say that Christ didn’t really rise from dead. These same writers basically would say that it is still good to believe in God and his Son because belief helps us through this life. Basically what is being said is “let’s pretend there is a God”.
4) Well, what does scripture say about those who rely on the sophistication of men? According to Jeremiah, “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings … whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.”
Paul to the Corinthians says: “If Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how is it that some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If the dead are not raised, then Christ is not raised; and if Christ was not raised, your faith is worthless … If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only we are the most pitiable of men.”
5) Basically what is being said is that if God is not the God of Sacred Scripture, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then to believe that God has effect on us in this life only is foolishness.
6) I am sure that most of us here would not consider ourselves theologians. Therefore we feel comfortable in saying that we do not run the risk of coming up with the conclusions of those few unfortunate souls. But the truth is we are all members of Adam’s race. That means we all suffer from the effects of original sin; we are all plagued from time to time with doubts and fears about our relationship with God in this life and the life to come.
But today we must heed the words of Scripture. God is a living God. He gives life to those who are planted near his life-giving streams. Jesus is truly his Son and he has been raised from the dead and promises a like resurrection to those who follow him in faith and love.
CONCLUSION: In this Mass we pray not for sophistication, but rather we pray for wisdom, the wisdom of God that helps us to see him as he truly is. We wish to see him not as the God of our imagining, but as him who gives life, sustains life and opens up the rewards of eternal life to those who believe.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What is our fundamental choice as Christian followers: to be like “a barren bush in the desert” or to be like “a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream”? Do we opt to trust in the wealth and power of this world or to trust in the power of God alone? Is God our sole refuge and is he our wisdom and our strength?
B. What does Luke’s version of the beatitudes say to us? How do we uphold the dignity and the rights of the poor and downtrodden? How do we alleviate the lot of the poor? Do we endeavor to live a life of poverty and simplicity in order to be more prepared and effective in our ministry to the poor? Do we consciously strive to be part of the anawim - the poor of Yahweh whose poverty inclines them to depend on God - by our simple lifestyle and interior poverty?
C. Do we realize that we are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs, and that we are prophets of the future? Do we believe that of ourselves we can do nothing, but that with God we can do all? Do we effectively show in our lives that wealth is a relative value and that the Kingdom of God is the absolute value? Do we see Luke’s version of the beatitudes as an inspiration to trust in the grace of God and Luke’s statements of the woes as wise exhortations to change, rather than mere condemnations to chastise and daunt us? Do we endeavor to be permeated by the spirit of the beatitudes?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Adapted from Archbishop’s Romero’s exhortation and Jer 17:7-8)
Leader: O loving God, we plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing that they will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between you, the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.
Assembly: We trust in you alone, O God. Blessed is the one who trusts in you, whose hope is in you. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream. It fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. May you be blessed, O Lord God, the font of our beatitudes, now and forever. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.” (Jer 17:7)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that the beatitude invoked on the poor, on those who hunger and weep, on those who are excluded and marginalized in society may truly be realized in them. Endeavor to make this beatitude a reality by being an instrument of God’s compassion on their behalf. In your work for social justice and ministry to the poor, do not rely on human power and strength but on God alone.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us to be more open to the beatitudes and to enable us to commit ourselves more trustingly to our loving God, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 3, n. 11): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US