A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 5, n. 18)
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year C – April 1, 2007
“The Faithful Servant”
BIBLE READINGS
Lk 19:28-40 // Is 50:4-7 // Phil 2:6-11 // Lk 22:14-23:56
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
The Parish of the Sacred Heart, where I grew up in the Philippines was under the pastoral care of the sandal- shod and bearded Capuchin friars. One of the priests serving there, who became my spiritual director, was born in Goa, India. Before being assigned in Manila, he worked as a missionary in Portuguese Angola, in Southwest Africa. He shared with us that when he viewed the movie “The Nun at the Crossroad”, about a missionary who was sexually assaulted by African rebels, tears simply ran down his face. He had first hand experience of the violence and sufferings experienced by missionaries from the rebel groups. He himself narrowly escaped death in the Angolan revolution and some of his colleagues in the nearby mission station were tortured and killed. One of the indignities and cruelties they had experienced from their tormentors was the plucking of their beards, which tore off patches of skin from their faces, creating raw wounds and resulting in terrible bleeding and horrible pain. Indeed, the brutal afflictions that they endured were a participation in the sacrificial passion of Jesus Christ who, through his wounds and sufferings, had brought us salvation and healing.
The Old Testament reading on this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Is 50:4-7) depicts the obedient, faithful stance of the suffering Servant of Yahweh – a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ. The steadfastness of the disciple in clinging to the divine saving plan earned him an undeserved inequity and abuse, anticipating the monstrous injustice that would be inflicted on our Savior Jesus. Both the Suffering Servant in Isaiah’s prophecy and the ultimate Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ, rely on the Word of God as the source of salvation. Upheld by the grace of God, both persevered in the face of adversity without concern for self-preservation, willingly and consciously accepting their afflictions and maltreatment.
Lawrence Mick comments on the enigmatic figure of the Suffering Servant from the text of Isaiah: “In the latter part of the book of Isaiah, there are four passages that have been called the Songs of the Suffering Servant. The Church uses them extensively this week: the first is used on Monday, the second on Tuesday, the third today and on Wednesday, and the fourth on Good Friday … The Christian Church has hesitated little in identifying the servant in Isaiah with Jesus. Jesus seemed to identify himself as the servant of God when he first preached at Nazareth, so it is appropriate that we use these songs to recall his ministry and sufferings … In today’s reading the servant speaks of his vocation to preach the word of God and of the responses he received for his trouble. He begins by noting that God teaches him what to say; the preacher must first be a hearer of God’s word. Every morning God opens his ear, and he has been faithful, not rebelling or turning away. He no doubt was often tempted to turn away – to avoid the task of preaching – because it got him little more than abuse. He accepts the mistreatment because he wants to be faithful to God, and he trusts that God will also be faithful to him. Despite the rejection he experiences, his faith sustains him with the strength of flint.”
Our memorial celebration of the paschal destiny of our Lord Jesus Christ and our contemplation of his redemptive passion and death enable us to recognize that the mystery of suffering is swallowed up in the much greater mystery of God himself. While suffering is linked with human sin, it is also and even more deeply associated with divine love. The passion of Jesus, the Son of God, is his self-giving surrender for us. The mystery of suffering remains, but we – as Christian disciples - now choose to stand under the shadow of God’s power and grace. In participating in the life-giving passion and death of his beloved Son-Servant Jesus, suffering loses its morbid and enfeebling effect. When we see suffering in the larger context of the mystery of God – in the wisdom of his divine love that chooses suffering as a means of salvation – then we are filled with profound conviction that we are in God’s hands and that “we shall not be put to shame”.
With the celebration of the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, the Church enters Holy Week, which culminates with the celebration of the Easter Triduum. This paschal celebration, which recalls Jesus’ messianic entry to Jerusalem that led to the decisive events of his passion, death and resurrection, contains a future eschatological orientation. It gives us a glimpse of the victorious future toward which the Church is journeying. By going through the door of his Passover in the earthly Jerusalem, he is foreshadowing his victorious entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem and, together with him, the community of Christian disciples.
The German writer Johannes Pinsk asserts: “Thus it is Pascha Domini, the passing, the Passover, the entry of the Lord, but an entry accompanied by his people. And that is also the sense of our own procession of palms. The palm branch handed to us makes us participants of the triumph of the King. The olive branch mentioned in the prayers in connection with the palm branch signifies the peace of the kingdom of God, an inviolability assured by the victory of Christ. The favored multitude present at the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in that fateful springtime long ago already grasped what here was being foreshadowed. Redeemed humanity, illuminated by the celestial light of faith, goes out to meet our Redeemer, who subjected himself to human sufferings and was about to close in mortal combat with death for life of the whole world and triumph by his death. That original entry into Jerusalem therefore already transcended the bounds of the purely historical. And when we march today in a procession of palms, we are also entering together with Christ the King, into the holy Jerusalem, whose transcendent reality is figured forth for us by the House of God. To the victor over death we cry, with the angels and the children of the Hebrews: Glory, praise, and honor be to you, Redeemer, Christ the King.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Lk 22:14-23:56
By Angele Solis
The Passion according to Luke that we read this Sunday is filled with the tender mercy of our God. The ultimate self-gift of Jesus Christ to the Father is revealed to us as the author of the sacred text unfolds the narrative of the infinite mercy and compassion of the Lord.
The passage opens on the Mount of Olives. Judas, whom Jesus has chosen and called by name, betrays his savior with a kiss. In the midst of the chaos, the high priest’s slave is maimed and Jesus, just betrayed by one He loves, responds with mercy; he heals the slave’s ear. How tender is the mercy of our God, to respond with love to the needs of others in the midst of His own suffering!
Immediately following this, we are moved to the courtyard of the high priest’s house. It is cold outside; people are warming themselves by the fire. Peter, who has been the Lord’s constant companion for three years, the leader of the apostles, one of the privileged three to have witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on Mount Tabor, is approached by a maid, “This man also was with him.” Three times, once for each blessed year he has known the Lord, Peter vehemently denies knowing the Lord! “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.” The gaze of Christ! The merciful gaze of Jesus caused Peter to remember how the denial had been foretold, and moved him to weep bitter tears of repentance. Our Lord is slow to anger and rich in kindness.
On the via dolorosa Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. He is burdened by the heavy cross, the weight of our sins, and yet pauses to give comfort to others. O merciful Jesus, grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled, as to console!
On Golgotha, Jesus is crucified in the manner of common criminals. The Son of God, the innocent Paschal Lamb is nailed to a tree for our sins. From the cross he cries out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” In the midst of his greatest suffering, in his hour of death, he calls to the Father for mercy for his betrayers, his crucifiers, those responsible for his ignominious death: us. The total self-gift has been given. Jesus has emptied himself to the Father so that we might live.
The final words of Jesus spoken from the cross to another human being in Luke’s gospel are to the “good thief.” He asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responds to this simple request of remembrance by pledging, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Not only will the thief be remembered; he is granted a place in Paradise by his merciful redeemer! Such is the extravagant, overabundance of the mercy and compassion of our Lord.
The Passion narrative shows us the cruelty of our sin, and the infinite mercy of God. “Just as I have done so you must do.” In our own trials and sufferings, let us recall the mercy of Jesus, who forgave until the last moment of his Passion. Let us imitate our Lord, and not spare anyone our forgiveness, mercy and compassion; not the bystanders in our lives like the high priest’s slave, not the dear but weak friends in our lives like Peter, nor the enemies who make our lives difficult. Let us love and forgive until it hurts. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us!
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What are some of the thoughts and insights that have personally touched us in the Song of the Suffering Servant that we hear in today’s Old Testament reading? Do we believe that we too have received a vocation to proclaim the Word of God and we are called to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them? Are we faithful to listen to the Word of God and are we willing to be taught by his word?
B. How do we respond to the rejections, rebellions and abuses that assail us in the course of preaching God’s life-giving Word? Are we willing to endure suffering for the sake of greater good? Do we follow the path of non-violence and paschal sacrifice? Do we truly believe in God’s help and protection and are we able to declare: The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame?
C. Why is Jesus the true and ultimate Suffering Servant? How did he fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah about the faithful Servant who trusted in Yahweh so fully that he knew he would not be put to shame? What does the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem mean? How does the liturgy of the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion impact you? What do you do to deepen your participation in the Holy Week celebration and make it more meaningful?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
your Son Jesus Christ was your faithful servant-disciple
who opened his ear to you
and sustained the weary and broken hearted with your word.
He was gentle as a lamb and was not rebellious.
With the strength and power coming from you,
he fulfilled your divine saving will
through the way of self-giving and suffering.
Fulfilling his paschal destiny,
he gave his back to those who beat him
and his cheeks to those who struck him with a blow.
He did not hide his face from insult and spitting.
His unwavering faith in you
enabled him to endure all his sufferings
with humility, love and patience.
He left us an example of meekness, peacefulness, total trust
and surrender to the mysterious wisdom of your love.
Inspire us by his love,
guide us by his example
and help us to tread the way of the cross.
As we celebrate today
the memorial of his entrance into the city of Jerusalem
where he would be offered as a paschal sacrifice,
may he lead us to enter gloriously and joyfully
the new city of Jerusalem in heaven.
He lives and reigns forever and ever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” (Is 50:7)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that in this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, the Christian assembly may have a more intense grasp of the tremendous suffering Jesus Christ has endured for us and the love that animated his passion and death on the cross. Participate in Christ’s passion and sacrificial love by consciously uniting your own pain and suffering with those of Jesus. Contribute to his redemptive work by acts of charity on behalf of the poor, the marginalized and the victims of war, violence and various forms of injustice.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us participate more intimately in the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. 18): 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