A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday and Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 11, n. 23)
SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER: May 5-11, 2013 ***
(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 C from three perspectives. For reflections on the Sunday liturgy based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 2. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 5. For reflections based on the Second Reading, open Series 8. Please go to Series 10 and Series 11 for the back issues of the Weekday Lectio.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY: May 5-11, 2013. The weekday reflections are based on the First Reading. For the weekday reflections based on the Gospel Reading, please open Series 10.)
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May 5, 2013: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
“JESUS SAVIOR: “His New Presence”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 15:1-2, 22-26 // Rv 21:10-14, 22-23 // Jn 14:23-29
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
This is a heartwarming story about an Italian couple, members of the Holy Family Institute, founded by Blessed James Alberione. The members of this Pauline Secular Institute are consecrated to God as married couples. Every day, this couple would pray together the Rosary. One day, the husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer. They humbly accepted the divine will. Since the husband’s days were numbered, the couple prepared for his departure. They made sure that they would be present to each other even after his death. When the husband passed away, the wife continued to pray their daily rosary by means of the taped voice he left behind. For the loving widow, praying with the taped rosary was a way of experiencing her husband’s “presence”. Their love was deepened by a spiritual “presence” that transcends physical absence.
The Italian couple’s experience helps us to understand the Gospel of today about the love of Christ living on in the Church through the power of the Spirit. Jesus Christ, as the glorified Risen Lord, continues to live on, in the here and now of the Church, as a “new” presence. Indeed, this reading (Jn 14: 23-29) is a suitable preparation for the forthcoming feast of the Lord’s Ascension, for it speaks of the love of Christ and his abiding presence through the Holy Spirit. As part of the Farewell Discourse of Jesus, today’s Gospel passage depicts his return to the bosom of the Father and the consequent sending of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who guarantees that Jesus’ words would remain and bear abundant fruit in the lives of the disciples.
Today’s Gospel proclamation underlines the nature of Christ’s testament of love, which we reflected upon in last Sunday’s liturgy (Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35). The evangelist John records the words of Jesus to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. Yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me” (Jn 15:23-24). Jesus speaks of love, the pivotal Christian virtue, and links it with being true to his word. To love the Lord and to keep his word are the same, for is he not the Word of God? Moreover, to receive his word is to receive the Father and the Son, since abiding with the word of the Lord testifies to the reality of divine presence. Indeed, the specific quality of Christian love is the intimate communion and indwelling of the Father and the Son with the disciples.
Abiding with the Word of God, with its consequent communion in the love of the Father and the Son, is made possible when the Holy Spirit comes into the hearts of Christ’s disciples. That is why Jesus Master, in his farewell discourse, made this astounding promise: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26). The editors of the Jerusalem Bible remark: “In place of the departed Christ, the faithful will have the Spirit. He is the parakletos, who intercedes with the Father, and whose voice is heard in human courts. He is the Spirit of truth, leading men and women to the very fullness of truth, teaching them to understand the mystery of Christ – his fulfillment of the scriptures, the meaning of his words, of his actions, and of his signs, all hitherto obscure to the disciples.”
The Divine Master then links the promised coming of the Holy Spirit with a peace blessing: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (Jn 14:27-28). “SHALOM!” “PEACE!” This customary Jewish greeting and farewell evokes the perfect happiness and the deliverance that the Messiah would bring. At the brink of his ultimate Passover, Jesus gives the perfect benediction and farewell blessing to his disciples. The peace that Jesus bequeaths to them is the spiritual serenity and harmony that result from profound communion with God and his saving will.
Furthermore, the leave-taking of Jesus is associated with a call to rejoicing: “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I” (Jn 14:28). Those who truly love Jesus would experience that his “homecoming” into the bosom of the Father is a cause for rejoicing. Christ’s return to the Father, who sent him, with the saving mission brought to completion, is a glorious moment and font of joy for his disciples. The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly, comments: “That return marks the completion of his saving activity as the God-man. The Father, who is greater in the sense that he initiated the whole of saving history, can now complete that history. And we are part of it. The love, the Spirit, and the peace that Jesus promised belong to us and are truly ours in the measure that we let them be.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we believe that we belong to a “Spirit-filled community”, where the Holy Spirit teaches and reminds us with the words and wisdom of the Risen Lord and makes him fully present to us? Is our love for Jesus strong enough to enable us to act upon his word? What do we do with the benediction of “peace” that the Divine Master bequeaths to us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O Risen Lord,
in your homecoming to the Father,
you promised to send us the Holy Spirit,
your Easter gift.
The Spirit of wisdom rouses our hearts
“Rise up! People of Easter!
Rise up! Take courage!”
Help us to be receptive to the Holy Spirit
who teaches us everything
and reminds us of all that you have told us.
Let us dwell in your peace
and make us channels of your peace
in today’s world that aches to receive the Good News.
You live and reign,
forever and ever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (Jn 14:26)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Today, after praying for the power of the Holy Spirit, bring the peace of Christ to a person or any human situation and community in need of it.
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May 6, 2013: MONDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (6)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Opened Their Hearts to Listen to His Disciples”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 16:11-15 // Jn 15:26-16:4a
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles is very significant. The Gospel is proclaimed for the first time in Europe. Paul’s evangelization of Europe begins with his missionary activity in Philippi, a prominent city in the district of Macedonia. Philippi holds the key to land communications between Europe and Asia Minor and it has a certain status as a town settled by Roman citizens. On the Sabbath, Paul and his companions go to the Jewish place of prayer outside the city beside a river. There they meet a group of women worshippers, including Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a wealthy dealer in purple cloth. The Risen Lord opens the heart of this “God-fearing” woman to listen to the Gospel proclaimed by Saint Paul. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Lydia is receptive to what Paul says about the Christ. She responds in faith to the saving message and is baptized together with her household. United with them as “a believer in the Lord”, she persuades Paul and his companions to partake of the gracious hospitality she offers in her home.
The Risen Lord manifests his “living presence” when he “opens” the heart of Lydia to receive the Gospel. Something similar occurs during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain in September 2010 (cf. “’A Triumph of Enthusiasm over Cynicism’, Says Salmond” in THE TABLET, 25 September 2010, p. 7).
The success of the Scottish leg of Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain has been described by First Minister Alex Salmond as “a triumph of enthusiasm over cynicism”, writes Sam Adams. Mr. Salmomd made the comment during a conversation with the visit’s coordinator, Lord Patten, after witnessing at first hand the remarkable and perhaps unexpected welcome given to the Pope by the Scottish people on Thursday.
Fears of widespread protests or, worse still, public apathy proved to be unfounded as people turned out in their tens of thousands to cheer Benedict in Edinburgh and Glasgow on day one of the tour. Poor ticket sales for the pastoral events and media criticism of the Pope over his handling of the clerical-abuse crisis and his attitude towards issues such as homosexuality provoked downbeat expectations for his reception in Edinburgh, so the scale of support the Pope received in Scotland took many observers by surprise.
An estimated 125,000 people lined Princes Street in the Scottish capital to see him driven past in the Popemobile following his welcome to the United Kingdom by the Queen and spiritual leaders at the Palace of Holyroadhouse.
Benedict set the tone for the rest of the four-day visit during his opening speech at Holyroadhouse, in which he warned against the influence of “aggressive forms of secularism” in society. He expanded on this theme during his homily at the Mass in Bella Houston Park in Glasgow, where he had been given a raucous welcome by 65,000 flag-waving supporters in the early evening sunshine.
Pope Benedict called on Catholics to help evangelize a culture threatened by the “dictatorship of relativism”, in order to counter those who were trying to “exclude religious beliefs from public discourse, to privatize it or even to paint it as a threat to equality or liberty”.
“Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in the jungle of self-destruction and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility”, said the Pope, appealing to lay Catholics to “put the case of the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum”.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we allow our hearts to be opened by the Lord that we may listen with renewed sensitivity to the Gospel? Do we imitate Saint Paul in his zeal to spread the Good News to all people and to the ends of the world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Father,
we thank you for the missionary zeal of Saint Paul
and his fellow apostolic workers.
Open our hearts
to the transforming presence of the Risen Lord.
Give us the grace to proclaim the Gospel
and to bring healing to a fragmented world
that yearns for wholeness and peace.
Let the Easter victory reign over all.
We love and adore you.
We thank 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.
“The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” (Acts 16:14)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
When you read the newspaper, watch television, log on to the Internet, etc., identify the Gospel elements, focus on them and promote them in your conversation with your family, relatives, and friends.
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May 7, 2013: TUESDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (6)
“JESUS SAVIOR: His Disciples Continue to Preach the Message of Salvation”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 16:22-34 // Jn 16:5-11
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Saint Paul and his companions continue their Gospel work in Philippi. One day as they are going to the place of prayer, a slave girl with an occult spirit accosts them. She earns a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. The possessed follows the missionaries, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They announce to you how you can be saved!” She does this for many days until Paul becomes so upset that he exorcises the evil spirit. The owners, realizing the loss of financial profit, seize Paul and Silas and drag them to the Roman officials, falsely charging them with civil disturbance. The magistrates order them to be whipped. After the severe beating, the missionaries are put in the innermost cell for the night, with their feet chained to a stake. Paul and Silas, however, are irrepressible. Despite their wounds, they pray and sing in prison as the criminals listen. About midnight, in a divine intervention that evokes the Easter event, Paul and Silas experience deliverance. They are also able to proclaim the Good News of salvation to the jailer and his family. Responding in faith, the jailer and his family are baptized and celebrate their new-found faith with a meal shared with Paul and Silas. The night in prison has become a saving event and a “celebration” that resembles an Easter Vigil.
The Easter event experienced by the jailer and his family in Philippi continues to live on in the people of today. The life of Thea Bowman, a Franciscan sister born in Mississippi at the tail-end of the Depression is an example (cf. “A Soulful Pray-er” by Vincent Rougeau in AMERICA, April 12-19, 2010, p. 23-24).
Thea Bowman’s home was the fertile Delta region of Mississippi. Its rich alluvial soil supported huge plantations that produced the prodigious wealth on display in places like Vicksburg, Natchez, and Memphis. Enormous numbers of slaves were required to keep the money flowing, and well into the 20th century the descendants of these slaves labored as sharecroppers to provide the cheap labor vital to this economic system. A relatively small class of wealthy, white landowners and a very small white middle-class were supported by poor blacks, who far outnumbered them. Consequently, the Delta became an area of the South with some of the most rigid and harshly enforced Jim Crow laws and social practices.
Thea (born Bertha) Bowman was born into the relatively privileged (but materially modest) household of the only black doctor and one of the few black schoolteachers in Canton, Miss. They were an educated couple who, when blessed with their only child late in life, provided the loving home and high expectations that would ground Sister Thea for her entire remarkable life.
It is hard for us to imagine today the leap of faith that was required for young Bertha Bowman to leave the tightly knit confines of the black community in Canton to become a nun in La Crosse, Wis. Attracted by the improved educational opportunities made available by the opening of a Catholic mission to blacks, Bertha’s family become involved with Holy Child Jesus parish and eventually converted to Catholicism. The parish school was staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, strong, inspiring women who lovingly encouraged young Bertha’s intellectual gifts and who modeled the unimaginable – a loving community of faith made up of blacks and whites. These women ultimately set the example that moved Bertha to leave everything she had ever known.
In 1953, at the age of 15, she became a Franciscan aspirant at the motherhouse in La Crosse. In 1958, Sister Mary Thea became a professed sister. She would remain dedicated to her vocation as a nun for the rest of her life – no easy task for anyone, but particularly not for an African-American woman in an all-white congregation during the tumultuous decades that followed the Second Vatican Council.
The council created an opportunity for Sister Thea to find her authentic spiritual voice, which knitted together her black Southern self, her remarkable intellect and her fierce devotion to her Catholic faith. She earned her doctorate in English at Catholic University of America in 1972 and went on to teach in and chair the English department at Viterbo College in Wisconsin. Her life as a graduate student in Washington, D.C., exposed her to the intellectual ferment of the civil rights movement, and as she befriended men and women from around the world, she began to realize the rich possibilities offered by life in a cosmopolitan community. She would later make extended trips to Europe and Africa. Ultimately, the seeds were planted for her ministry of African-American expression in Catholic worship and, more generally, greater cross-cultural awareness in the church.
Thea Bowman’s life was cut short by cancer in 1990, but during 1980s, she achieved international renown sharing and spreading the African-American spiritual traditions of her Mississippi childhood. An accomplished singer, she demonstrated through song, dance, body movement, moaning, humming, and chant that people of African descent had important messages and gifts to offer the universal church. (…) Perhaps the most enduring symbol of Sister Thea’s legacy is the Lead Me, Guide Me hymnal, a collection of hymns in the African-American tradition for use in Catholic churches.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
How do the trials and sufferings of Saint Paul and Silas make them better apostles and missionaries? Do you wish to imitate them in transforming situations of duress into occasions of grace?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
Saint Paul and Silas suffer beatings and imprisonment
for the sake of the Gospel.
Yet their faith is undaunted.
They pray and sing songs of trust in moments of trial.
They proclaim the Gospel to the jailer and his family
that they may be saved
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When things are difficult for us,
let us imitate the apostles
in their trust and total surrender to you.
May we always look forward with hope
to the Easter triumph of the Risen Christ.
We bless 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.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Let the suffering, trial, and difficulty you are experiencing at the moment be united with the heart of Jesus and the heavenly Father’s saving will. Offer them to God for an apostolic intention.
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May 8, 2013: WEDNESDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (6)
“JESUS SAVIOR: Saint Paul Proclaims Him in Athens”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 // Jn 16:12-15
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
We continue to read in the Acts of the Apostles about the second missionary journey of St. Paul the Apostle. After being persecuted in Thessalonica and Berea, he is escorted to safety in Athens by Christian believers. While waiting for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him in Athens, Paul holds discussions with people in the public square as well as with Jews and “God-fearers” in the synagogue. Athens is a center of Greek intellectual life and Hellenistic learning and piety. Paul attracts the attention of philosophers who bring him to the Areopagus, the city council of Athens. The apostle takes the opportunity to expound his teaching to the city’s philosophers and leading politicians. Paul’s speech in Athens is notable because he attempts “to inculturate” the Gospel message to an academic world. He first recasts the Easter proclamation (that is, Jesus is the Son of God whom God has raised from the dead) as “one God, one Lord”, who is the author of salvation. Paul deems wise to use initially an approach that corresponds with the Greek rhetoric. In this the apostle manifests a readiness to accept the best in the culture and philosophy of the Gospel recipients.
Saint Paul, however, cannot and does not dilute the Easter message. He is impelled to proclaim to the Greek intellectuals the radical salvation that Jesus Christ won for us by his death and resurrection. A sharp reaction ensues when Paul proclaims that “the man whom God has appointed to judge the world with justice” God has confirmed “by raising him from the dead”. Some scoff at Saint Paul; some dismiss him with a polite “We should like to hear you on this some other time”; but a few become believers, including Dionysius, a member of the Court of Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris. After achieving a rather modest success among the intellectuals, the irrepressible Paul moves on to spread the Good News to Corinth, the capital of the Roman province of Achaia.
The missionary zeal of Saint Paul is absolutely inspiring. He uses all means to proclaim the Gospel. In light of his experience, we need to examine our hearts and see how we can be more efficacious in our Gospel proclamation. The following incident in the life of the great world leader Mahatma Gandhi can also help us in our examination of conscience (cf. Anthony De Mello, Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations, New York: Image Books, 1988, p. 80).
In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi tells how in his student days in South Africa he became deeply interested in the Bible, especially the Sermon on the Mount.
He became convinced that Christianity was the answer to the caste system that had plagued India for centuries, and he seriously considered becoming a Christian.
One day he went to a church to attend Mass and get instructions. He was stopped at the entrance and gently told that if he desired to attend Mass he was welcome to do so in a church reserved for blacks.
He left and never returned.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we use all means to proclaim efficaciously the Gospel to all people? Are we ready to suffer rejection and the lack of response to the Gospel proclamation?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
God our Father,
we thank you for Saint Paul,
the great apostle to the Gentiles.
He creatively proclaims the Gospel
to all peoples and cultures.
He shows us the need to “inculturate” the Gospel
without diluting it.
He also shows us how to be gracious
when people do not respond positively
to our apostolic toil.
Give us the grace to do our very best.
Let us share the Good News without counting the cost
and without being discouraged
by rejection and discouraging results.
May everything we do
be for your greater glory and our sanctification.
We love you and we serve you,
now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“What therefore you unknowingly worship I proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be sensitive to the riches and beauty of other cultures and be a part of the process of Gospel “inculturation”, that is, of letting the faith unfold from the culture of the people we are evangelizing.
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(N.B. Where the Ascension is observed today, please go to the Archives: Year C, Series 2 for reflections on the Feast of the Ascension)
May 9, 2013: THURSDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (6)
“JESUS SAVIOR: Saint Paul Proclaims Him in Corinth”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 18:1-8 // Jn 16:16-20
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
The Acts of the Apostles continues to depict the mission of Saint Paul the Apostle. After doing his very best though only with modest success in Athens, Paul goes to Corinth, a great commercial center with corresponding wealth and luxury. There he meets Aquila and Priscilla, who have recently arrived from Italy because the Emperor Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul stays and works with them for they are “tentmakers” like him. Paul supports his day-to-day activity by the work of his hands since he does not want to be a burden to the Church he serves. The apostle’s fundamental ministry, however, is to proclaim the Gospel, which he does while plying his trade. Moreover, every Sabbath he holds discussions in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks. The arrival of his co-workers Silas and Timothy from Macedonia, with financial assistance from the believers there, enables Paul to devote full time to preaching the Word.
In his work of evangelization in Corinth, Paul again experiences opposition and abuse. With the symbolic shaking of the dust from his clothes, Paul disclaims responsibility for the Jews’ rejection of the Gospel and asserts that he will bring it to the Gentiles. Like his mission in Athens, Saint Paul’s work of evangelization in Corinth is not a failure. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, together with his household and many other people in Corinth who heard the message, believe and are baptized.
The trials and sacrifices of Saint Paul and the first apostles as well as the grace of vocation continue to be experienced by the Gospel workers in our time. The following story illustrates this (cf. James Martin, SJ, “God Is Ready” in AMERICA, March 8, 2010, p. 18).
At one point in my Jesuit training, I spent two years working in Nairobi, Kenya, working with the Jesuit Refugee Service. There I helped East African refugees who had settled in the city start small businesses to support themselves. At the beginning of my stay, cut off from friends and family in the States, I felt a crushing loneliness. After a few months of hard work, I also came down with mononucleosis, which required two months of recuperation. So it was a trying time.
Happily, I worked with some generous people, including Uta, a German Lutheran lay volunteer with extensive experience in refugee work in Southeast Asia. After I had recovered from my illness, our work flourished. Uta and I helped refugees set up about 20 businesses, including tailoring shops, several small restaurants, a bakery and even a small chicken farm. Uta and I also started a small shop that sold the refugee handcrafts. It was located in a sprawling slum in Nairobi.
It was a remarkable turnaround – from lying on my bed, exhausted, wondering why I had come here, anguished that I would have to return home, puzzled what I could ever accomplish, to busily working with refugees from all over East Africa, managing a shop buzzing with activity and realizing that this was the happiest and freest I had ever felt.
One day I was walking home from our shop. The long brown path started at a nearby church on the edge of the slum, which was perched on a hill that overlooked a broad valley. From there the bumpy path descended through a thicket of floppy-leaved banana trees, thick ficus trees, orange day lilies, tall cow grass and cornfields. On the way into the valley I passed people, silently working in their plots of land, who looked up and called out to me as I passed. Brilliantly colored, iridescent sunbirds sang from the tips of tall grasses. At the bottom of the valley was a little river, and I crossed a flimsy bridge to get to the other side.
When I climbed the opposite side of the hill, I turned to look back. Though it was around five in the afternoon, the equatorial sun blazed down on the green valley, illuminating the long brown path, the tiny river, the people, the banana tree, flowers and grass. Quite suddenly I was overwhelmed with happiness. I’m happy to be there, I thought. After some loneliness, some illness and some doubts, I felt that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we realize the importance and dignity of human labor? Do we realize the fundamental character of the work of evangelization? How does Saint Paul inspire us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we bless and praise you for giving us Saint Paul
as the model for Gospel proclamation.
He suffers rejection and opposition,
but he is not discouraged
because the Holy Spirit, the Easter gift, empowers him.
Help us to imitate Saint Paul
in his apostolic zeal and his physical-spiritual toil
to proclaim the saving Word to all nations.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Many Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized.” (Acts 18:8)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Sanctify your daily human labor by uniting it with the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and by offering it for an apostolic intention.
***
May 10, 2013: FRIDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (6)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Assures Paul, Fear not. I am with you! ”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 18:9-18 // Jn 16:20-23
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
We read today one of the most beautiful episodes in the life of Paul. The Acts of the Apostles depicts him as the object of divine protection. At the moment, Paul must have felt very vulnerable – like a fragile earthen vessel – having experienced so much persecution and revilement. But one night in Corinth, the Lord appears to him in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.” The Lord Jesus assures Paul that he will not be harmed for there are many believers in that city. The apostle is comforted and strengthened by the divine assurance. He continues his mission in Corinth for a year and a half. Heeding God’s command, he continues to speak and proclaim the word of God. Even when the apostle is brought by an angry Jewish crowd to the proconsul Gallio, the “vessel of election”, Paul, remains unscathed for God’s grace is upon him. The magistrate refuses to deal with intramural religious squabbling and sends them away to thresh out their issues locally. The angry Jews vent their anger and frustration on Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue. Saint Paul miraculously survives another lynching. He stays with the believers for many more days, after which he sails off with his co-workers Priscilla and Aquila for Antioch.
Today’s episode is very meaningful for us as members of the Pauline Family founded by Blessed James Alberione. The same assurance of divine grace that Saint Paul has experienced is also present in the life of Blessed Alberione. Here is his account (cf. Rev. James Alberione, “Abundantes Divitiae Gratiae Suae, English trans. Boston: FSP, 1979, p. 91-93).
In moments of particular difficulty, re-examining his whole conduct to see if there were impediments to the action on his part, it seemed to him that the Divine Master wanted to reassure the Institute, started only a few years previously.
In a dream which he had afterwards, he felt he was given an answer. In fact, Jesus Master said: “Do not be afraid. I am with you. From here I will cast light. Be sorry for sins.”
The from here came from the tabernacle and with strength as to make him understand that from Him – the Teacher – comes all the light that has to be received.
He spoke of it to the Spiritual Director, explaining the light in which the figure of the Master had appeared. He replied: “Be serene. Dream or otherwise, what was said is holy. Make it a practical program of life and of light for yourself and for all the members.”
From this he always oriented himself more; and he drew all from the Tabernacle.
So he understood the following expressions in the midst of all circumstances: Neither the socialists, nor the fascists, nor the world, nor the demands of the creditors in a moment of panic, nor shipwreck, nor Satan, nor the passions, nor your insufficiency on every side … but be sure you let me stay with you; do not drive me out by sin. “I am with you”, that is, with your Family, which I have willed, which I nourish, of which I am a part, as the head. Do not hesitate! Even if there are many difficulties …; but just let me stay with you always. Do not sin! (…)
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
In moments of difficulties and crisis do we trust in the Lord’s assurance: “Fear not … I am with you!”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you appeared in a vision to Saint Paul
when he was feeling most vulnerable
– like a fragile earthen vessel.
You assured him,
“Do not be afraid for I am with you.”
We thank you for the loving assurance
you offered to the “vessel of election”
in his moments of fear and distress.
In our difficulties,
you likewise speak these comforting words to us.
We trust that we will overcome our trials
for you are with us.
We are no longer afraid
for the abundant riches of your grace surround us.
You are the center of our life.
We adore you and praise you,
now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Do not be afraid … I am with you.” (Acts 18:9-10)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
In moments of trial and difficulty, cling to the assuring words of the Lord: “Do not be afraid … I am with you.”
***
May 11, 2013: SATURDAY – EASTER WEEKDAY (6)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Messiah Revealed in the Scriptures”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 18:23-28 // Jn 16:23b-28
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul begins his third missionary journey. From his home base in Antioch, he proceeds to Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the believers. In the meantime we are introduced to a Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, a very eloquent speaker who is well-versed in the Scriptures. Apollos goes to Ephesus where he speaks boldly in the synagogue. With great enthusiasm, he speaks accurately the facts about Jesus, which he knew through his association with a movement of reform preached by John the Baptist. Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos under their patronage and explain to him more correctly the “Way of God”. With a letter of recommendation, Apollos moves to Achaia, where he becomes a great help to the church in Corinth. He engages the Jews in public debates and is able to prove from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. Through the instruction of Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos’ biblical knowledge acquires a radically new element: that Jesus is not merely a Teacher, but the “Messiah” revealed and foretold in the Scriptures. Thus the bible scholar Apollos is transformed into a believer in, and a preacher of, Jesus as the “Messiah”.
The radical newness of Christian faith that Apollos experienced continues to transform the hearts of people throughout history. Here is an example.
The story is told of an Indian Christian evangelist who was distributing the Gospels to passengers in a train speeding through Central India. One man in anger took the copy, tore it into small pieces, and threw them out the open window.
That seemed to be the end of the matter, but actually it was only the beginning … for a man was walking along the railroad track that day. He saw this little piece of paper, picked it up and in his own language saw written on it the words, “The Bread of Life”. He did not know what that meant, so he asked around among his friends. One told him, “That comes out of a Christian book. You must not read it or you will be defiled.”
He bought a New Testament and someone showed him the passage with Jesus’ words, “I am the Bread of Life.”
That started it! He studied the Gospels and light flooded into his heart. Later he became a preacher of the Gospel. And so it was that a little piece of paper, through the power of the Spirit, became the bread of life in this man’s life.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we allow ourselves to be transformed by the radical newness of our faith: Jesus is the Messiah?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(cf. Opening Prayer, Mass of Saturday – Sixth Week of Easter)
Lord,
teach us to know you better
by doing good to others.
Help us to grow in your love
and come to understand the eternal mystery
of Christ’s death and resurrection.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 18:28)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your words and deeds, manifest to the people around the radically new and transforming element of Christian faith: Jesus is the Messiah.
***
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