A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 5, n. 34)
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – July 22, 2007
“Welcoming the Word”
BIBLE READINGS
Gen 18:1-10a // Col 1:24-28 // Lk 10:38-42
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
Sr. Mary Jesusa and I were companions in the novitiate. After first profession we were assigned to the vocation ministry. It was our duty to follow up young ladies who showed interest in religious life and our Congregation. One damp, rainy day we boarded a bus and headed for Gumaca, a Philippine town on the Pacific coast, to interview an applicant who was residing there. The bus had already gone a considerable distance when the bus conductor started to collect the passengers’ fare and give them their tickets. I was shocked to know that Sr. Mary Jesusa did not bring sufficient money to pay for the trip. She emptied her wallet, but the fare was still lacking four pesos. The bus conductor kindly let go of the insufficient fare and allowed us to travel to our destination. Without even a cent, we arrived in Gumaca at about 2:00 P.M., after a seven-hour trip. The scenery was breathtaking. The coastal town of Gumaca, bordered by the immense Pacific Ocean and dotted with plantations of tall, fruit laden coconut trees, was a veritable tropical paradise. We sought hospitality from the parish priest who unhesitatingly offered us a nourishing meal. He also requested lodging for us at the convent of the Sisters running the parochial school. After meeting and interviewing the applicant, we attended the Bible Study that the priest was conducting in his parish, participated mostly by low-income housewives. Sr. Mary Jesusa and I were glad to break the Bread of the Word with them. We shared our faith experience as well as our “adventure” that day. Some of them were deeply touched by what we shared. We thanked the priest and the parish community for their hospitality. After the Mass the following day, the women who were with us at the Bible Study bid us goodbye. Many of them handed us small amounts of money to help pay for our return trip. A poor widow, whose son was in jail, insisted that we should take her contribution. We were greatly touched by the generosity and sacrifice of that hospitable community. They had shown receptivity not only to the Word of God, but also hospitality to those in need of help. Indeed, their charitable action was based on listening and responding to the life-giving Word they had heard.
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Gen 18:1-10a) speaks of the exquisite hospitality of patriarch Abraham and the warmth and kindness that a nomadic world could give to their guests. The Lord with his two companions appeared to Abraham at Mamre as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Abraham offered to wash the feet of his three guests and refresh them. His household prepared a luscious fare of food and drink for the mysterious guests. Abraham’s hospitality to the “three men” by the oak of Mamre manifested a deeper and more astounding “hospitality” – his receptivity and obedience to the Word of the Lord who had commanded him to leave behind his country, relatives and father’s home and set out for an unknown land, promising to make of him a great nation (cf. Gn 12:2). In the context of the feast offered by the hospitable Abraham, God intended to fulfill his promise. To Abraham who was waiting on them at table the Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son” (Gen 18:10a). Indeed, Abraham’s hospitality to Yahweh and his faithful acceptance of his Word made possible the fulfillment of the divine promise and the covenantal plan to make him a great nation.
The Gospel reading (Lk 10:38-42) narrating the hospitality received by Jesus from Martha and Mary underlines that listening to his Word is the primordial form of welcome. The Word of God made flesh visited the home of Martha and Mary. He regaled them with his gracious presence. Sitting by the feet of Jesus to listen to his Word was Mary’s exquisite response. Feasting on his Word was Mary’s utmost expression of love, hospitality and discipleship to the divine guest in their midst. Jesus gently reproached Martha, burdened by “much serving”, for her needless worry. She was anxious about preparing a meal and “many things” that were really secondary to listening to his Word. The divine banquet was ready! Her unnecessary anxiety warped what should have been her true priority – to be a participant at the banquet of the Word. The Divine Master was serving the rich fare of the bread of the Word. Mary had given the ideal response. She had serenely seated at the table of the living Word – a disciple ready to feast on the word of the Lord.
The Christian disciples of today are challenged to be receptive to the Word of God. They are to be nourished by the bread of the Word. Fed at the table of the Word, the Christian disciples are thus strengthened in their duty to live out the twofold command of love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Lk 10: 27; cf. Dt 6:5 & Lv 19:18). In situating the story of Martha and Mary after the story of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), the evangelist Luke reinforces the truth that our charitable action must spring forth from faithful listening to the Word. When we listen to the Word of God and receive it with utmost hospitality, we receive the grace and power for our charitable action as modern “Good Samaritans” in today’s world.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
“The mystery is Christ among us.”
By Rev. Fr. Patrick McCormick
Pastor: St. Patrick Parish, Merced, CA-U.S.A.
When I was taking a French class at Catholic University of America I remember reading one of the earliest pieces of medieval French writing recounting the legend of St. Alexis. The legend was based on a much more factual account of a nameless man who lived by begging in Edessa in Mesopotamia about 430 B.C. He always shared the alms given to him with other poor people. Only after his death was it learned that he was the son of a wealthy Roman aristocrat who had left his bride on his wedding day and gone to live in poverty in Syria. The later legend claimed that he returned to Rome and lived his last seventeen years there as a servant in his father’s house, sleeping under the stairs. Such an ending to the story is highly unlikely, but it shows the medieval delight in finding God’s presence where he might least expect it. We may wonder whether Charles de Foucauld was like St. Alexis when he set out on his isolated way of life in Africa, living in anonymity.
There were great debates in the early years of the spread of Christianity about whether Gentiles could become Christians without also taking on Judaism. Paul, once a Jewish zealot, is at the forefront of those who believe that Christ is available to pagans as much as to the Jews and that the Church is for all. In today’s reading Paul offers us the puzzling phrase of being “happy to suffer”. It is not many people’s idea of happiness. Paul is showing us that in all things we can participate in Christ’s body – the Church. Even in unexpected ways, like suffering, we can be active Christians like Paul.
In today’s Gospel we see an active, busy worrier in Martha. She frets about making sure Jesus is treated well as a guest in her house, but in doing so does not spend time really encountering him. “do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?” she cries. But Jesus gently shows a different and more meaningful service. It is Mary, who sits quietly doing no work, but listening to Jesus who grows close to God. This must have been a challenging lesson for Martha and it is a challenge for us too.
How do we allow our lives to become centered on Christ as illustrated by St. Alexis, St. Paul, St. Charles de Foucauld and Mary of Bethany? First of all there is the example offered us by Paul of letting ourselves be gradually drawn away from our own concerns and into the person of Christ himself. In today’s reading we hear from people letting go of what might be called proper concerns and allowing Christ to take over. What do we worry about most? What would we find most difficult to let go? Perhaps we need to look for God in unexpected places in our own lives. Alexis and Charles de Foucauld let go of worldly wealth and renown; Paul let go of his roots and his position in society; Mary let go of her sense of social duty. Through giving up their worldly duties they found unexpected ways to encounter Christ in their lives. They were all drawn to do this through the person of Christ, and he became – in Paul’s words – their hope of glory, their way to wisdom and perfection.
So we too can only let go if we are similarly drawn by Christ into himself and his mystery. We do this consciously through our prayer and the sacramental life, but also in our everyday lives. Paul’s writing implies that the whole of his life is taken up in this transformation. There is nothing that is not touched by Christ’s presence or changed by it. Each of us has the capacity to find ways, however unexpected, to bring Christ into our lives and allow his transformation to occur.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. The presence of God can be found in unexpected places. Where do you find Christ in your daily life?
B. Doing many tasks is not necessarily the best way to encounter and serve Christ in our lives. How would you change your life’s direction in order to make more time for Christ?
C. Each of us may have to let go of different things and find different way to live in Christ. Where do you need to let go?
D. Are we receptive and hospitable to the Word of God? Do we believe that a disciple is one who feasts on the word of the Lord and nourished by it, put God’s command of love and service into practice?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O Jesus, you are our divine guest
We welcome you in our heart.
We offer you the love and comfort you found
in the home of your two pious disciples, Martha and Mary.
O Jesus, you are also our divine host.
You prepare for us the banquet of your living Word.
As your loving and welcoming disciples,
we partake of this banquet.
And as we feast on the bread of the Word,
we are strengthened in our charitable works
as “Good Samaritans” in today’s world.
We love you; we thank you; we adore you now and forever.
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.
“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Lk 10:42)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that the Word of God may find a welcoming home in every one’s heart. Pray that the bearers of the Word may courageously proclaim it even if met with opposition and lack of hospitality. Be hospitable to the persons around you, especially those who have been rejected and feel unloved and unwelcome.
ACTION PLAN: To help us delve more deeply into our vocation to be hospitable to the Word of 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. 34): 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