A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday and Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 11, n. 44)
26th WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME: September 29 – October 5, 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: September 29 - October 5, 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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September 29, 2013: 26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“JESUS SAVIOR: “He Wants Us to Care for Lazarus”
BIBLE READINGS
Am 6:1a, 4-7 // I Tm 6:11-16 // Lk 16:19-31
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
I love to read the “Missioner Tales” in Maryknoll, the magazine of the Maryknoll missionaries. The July-August 2004 issue contains an experience shared by Catherine Erisman, a Maryknoll sister. Her story, which illustrates the compassionate attitude totally lacking in the Rich Man mentioned in this Sunday’s Gospel parable, contains the hope that Joseph, too poor to buy toothpaste, will have a better lot in heaven.
I was making pastoral rounds at Bugando Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania, when a patient held my hand and made a request. Joseph, emaciated by AIDS, asked: “Could you please bring me some toothpaste?” Supplies like that are not available in the hospital, so I brought him a tube I bought at the local store. When I stopped in to visit him the following day, I was told that Joseph had died. I picture him standing before God with a stunning smile.
The parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” is to be seen against the backdrop of Jesus’ desire to teach his disciples the right use of money. The Pharisees, however, reacted negatively to his teaching on material wealth: “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard of all this and laughed at him” (Lk 16:9). Through this parable of the reversal of fortune of the rich man and Lazarus, the Divine Master was reinforcing his teaching that wealth must be rightly used to give solace to the poor.
The biblical scholar Jerome Kodell remarks: “The rich man was oblivious to the needs of the beggar at his gate. He did not realize the seriousness of the present opportunity in preparing for the eternal future. It was not his wealth that kept him from Abraham’s bosom, but his untrustworthy stewardship.” Carroll Stuhlmueller concurs: “Because every Jewish landowner was Yahweh’s tenant (Lv 25:23), he owed taxes to Yahweh’s representatives, the poor, and was thus expected to share the land with them in the form of alms … The rich man’s sin consisted in his blind indifference to the agony of the poor.”
The biblical scholar, Robert Karris sees the challenge in this parable for all the readers of Luke’s Gospel. He explains: “This is a two-tiered (verses 19-26, 27-31) example story which focuses on the rich man, his five brothers, and his readers. It asks: Will the five brothers and readers follow the example of the rich man or heed Jesus’ teaching and that of the Old Testament about care of the needy like Lazarus and thus be children of Abraham? If the five brothers and the readers do not follow that teaching, they will not have a place at the messianic banquet … Mere words do not make one a child of Abraham and therefore a member of reconstituted Israel.”
This Sunday’s proclamation of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is an indictment against the rich of today who do not care for the poor and whose callousness to the world’s afflictions is such that it cannot be penetrated even “if someone should rise from the dead” (Lk 16:31). Although this parable is a call to conversion, it also underlines the definitive character of divine judgment. The German theologian, Helmut Thielicke writes: “The mercy of God is boundless, yes, but it is not offered indefinitely. Here we are still living by the grace of God and the merit of Christ; the sentence is still punctuated with a colon. We still have a reprieve, a season of grace; we still have time to live and turn back home. But one day comes – finality, period. And then even Lazarus will not be able to come to us, and Father Abraham will not be able to send him to add one extenuating phrase or happy ending to this full stop. Lazarus once waited for the crumb of bread from the rich man’s table; now the rich man waits for the drop at the end of Lazarus’ finger. But the hour of visitation, the hour of waiting, expectant mercy of God has run out. The ‘acceptable time’, the kairos, is past. Now there is only the yawning chasm that none can pass over.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
What is our attitude to the poor man – Lazarus, who lies at our doorstep? Do we care at all; or are we indifferent to his needs and agony? How do we incarnate in our daily life the Father’s loving compassion for them? If we are playing today the part of the callous and selfish rich man, are we willing to receive the grace of conversion and be transformed into the image of God’s compassion for the poor and destitute?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
look with kindness upon the Lazarus at our doorstep.
Give us the grace to listen to the cry of the poor
and attend to their needs.
Do not let us be callous to their agony and torment.
Please enfold us with the strength of your compassion
that we may be impelled
to cradle the “Lazarus” of today in our bosom.
We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who though rich, became poor,
so that by his poverty we might become rich,
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.
“But now he is comforted here; whereas you are tormented” (Lk 16:31)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for the conversion of heart of all those who are callous to the plight of the poor. Share your time, talents, material resources, and spiritual riches with the poor and needy in today’s society.
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September 30, 2013: MONDAY – SAINT JEROME, priest, doctor of the Church
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Rescues His People and Brings Them Home”
BIBLE READINGS
Zec 8:1-8 // Lk 9:46-50
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today’s First Reading contains God’s message of blessings for his suffering people, whose disobedience led to their exile. God longs to help them because of his deep love for them. He promises to return to Jerusalem and dwell in it. His indwelling will generate life. In contrast to the desolation of the abandoned and semi-destroyed city, it will again be populated. Old men and women, young girls and boys, will again revel in the presence of God. In view of his saving will to reunite the whole people around the Temple, God will intervene to bring his people from the land of their exile. He will bring them back from the east (“the land of the rising sun”) and from the west (“the land of the setting sun”) to live in Jerusalem. He will actualize once again the ancient covenant in which they become God’s people and God rules over them faithfully and justly.
The saving plan of God to reintegrate his people on a universal scope is carried out throughout history in an awesome way. The following is an inspiring example (cf. Fr. Dwight Longenecker, “Intellectual Search Brought Rabble-Rouser to the Faith” in Our Sunday Visitor, August 25, 2013, p. 13).
Admirers of G.K. Chesterton had cause for rejoicing earlier this month when it was announced that a British bishop will appoint a cleric to begin his investigation into a possible canonization cause of the British writer and thinker. Whether or not Chesterton is eventually canonized, one thing is sure – he has played a vital role in bringing many to the Faith, including the dramatic conversion of literary scholar Joseph Pearce. (…)
England in the late 1960s and early 70s was receiving waves of immigrants from Pakistan and India, and many homegrown English felt threatened. By the time Pearce was 15 in 1976, he had joined the right-wing National Front – a racist, neo-Nazi gang with political pretensions. Within a year he had left school and become the editor of the gang’s newspaper.
Scrapping up for a good fight, he linked up with the loyalist paramilitary groups in Ulster to defend his country’s heritage from the Irish nationalists. Taking on their anti-Catholic bitterness, Pearce rallied round his new tribe with the intention of being a full-time right-wing revolutionary. In 1982 he was jailed for six months for publishing material that was likely to incite racial hatred.
The visit to Britain of Pope John Paul II in 1982 was another flash point. He joined the Protestant nationalist protests against the visit, and when he got out of jail went straight back to his editorship of the paper. By 1985 he was sentenced to a full year, but his second incarceration was of a different order.
During his first prison term, Pearce had come across Chesterton’s writings. First attracted to the Catholic convert’s personality and politics, he soon found that he was reading Chesterton’s defense of the Catholic faith. Against this offense, Pearce, who was raised nominally Anglican, had no defense. Consequently, on his second entrance to prison, Pearce declared his religion to be Catholic, and he recounts how in the first night in solitary confinement he clutched a rosary, fingering the beads and opening his heart to God’s love.
On his release in 1986, he decided to leave his political involvement. He later left London and moved into the country, got a job in a book warehouse and, with only a substandard high school education, started to research and write a biography of Chesterton. In 1989, at Our Lady, Mother of God Church in Norwich, Pearce finally was received into the Church. (…)
Pearce was looking for answers. His sharp intellect and bright curiosity turned him toward one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. However, the story of any conversion to the Catholic faith is always a journey of both the head and the heart. Pearce’s intellectual search was also a search for reconciliation instead of division and love instead of hatred.
Chesterton once said that the universe was a riddle, and the Catholic faith was the key that unlocked the riddle. For Pearce, the Faith was also the key that unlocked the prison house of his hate-filled heart and opened it to the Light of Life and the joy of Everlasting Freedom.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we give heed to the words of blessing from God or do we choose to stay in our own misery and refuse to be consoled by his comforting words? How do we promote the divine saving plan of universal salvation?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving God,
we thank you for your words of comfort.
Be with us
and let us rejoice in your presence and blessings.
Bring us close to you
and let all people, young and old,
from the land of the rising sun
to the land of the setting sun
find their home in you.
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.
“I will rescue my people.” (Zec 8:7)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be thankful to God for the conversion experience of many people in today’s world. By your kind words and actions, be an instrument of healing and conversion for those who have been alienated from God.
***
October 1, 2013: TUESDAY – SAINT THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS, virgin, doctor
“JESUS SAVIOR: Peoples and Nations Seek Him”
BIBLE READINGS
Ezr 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20 // Lk 8:19-21
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today’s First Reading depicts a vision of hope and grandeur. Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord and to pray for his blessing. They will seek the Lord Almighty for they recognize that peace and salvation are in him alone. God is always ready and anxious to receive his people. There will be no more disdain or mockery. Strangers will want to integrate with God’s chosen people and Israel will be a means of salvation. The foreigners will say to the Jew: “We want to share in your destiny because we have heard that God is with you.” This phenomenon of universal integration will reverse the process of dispersion brought about by the ambitious builders of the tower of Babylon (cf. Gen 11:1-9). In Jesus Savior, the restoration of all things, all peoples and nations, is brought about.
The process of universal restoration in Christ goes on. The World Youth Day events, organized by the Church, promote the unification of peoples from every nation and culture. The following article gives insight into this (cf. Eddie O’Neill, “Mile-High Memories” in Our Sunday Visitor, August 25, 2013, p. 9-10).
In August 1993, David Letterman moved from his TV home on NBC to CBS, pitcher Nolan Ryan got his 324th and final win, and in Denver, Colorado, hundreds of thousands of Catholic pilgrims from around the globe converged for World Youth Day.
As the first World Youth Day in North America and the first in an English-speaking nation, the Aug.11-15 event is regarded as ground-breaking. From the heights of the Mile-High City, the world witnessed Blessed John Paul II’s endearing love for the young people of the Church and, in turn, their love for him. It would be a model for future World Youth Days, including last month’s event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Before 1993, World Youth Day largely consisted of two days – a Saturday night vigil and a Sunday Mass with the pope. Now, the event is a weeklong opportunity for prayer, celebration, fellowship, catechesis, with the pope present for several days. Those involved in youth ministry in the United States point to Denver as a watershed event in the way the Church now approaches its work with young people. (…)
That week in August certainly had an effect on Leslie Elliott, the director of music and liturgy at Holy Innocents Church in Victorville, California. Then 15, Elliott traveled to Denver with her home parish, Our Lady of the Desert in Apple Valley, California. “The preparation for World Youth Day and the experience of the week really changed me, my worldview and my experience of Catholicism”, she told Our Sunday Visitor.
She remembers the thousands of fellow pilgrims from around the world whom she met with big hugs and even bigger smiles. She recalls the thunderous roar of “Pope John Paul II, we love you!” as the pope arrived at Mile High Stadium. While Denver was Elliott’s first World Youth Day, it wasn’t her last. She attended Toronto in 2002 and Madrid in 2011, this time leading a group of young pilgrims.
Elliott, who has served as a World Youth Day coordinator for a neighboring parish, said that each World Youth Day has helped her better understand her vocation. “They have helped me to have a deeper sense of hope and trust in God’s plan for me”, she said.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Are we concerned and involved in promoting God’s plan of universal salvation? How do we contribute to the realization of this saving plan?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
God our Father,
we praise and bless you
for calling the peoples of the earth
to climb the mountain of Zion
and share in the blessings you have reserved
for all the nations.
Give us the grace to be faithful in proclaiming the Gospel
so that peoples of all nations will come to worship you
and invoke your blessings.
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.
“Many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord.” (Zec 8:22)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be aware of important events in the Church, such as World Youth Day, International Eucharistic Congress, World Mission Sunday, etc. and resolve to broaden your vision and deepen your concern for the spread of the Catholic faith.
***
October 2, 2013: WEDNESDAY – THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Fortified City”
BIBLE READINGS
Neh 2:1-8 // Mt 18:1-5, 10
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
In the First Reading we begin to hear from the Book of Nehemiah whose mission includes the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Today’s account is situated in 445 B.C. in the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes I (465-425 B.C.). Having heard of the distressing situation of the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah – a pious believer – prays to God to help him in his mission to restore the walls of Jerusalem. He pleads that the king, whom he serves as wine steward, may be merciful to him. Four months later, as he serves the king, Artaxerxes takes notice that the dear servant looks sad. Nehemiah answers that he is indeed sad because the city where his ancestors are buried is in ruins and its gates destroyed by fire. Having prayed to God, he then presents to King Artaxerxes his request to go to Judah to rebuild the city of his ancestors. He also asks official letters for the governors of West-of-Euphrates instructing them to let him travel to Judah as well as a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, to supply him with the timber needed for the construction of the ruined city. Amazingly, King Artaxerxes grants him all he asks for, because God’s favor is upon Nehemiah. He also receives a military escort for the journey as well as a political post as governor of Judah. Nehemiah, who will serve for twelve years, will truly be a compassionate and unselfish governor who honors God. The kind-hearted and devout Nehemiah will put all his energy into the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem and for the good of God’s people.
Nehemiah’s concern for the restoration and viability of the holy city Jerusalem can shed light on today’s issue of closing parish doors (cf. Charles Pope in “Pastoral Answers” in Our Sunday Visitor, August 25, 2013, p. 15).
From a pastoral point of view, it seems evident that bishops do not close parishes, people close parishes. The fact remains that many parishes filled to overflowing back in the 1950s now sit increasingly empty. This is a teachable moment, and we must accept some very painful facts. When only 25 percent of Catholics go to Mass nationwide, and when Catholics stop having many children or effectively handing on the Faith to their children, this is what happens.
The Church simply cannot maintain parishes and other institutions such as schools and hospitals, when Catholics are largely absent. Pastorally speaking, people – not bishops alone – close parishes. Many parishes, schools, seminaries, and convents now sit largely empty. And as they become empty, bills are unpaid, maintenance is deferred, and the situation eventually becomes critical. Decisions have to be made.
Pastorally, one would hope that long before things go utterly critical, that bishops, working together with communities that are going into crisis, can speak honestly and work for solutions. But this is not simply the responsibility of the bishop; it is the responsibility of all the people of God to have such honest discussions. Thus, we are left with difficult but teachable moments about what happens when the Faith handed down to us is largely set aside by the vast majority of Catholics.
It’s time to evangelize and make disciples, as Christ commands.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
How does the figure of Nehemiah inspire us? What are the virtues of his character that we can emulate? Like him, do we show great zeal for the city of God?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for the faith of our fathers.
Help us to imitate them in their zeal to build your house
and in their complete trust in you.
Grant that we may imitate the pious believer, Nehemiah,
in his humble stance
and his personal dedication for the good of your people.
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.
“The favoring hand of my God was upon me.” (Neh 2:8)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be deeply concerned and involved in the Faith transmission and formation of the children and the youth. This is a way to build God’s house.
***
October 3, 2013: THURSDAY – WEEKDAY (26)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Living Word that Strikes to the Heart”
BIBLE READINGS
Neh 8:1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12 // Lk 10:1-12
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Two of our postulants who were teaching catechism at the San Jose Elementary School in Antipolo (Philippines) prepared their class to celebrate the Rite of Penance. They engaged the children actively and creatively. One little girl brought her family’s tablecloth to cover the teacher’s desk that would serve as a makeshift altar. Some brought flowers and candles. Others were trained to proclaim the bible readings and to offer the prayer intentions. The whole class learned some easy and delightful sung responses. The priest proclaimed the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the vernacular and, in simple terms, explained to the children the meaning of the Gospel reading. During the celebration of the Word, the class was unusually attentive and focused. Some were shedding tears. When the catechists asked why they were weeping, they replied: “It is because we are sorry for our sins!”
Today’s Old Testament passage describes a liturgy of the Word where the Law “which the Lord had given to Israel” is proclaimed and explained to the people, enabling them to understand what is read. When Ezra, the priest-scribe, reads from the book of the Law, the people weep from the sheer emotion of hearing God’s Word. They have recognized the special character of the word proclaimed, producing a remarkable effect in their lives. Indeed, the community that actively seeks the Law, not only hears it, but also understands its vital significance. The reading from the Law, constituted by the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible, has shed light on their fragile and feckless inner core and they respond with tears. The liturgical reading from the Law is not meant, however, to condemn, but to be a font of joy and strength for that assembly who hungers for the life-giving Word of God. Moreover, the divine Word moves them to vital social action and impels them to share compassionately their resources with the needy.
Aelred Rosser comments: “Notice the basic liturgical structure in this first reading. The people assemble, hear the Word of God, receive explanatory instruction and encouragement and then respond in worship and prayer. The framework of our own liturgy is not very different. Ezra reads the law to people who are very much in need of hearing it. Their highly emotional and heartrending response indicates that they need both the encouraging words of the law’s promise as well as, perhaps, the discipline which the law requires of them. The combination of sorrow for sin and the joy of being forgiven always produces healing tears. The occasion presented here is certainly a high holy day, perhaps Yom Kippur, the New Year. Notice that the long and arduous ceremony (from daybreak till midday) is followed by a feast celebrated in the classic way: rich food, good drink and special provisions for the poor. It is a tradition that we would do well to follow.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we experience the importance of the proclamation of the Word of God in the liturgy? Like the liturgical assembly in Ezra’s time, do we endeavor to listen to the Word with receptive hearts, willful attention and self-sacrifice? Do we invest time, effort, love and creativity in order to glean the meaning and challenge of God’s Word for us? Do we try to hear and understand the Word, both personally and as members of the faith community? Do we respond to the social challenge of God’s living Word?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Prayer composed by Sr. Mary Tiziana Dal Masetto, PDDM)
My Divine Teacher,
you open the Scroll before me
every time that the Scriptures are proclaimed during the Liturgy
or during my private prayer.
I want to listen to you …
I intend to set aside every preoccupation of mine,
judgment, preconceived categories …
I want to bring silence within myself
so that your voice pronounces in me and for me
the Word of God.
I am waiting that you open the Scroll
and find the passage written today for me …
If you are the one reading for me,
there will always be a text or a phrase
which is meaningful for my situation.
If my heart is filled with you,
I immediately find the Word meant for me.
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.
“They understood the words that had been expounded to them.” (Neh 8:12)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
To help us contemplate more deeply the breadth, depth and height of the challenge of the living Word, Jesus Christ, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration.
***
October 4, 2013: FRIDAY – SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls to Penitence”
BIBLE READINGS
Bar 1:15-22 // Mt 11:25-30
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Today and tomorrow we shall hear from the prophet Baruch. Today’s Old Testament reading is a moving penitential prayer in which the people acknowledge their responsibility for the catastrophe and deportation they have experienced and continue to experience. The exiles avow: “We have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.” The painful thoughts and the raw feelings of the Jewish people at the destruction of Jerusalem and their captivity are crystallized in this prayer. They humbly recognize that they have been rebellious throughout Israel’s history and have refused to obey the word of the Lord. When the people abandon the Lord God to serve kings and foreign gods, they lose God’s blessings and suffer the curse of the land of the exile. The chastised people thus confess their sins and declare: “The Lord God is righteous, but we are still covered with shame.”
The spirit of penitence that characterizes the exiles’ prayer is likewise present in a modern-day penitent who narrates the following story (cf. Anonymous, “The Long List of Sin” in 101 Inspirational Stories of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Sr. Patricia Proctor, Spokane: Franciscan Monastery of Saint Clare, 2006, p. 138).
In the summer of 2005, a retired priest filled in for a month at the northern Arizona parish where I was living. That same week I received an e-mail from someone in my Medjugorje prayer group which spoke about confession and gave a very long list of common (and often) grave sins.
Reading that list, I recognized a large number that I had committed as a teen or young adult. Some, while knowing they weren’t the best things to do, I hadn’t really thought of as sins, such as partying or drinking to excess, but others were just plain embarrassing to admit to. I knew that it was unlikely that I’d confessed them before. It nagged at me that there were so many un-confessed big sins in my life. The problem, however, was recognizing what had or had not been confessed.
So, just to be on the safe side, I brought the whole list with me, unaware that the new priest had already arrived and was handling confession that night. I was dismayed, how does one explain such things to someone who has no past experience or connection with me?
The desire to chicken out was strong. It would have been very easy to make a simple confession of the usual sins, yet something held me to my resolve. I chose to be honest and explain my intention, and why this was important to me. I asked if he had the time that night to hear this confession as it was a long list. He looked a little nervous, but agreed to hear the whole thing.
While difficult and embarrassing, I was surprised to discover in this priest a wonderful spiritual advisor. During the time he was there, my spiritual life blossomed. Thinking about the change, I believe it was due to Father hearing my complete confession.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we thank the Lord for calling us to the grace of repentance and for giving us the opportunity to confess our sins in the sacrament of reconciliation?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we have sinned against you
and we merit the senseless miseries in our life.
You are righteous
and we are covered with shame.
Take away the curse of disobedience,
bathe us in the tears of repentance
and wrap us in your life-giving grace.
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.
“We did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.” (Bar 1:22)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be reconciled with a person whom you have hurt and share God’s forgiveness with someone who has hurt you.
***
October 5, 2013: SATURDAY – WEEKDAY (26); COMMON OF THE BVM ON SATURDAY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us Back”
BIBLE READINGS
Bar 4:5-12, 27-29// Lk 10:17-24
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
Through the prophet Baruch, God addresses a message of consolation to Israel in exile: their present situation is not final. It is true that Jerusalem is like a widow bereft of her children, who have been sent into exile because of their sins. But God tells his people not to fear, assuring them that he who brought these calamities upon them will rescue them and bring them everlasting love. The confession of sins pronounced earlier by a deeply chastised people (which we heard yesterday in the First Reading) simply underlines the compassionate character of a loving God who is ever mindful and forgiving. Hence, the Lord’s invitation for the sinful people is to turn back and serve him with greater determination and thus experience everlasting joy.
The following story of mercy and forgiveness in today’s here and now is very consoling (cf. Dale Recinella, “It Is Never Too Late” in 101 Inspirational Stories of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Sr. Patricia Proctor, Spokane: Franciscan Monastery of Saint Clare, 2006, p. 187-189).
After many years of general prison ministry, in 1998 I was asked to begin ministry cell-to-cell in Florida’s death row and solitary confinement. Florida has the third largest death row in the U.S., with over 370 men, and has over 2,000 men in long-term solitary confinement in the two prisons at which I serve as a Catholic lay chaplain. On behalf of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Florida, and under the pastoral supervision of my priest and bishop, I go cell-to-cell in ministry to the men inside. (…)
I can testify to you that the power of the sacrament of confession and of the Holy Spirit is greater than the darkness of death row, even of the death house.
There was a man who desired to become a Catholic because of the influence of Pope John Paul II. After a year of preparation for entry into the Catholic Church, he was suddenly scheduled for execution. His execution date turned out to be just days after the death of John Paul II. Our Catholic governor even considered delaying the execution out of respect for the pontiff.
The morning before his execution, the bishop came to the death house to administer his first confession, his first Communion and his confirmation. This was done with him standing in a narrow cage called a holding cell, with shackles upon his ankles and chains on his wrists.
When the bishop pronounced the words of absolution and then of confirmation, his whole body jerked as though he had been jolted by electricity. He even began to fall back against the rear of the cage, in a manner called the resting in the spirit. The guards who were watching were astonished. They said for a moment that he became luminous.
The next day, during his last hours in the death house, he told me that John Paul II had visited him during that moment and told him that Jesus would come for him at the moment of his death. Nothing anyone could say could dissuade him from this belief.
A few hours before the execution, the warden came down to his cell with a message from the mother of the victim of the crime. She had asked the warden to inform the condemned man that she forgave him and bore him no ill will. The reconciliation offered by the sacrament of confession had been actualized on this side of the great divide between the temporal and the eternal.
He died in peace, at one with God.
My testimony is this. Nothing – absolutely nothing that any man can say, build or do as an obstacle or a barrier – not even the mountain of concrete, steel and despair that is death row – is able to prevent the power of the sacrament and the Holy Spirit from entering and remaining in the willing human heart.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
How do we respond to God’s call to turn back to him and serve with greater determination? Do we trust that the redeeming God will bring us everlasting joy?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Loving Father,
we thank you for giving us the courage
to trust in your merciful love.
You want us to go back to you
and serve you with greater determination.
We renounce our evil ways and sinfulness
and we open our hearts to your forgiveness.
Let us rejoice in your forgiveness
and the gift of everlasting joy.
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.
“He will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.” (Bar 4:29).
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for those on death row and the most hardened criminals in our society today. Unite your sacrifice and suffering with Jesus for the conversion of souls.
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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