A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 5, n. 7)
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – January 14, 2007
“The Espoused”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 62:1-5 // I Cor 12:4-11 // Jn 2:1-11
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
On November 18, 2006, I attended the wedding of Jennifer, the daughter of a dear friend who is actively involved in the promotion of the Eucharistic-Marian movement in the Diocese of Fresno. The wedding invitation sent by John and Jennifer carried a poem of such tenderness and beauty that it evoked among us deep emotions of goodness and love. John composed this remarkable poem when he proposed to Jennifer. Their nuptial ceremony at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Fresno was very touching and inspiring. When the two pronounced their marriage vows, I also renewed my nuptial bond to Jesus Christ, my spiritual and eternal Spouse – the Bridegroom of my soul. The love relationship of John and Jennifer as man and wife made me focus on my own love relationship with Jesus and, on a broader level, on his intimate relationship with his Bride, the Church.
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Is 62:1-5) depicts the relationship between God and his people in intimate terms of marriage. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, remark: “The theme of marriage occupies an extremely important place in the Bible; no image has been found that better expresses and symbolizes the union, the joining of life and destiny, ordained by God between himself and his chosen people. It is a covenant that involved fidelity, reciprocal trust, mutual giving, the love of God for his people and of the people for their God. The initiative of God, to which his people freely responded, created a bond between them that could not be broken, for God never takes back his love. The prophets constantly resorted to the image of marriage, without the least embarrassment. This marriage relationship certainly follows a rocky course, with its ups and down, times of serious tension, even ruptures. But never divorce, because of the eternal faithfulness of God, who always leads his errant Spouse back to him, pardoning even the worst affronts.”
The prophet Isaiah resounds a love song over messianic Jerusalem and speaks for God. In poetic imagery, the prophet foretells the glorious restoration of Israel after the exile. God and his chosen people, represented here by the city of Jerusalem, will be like newlyweds again. The poem extols the messianic age when the successful covenant between God and his people will be celebrated by a marriage. Jerusalem in her vindication will shine like a dawn and will receive a new name, the “Espoused One” and God’s “Delight”, indicating her new status and her glorious restoration as the beloved of God.
Harold Buetow explains: “In Isaiah’s time, the Temple had been lying in ruins for generations after the exile; it seemed that the Holy City was forsaken, abandoned by a silent God. Seeing only the surface level, the people had become small-minded, jealous, miserable – and mindful of the warnings of previous prophets that destruction is exactly what the Israelites’ infidelity to God would bring on them. Isaiah saw a deeper level. He broke into a love song over the messianic Jerusalem that would come with the suddenness of the desert dawn (v. 1) – the moment that God’s people would become fully obedient and trustful. Jerusalem’s victory will be like a burning torch, reminiscent of the Feast of Lights and witnessed by nations from all over the world. To a caring God who has a tender love for his people, Jerusalem will be given a new name (v. 2): it will no longer be apsibah, “forsaken”, but hepsibah, “My Delight” (v. 4) … A lyrical description of marriage is the best image Isaiah can come up in today’s message: as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so God rejoices in his people.”
The nuptial imagery presented by the prophet Isaiah enhances the nuptial-epiphany-eschatological motif of the evangelist John’s account of the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11), which prefigures the messianic banquet and contains the overwhelming freshness of a new world … of a new people. The liturgical scholar, Adrian Nocent comments: “Cana, like the multiplication of the loaves, represents a proclamation of the messianic banquet, which is often compared to a wedding feast. The messianic banquet presupposes a new world, a new wine, a new love, and the new people of God made one in the joy of the Kingdom. The important thing for us here is the sign motif: Jesus manifested his glory (2:11). The thought is a continuation of the Prologue: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us … we have beheld his glory (1:14). The wedding at Cana took place on the third day (Jn 2:1), that is, on the same day on which Christ later manifested his glory through his resurrection. The wedding feast, therefore, is the wedding feast of the triumphant Christ who came among us and showed the glory he acquired by shedding his blood and that is still present among us in the Eucharist. He will give us a share in that glory at the wedding feast that is the eschatological banquet at the end of time, when he shall bring all together in love.”
Indeed, the theme of Christ’s epiphany or manifestation of God’s glory is continued this Sunday. Since Jesus is truly the Word made flesh – every single act of his is an act of “glory revealed”. The Infant King revealed to the nations is JESUS – the Son of God and Servant of Yahweh, baptized at the River Jordan and anointed by the Spirit for his mission as the Messiah-Savior. At the wedding of Cana, Jesus reveals in anticipation the glory and power of his final act of exaltation on the cross and in resurrection. At the wedding of Cana, Jesus already gives us a glimpse of the glory of God that is truly his, and to which, all of us – the Church - are called to share intimately as God’s beloved “espoused”.
Eugene Maly concludes: “The Cana scene, then, as described by John, captures both the beauty of an event in Jesus’ earthly existence and the glory of his whole life, death and exaltation. At Cana Jesus revealed his glory. At Cana his disciples believed in him. At Cana Mary became the woman of victory over evil. This is not without meaning for us. We, too, share in this realized eschatology of Jesus. Even here on earth we bask in his glory. From the moment of our baptism we already enjoy eternal life. Heaven is but the culmination of reality begin on earth … We take up the cross as an alleluia people, who are destined for glory, as coheirs with him who invites us now to the feast of Cana.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Jn 2:1-11 – “The Hour of Jesus”
By Rev. Fr. Mario Giacchino SSP
Los Angeles, CA – U.S.A.
In Cana of Galilee Jesus began the manifestation of his glory through a “sign,” a miraculous changing of water into wine.
It seems that at first he was not very willing to perform his first miracle just to solve a domestic problem: but his Mother asked for it, and he did not deny her request.
How interesting that he began the manifestation of his divine power in the midst of a wedding feast! A wedding is one of the most important events in the life of a man and woman and of society in general, and it was especially so in Palestine at the time of Jesus. Celebrating a marriage was a very special undertaking full of both human and religious significance, and it would be long remembered. As today, a marriage was the realization of a long awaited dream. It meant not only present happiness, but the promise of happiness and contentment in the future. It offered hope for numerous progeny and blessings on the part of God.
Jesus wished to be present at that particular wedding. It may have been that of friends or even relatives of his. At any rate, Jesus was there with his disciples, and they believed in him immediately after seeing the miracle, and they accepted him as the long-awaited Messiah sent by God.
Today’s Gospel of the marriage feast at Cana serves to remind us that Jesus wants to be a part of our life: that he accompanies us in times of joy and times of sadness. We are never alone or abandoned by him. He is always at our side. And with him is his Mother who is our Mother too, always ready to intercede for us.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Do we believe in the faithfulness of God and in his nuptial love that never fails? Do we welcome wholeheartedly the love song addressed to us by God through the prophet Isaiah: “No more shall people call you Forsaken … You shall be called My Delight, and your land Espoused … As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you”?
B. Do we rejoice that through the Christmas-Epiphany mystery of Jesus, the Son of God, the Word Made Flesh, we are already partakers of the messianic banquet that presupposes a new world, a new wine, a new love, and the new people of God made one in the joy of the kingdom? Do we thank God for this messianic time in which we are no longer the “forsaken” Spouse, but the Church - Bride of Christ – totally renewed and fully redeemed by the “new wine”, the blood of the paschal lamb, Jesus Christ?
C. Do we endeavor to realize the mystery of continuing “epiphany” or manifestation of God’s glory in this world? Do we perceive that the glory manifested by Christ attains its fullness through his death and rising to life? Do we take up our daily cross as an “alleluia people” destined for glory, as coheirs with him who invites us now to the feast of Cana?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Adapted from Romanus the Melodist, 5th century musician, singer: cf. Hymnes, XLIII, 20, Sources chretiennes 110)
Assembly: Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Leader: When Christ changed the water into wine by his power, the crowd rejoiced, delighting in the taste of this wine.
Assembly: Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Leader: Today, it is at the banquet of the Church that we are all seated, for the wine is changed into the blood of Christ, and we drink it with blessed joy, glorifying the great bridegroom.
Assembly: Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Leader: For the true bridegroom is the son of Mary, the Word from all eternity, who has taken the form of a slave and who created all in his wisdom.
Assembly: Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“You shall be called ‘My Delight’, and your land ‘Espoused’ … As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” (Is 62:4,5)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray for the Church, the “Espoused” and the Bride of Christ, that we may fully receive the “new wine” that Jesus brings into our lives and welcome the Eucharistic sacrifice that it implies. Let us promote the sanctity of married life and the life of religious consecration through prayer, word and action. Let us endeavor to bring about the renewal of our inner selves and of flawed social structures and institutions, powered by the spiritual dynamism of the “new wine” offered to us by the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate more deeply the breadth, depth and height of the nuptial love of Jesus Christ for his Bride the Church, 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. 7): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
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