A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 20, n. 9)
Week 3 in Ordinary Time: January 23-29, 2022
(The pastoral tool BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY & WEEKDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy from various perspectives. For the Lectio Divina on the liturgy of the past week: 16-22, 2022 please go to ARCHIVES Series 20 and click on “Baptism/Ordinary Week 2”.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY:
January 23-29, 2022.)
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January 23, 2022: THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
N.B. Today is the SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD, instituted by Pope Francis on September 30, 2019.
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Fulfills the Saving Message in Our Hearing”
BIBLE READINGS
Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 // 1 Cor 12:12-30 // Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21): “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled.”
Following a one-year sabbatical at Santa Clara University, California, where I enrolled in some courses at the Pastoral Ministry Program, I returned to the Philippines in 1996. Soon after that, I was invited to be a speaker at the Clergy Day of the Antipolo Diocese where I belong. I presented to the priests, including our Bishop, some insights on the Word of God proclaimed in the liturgy and encouraged them to read an important pastoral document, “Fulfilled in Your Hearing: The Homily in the Sunday Assembly” (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1982). I was awed by the interest shown by the Antipolo clergy with regards to that document. The Diocesan Committee on the Priestly Formation made sure that each of the priests would have a copy of that document. I sensed in those priests the desire to be truly ministers of the Word and be vital instruments of the fulfillment of God’s “day of salvation”. Through their prophetic ministry, they desired to replicate the saving event in the synagogue of Nazareth, when Jesus proclaimed to the assembly of worshippers, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21).
Today’s Gospel passage tells us that Jesus goes to Nazareth, where he grew up, and goes according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and participates in the liturgy. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah is handed to him and, unrolling the scroll, Jesus solemnly proclaims the messianic prophecy: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19). This passage is an excellent summary of the messianic work of Jesus, “the anointed” of the Spirit.
Jesus’ pronouncement about Isaiah’s prophecy: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21), is an astounding revelation and a challenging moment of truth. Jesus of Nazareth declares himself to be the long-awaited Messiah and the fulfillment of the messianic yearning through the ages. He radically avows that the moment of salvation is already being achieved in his person. Moreover, the “today” of salvation that he inaugurates is transcending. Indeed, the inaugural “today” of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth continues to unfold in his public ministry until his death, resurrection, and glorification when it would become for us the eternal “today” of salvation. The continuous saving presence of the Risen Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit enables his divine Word of salvation to be present to us through time and space.
B. Old Testament Reading (Neh 8:2-4a; 5-6, 8-10): “They read from the book of the Law and they understood what was read.”
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!”
This Sunday’s Old Testament passage (Neh 8:2-41, 5-6, 8-10) describes a liturgy of the Word where the Law “which the Lord had given to Israel” was proclaimed and explained to the people, enabling them to understand what was read. When Ezra, the priest-scribe, read from the book of the Law, the people wept from the sheer emotion of hearing God’s Word. They had recognized the special character of the word proclaimed, producing a remarkable effect in their lives. Indeed, the community that actively sought the Law, not only heard it, but also understood its vital significance. The reading from the Law, constituted by the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible, must have shed light on their fragile and feckless inner core for the community responded with tears. The liturgical reading from the Law was not meant, however, to condemn, but to be a font of joy and strength for that assembly who hungered for the life-giving Word of God. Moreover, the divine Word that they had heard intently with their hearts moved them to a vital social action and impelled them to share compassionately their resources with the needy.
Against the backdrop of Nehemiah’s account of an assembly receptively listening to the Word of God and being effectively challenged by that Word, this Sunday’s Gospel episode of Jesus unrolling the scroll and reading the Isaiah prophecy about the Servant of Yahweh, anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to bring glad tidings to the poor and to fulfill the Father’s saving plan, acquires greater impact. The episode in the synagogue at Nazareth confronts us with a more vigorous challenge to listen, understand and respond positively and willfully to the Word of the Lord that is proclaimed and ever actualized – the all-powerful Word fulfilled in our hearing and in the here and now of our daily life. The Word of God read and proclaimed in the liturgical assembly seeks a listening and an understanding heart.
C. Second Reading (1 Cor 12:4-12-30): “You are Christ’s body and individually parts of it.”
In today’s Second Reading (1 Cor 12:12-30), we glean that the messianic task of restoration continues to challenge the Church through all ages. Paul himself has to come to grips with various divisive issues that confront the early Christian community in Corinth. Writing to the contentious Corinthians in 70 A.D., Paul asserts that in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body and given to drink of one Spirit. He avows that we are the body of Christ and individually parts of it.
Indeed, Christ is one, just as the human body is one, in spite of the diversity and number of its members. By the sacrament of baptism we are incorporated into the risen, glorified body of Christ. The Church, the assembly of Christian believers, is the manifestation and extension of the Lord’s body in this world. The Church is the body of Christ – head and members. We are all significant and important members of this “mystical body” because we all share in the life of the Risen Lord, our head.
Baptized into one body, we are called to promote the unity of the members of Christ’s body and to overcome the divisions that diminish its vitality. It is greatly opportune to consider Saint Pope John XXIII and his effort to restore Christian unity (cf. Jeanne Kun, “’They Are Our Brethren’: John XXIII and Christian Unity” in THE WORD AMONG US, January 2008, p. 66-68).
Not long after his election as pope in 1959, Blessed John XXIII surprised the whole world when he announced his intention to convene the Second Vatican Council. Nobody expected this affable son of peasant farmers to take such a bold move. He was supposed to be a “caretaker pope”, spending his remaining years preparing for the next pope. But Angelo Roncalli had other plans.
Pope John XXIII caused an even greater stir when he stated that one of his primary intentions for the council was Christian unity. Having served as a papal representative in Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece, John XXIII experienced firsthand the divisions between Eastern and Western Christians. In addition, during his time as papal nuncio in France, he was appointed as the first permanent observer of the Holy See at UNESCO. This international perspective made the new pope keenly aware of the scandal of a divided church. He wanted Vatican II to put the church on a new path toward reconciliation with all believers.
It was for this reason that John XXIII took the extraordinary step of inviting to the Council representatives from every major Christian denomination. These “observers” were treated with great respect, and were given the opportunity to comment on the Council Fathers’ discussion throughout Vatican II’s four sections.
Most significantly, the Council released its Decree on Ecumenism, which expressed deep regard for Christians of all denominations. Among other things, it stated that in the long history of divisions of the church, “men on both sides were to blame”, not just those who separated from Rome and founded other churches or denominations. This is why all believers must undergo conversion of sorts, a “change of heart and holiness of life” that will bring us all together.
Throughout his pontificate, John XXIII instituted a number of innovations to help foster unity and reconciliation among churches and cultures. For one, he broadened the College of Cardinals, naming the first Indian and African cardinals. He created a new Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and appointed the first-ever Catholic representative to the Assembly of the World Council of Churches.
Pope John also welcomed the heads of any churches to the Vatican. For instance, not since the fourteenth century had an archbishop of Canterbury set foot inside the Vatican – until Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher’s visit in 1960. The pope reminded those separated from the Catholic Church of the words of St. Augustine: “Whether they wish it or not, they are our brethren. They cease to be our brethren only when they stop saying ‘Our Father’.”
When once asked about the possibility of Christian unity, Pope John replied, “I realize that it will take a long time. Neither you nor I will be there to celebrate the great feast of reconciliation. Neither will my immediate successors. But someone must begin to clear away the obstacles that stand in the way.” And that’s just what John XXIII did. It is also what his successors have continued to do. In December, 1965, Pope Paul VI joined Patriarch Athenagoras I in lifting the mutual excommunications between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches that had been in place since 1054. In 1995, Pope John Paul II dedicated an entire encyclical to ecumenism (That They May Be One), and throughout his pontificate went out of his way to meet with the leaders of other Christian denominations. And Pope Benedict XVI has continued along this path, urging Catholics to pray and work for unity, and is himself making contacts and moving forward dialogue with a host of different Christian leaders.
As we observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from January 18-25, let’s dedicate ourselves to unity. Even if we feel inadequate, we can take on Pope John’s attitude: “Whenever I see a wall between Christians, I try to pull out a brick.” Each in our own way, let’s pray and work for the day when the followers of Jesus “may all be one” (John 17:21). We may not live to see full unity within the body of Christ, but it is possible that we will see hopeful signs of the reconciliation and healing God longs for!
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
When we listen to the Gospel according to St. Luke, do we respond with love and faith to the proclamation of Christ and the saving events that bring to fulfillment God’s plan of salvation? What is the personal significance of the following words of Jesus: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing”? How do we respond to the task and challenge to actualize the “today” of salvation?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
we believe that you are “the anointed” of the Spirit
to bring good news to the poor;
the one sent to proclaim liberty to the captives
and give sight to the blind;
the liberator of the captives and the oppressed;
and the inaugurator of the “today” of salvation.
Through your prophetic and paschal ministry,
the message of salvation is fulfilled in our hearing
and in the daily events of our life.
Consecrate us anew
and let your creative and all-powerful Word transform us
that we may become docile and efficacious instruments
of the “today” of salvation.
By our lives of charity and ministry to the poor,
let us be your limpid witnesses
and instruments of your saving Word.
We love you, serve you,
and give ourselves totally to you.
You are our saving Lord,
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.
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk 4:21)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for all Christians that they may carry out with joy their prophetic ministry to proclaim the Good News. Offer special prayers for all those commissioned in the Christian community to be ministers of the Word, e.g. homilists, lectors, etc. By your acts of charity and by your kind and inspiring words, be an instrument of God’s healing word for the poor, the needy, the grieving, and the lonely.
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January 24, 2022: MONDAY – SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES, Bishop, Doctor of the Church
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Was an Object of Blasphemy … The Shepherd-King David Prefigures Him”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Sm 5:1-7, 10 // Mk 3:22-30
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 3:22-30): “It is the end of Satan.”
In today’s Gospel episode (Mk 3:22-30), the scribes who have come from Jerusalem to observe are vicious. Having witnessed the exorcisms performed by Jesus, they accuse him of demonic possession and collusion. The Divine Master refutes their tortured reasoning, tainted with cold venom and vitiated with jealousy. Indeed, Satan is not so foolish as to align with Jesus in destroying his very self. Rather, Jesus expels demons through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus is the “stronger one” who overpowers Satan and subdues his household. Jesus exorcises through the power of the Holy Spirit. To declare that the power at work in Jesus is “demonic” and that the Holy Spirit that animates him is “unclean” is blasphemy. The animosity of the scribes is such that they willfully reject the power of God’s saving grace to work in them. Hence, in this sense, forgiveness is not for them.
The following story could give us an idea of the misunderstanding and rejection that Jesus suffered both from his kinsmen and opponents – the same experience that his disciples and people of good will continue to have today (cf. Anthony de Mello, Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations, New York: Image Books, 1988, p. 124).
A family of five was enjoying their day at the beach. The children were bathing in the ocean and making castles in the sand when in the distance a little old lady appeared. Her gray hair was blowing in the wind and her clothes were dirty and ragged. She was muttering something to herself as she picked up things from the beach and put them into a bag. The parents called the children to their side and told them to stay away from the old lady. As she passed by, bending every now and then to pick things up, she smiled at the family. But her greeting wasn’t returned. Many weeks later they learned that the little old lady had made it her lifelong crusade to pick up bits of glass from the beach so children wouldn’t cut their feet.
B. First Reading (2 Sm 5:1-7, 10): “You shall shepherd my people Israel.”
The Old Testament reading (2 Sm 5:1-7, 10) is about the anointing of David as king not only of the tribe of Judah, but of the united Israelite kingdom. After the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, the fight between the forces supporting Saul’s family and those supporting David goes on for a long time. As David becomes stronger and stronger, his opponents become weaker and weaker. David does not seize power, but waits for the Lord to give him the kingship. At the death of Saul’s general Abner and of Saul’s son Ishbosheth, all the tribes of Israel rally to David at Hebron and urge him to be their king, saying: “We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, even when Saul was still our king, you led the people of Israel in battle, and the Lord promised you that you would lead his people and be their ruler.” David makes a sacred covenant with them. They anoint him as king of Israel. After the anointing, King David captures Jerusalem, reputed to be impregnable, and makes it the capital of his kingdom. The prophetic anointing by Samuel that designates him as leader-shepherd of God’s people is politically realized in Hebron.
The shepherd-king David is a figure of Jesus Christ, the ultimate Shepherd-King. The pastoral service and ministry of guidance of Jesus for God’s people is continued through the ages by his anointed ministers. The Irish martyr, Bishop Terence Albert O’Brien (cf. “Lives of the Saints: The Irish Martyrs” in Alive! January 2014, p. 15).
In January 1649, the forces of the English Parliament under Oliver Cromwell put King Charles to death. That settled the English Civil War on the island of Britain. In Ireland, however, some unfinished business had yet to be attended by the regicides and to this task Cromwell applied himself with murderous vigor. (…)
He laid siege to Drogheda and within a short time resistance crumbled, opening the way to utter savagery. Next came Wexford and Clonmel. At that point, having set the standard for atrocity, Cromwell returned to England leaving his “bloodied” troops to finish his work under the command of his son-in-law, Henry Ireton.
Ireton’s biggest challenge was Limerick, destined also to be his last, for reasons he did not expect. Limerick was a walled city, garrisoned by a force of Old English Royalists and Catholics. The gates were shut against Ireton when his army arrived to take it on 4 June 1651. Terms were offered to the defenders but under no condition would the Cromwellians concede their demand for the right of Catholics to freedom of conscience and worship.
The Puritan whip was to be applied mercilessly. Priests and religious in the city were to be deported as criminals and any who had been active in the resistance were to be executed. Among the latter was the Dominican, Bishop Terence Albert O’Brien, who had been ordained Bishop of Emily some years before when hopes were high in Ireland that a new era of freedom for Catholics was about to begin. The outcome of the Civil War and Cromwell’s arrival in Ireland had changed all that and Bishop O’Brien now found himself making a last ditch stand for faith and fatherland in the besieged city.
Earlier in his career O’Brien, now aged 50, had been prior of some of the Dominican houses in Muster, and had also been Provincial of the Order in Ireland. As negotiations for surrender progressed it became clear to Ireton that O’Brien was a leader of the resistance to any agreement which would not give tolerance for Catholics. To overcome this he first tried bribery, offering him an enormous bribe of 40,000 pounds and safe conduct out of the country if he would end his opposition. O’Brien refused to abandon his position and continued to press for tolerance.
The siege continued and the plight of the besieged grew worse. Starvation was followed by disease as the inhabitants and the refugees who had crowded into the city began to succumb to the dreaded bubonic plague. Bishop O’Brien’s role as a negotiator for peace now changed to that of a pastor succoring, spiritually and temporally, dying men and women while the Roundheads continued their relentless siege.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Are we guilty of jealousy and unable to recognize the grace at work in other persons? What do we do about this?
2. Are we ready to share in Christ’s pastoral and guiding ministry for God’s people in today’s world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you were misunderstood and viciously accused.
But as for us, we embrace your love.
Let the power of your Holy Spirit be with us.
Help us to bring order and justice
to a world convulsed with the violence of evil and sin.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
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Lord Jesus,
let the power of your Holy Spirit dwell in us
and make us share in your pastoral care
and guidance for God’s flock.
We adore and bless you, our saving Lord.
We thank 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 day. Please memorize it.
“Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness.” (Mk 3:26) //“You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be the commander of Israel.” (II Sm 5:2)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for perpetrators of blasphemy against God, especially those who do this making use of the means of social communication. Make an effort today to spread the Good News to the people around you. // Make an effort today to share the Good News and to be a shepherd for someone who needs help and guidance.
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January 25, 2022: TUESDAY – THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Transforms His Persecutor Saul into an Apostle”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22 // Mk 16:15-18
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
The feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul provides wonderful insights into his spiritual journey, which can be summed up as “MISTICA” (spiritual experience), “METANOIA” (conversion-transformation) and “MISSIO” (mission of evangelization). Paul’s spiritual journey was a spiritual experience that produced a transformation and impelled him to assume a mission of evangelization. The converted Paul thus became an apostle of Christ to the nations.
Mistica: On the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus had a profound, dynamic spiritual experience. It was God’s initiative, grace and compassion that brought about Paul’s encounter with the Risen Lord. It was an experience of light – of revelation – of who Christ really is for Paul. Christ revealed himself not as an enemy, but as a personal Savior. Moreover, on the road to Damascus, it was revealed that Jesus of Nazareth lives on in his Body, the Church – the suffering Church. It was a knocked-down experience that left Paul vulnerable, defenseless and open to grace. He could not help but welcome the loving initiative of God. Saint Paul is a model for us of total receptivity and openness to grace.
Metanoia: Paul confessed: “I was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, a man filled with arrogance, but I have been mercifully treated … I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. He has strengthened me … made me his servant” (cf. I Tim 1:12-13). He experienced a change of heart, reorientation of goals, renewed vision and life transformation. From a bold persecutor of Christ-Church, he became a vessel of grace and the great apostle to the nations. As we look to Saint Paul as a model of true conversion, let us turn away from thoughts, words and actions that negate the love of Christ … from inconsiderate actions and words that wound the Church … from irresponsible deeds that do not promote the dignity and personal worth of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Above all, Saint Paul is our model of “christification”. Blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Pauline Family, exhorts us: “So then reach the point of Vivit in me Christus … when our thoughts and desires exist no more, but we live in Christ … It is not I anymore, but Christ in me. Transformation, transformation! In that way we have not only a body and soul, but another natural life – that is, the life itself of Christ.”
Mission-Evangelization: Paul’s mystic experience and conversion led to a special task or mandate: the mission of salvation … the call to evangelization. The Risen Lord who appeared to Paul made him a servant and witness to the nations. He mandated Paul to preach the Gospel that he may turn their darkness to light … that they may be brought back to God … that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and become part of God’s covenant people.
Today’s Gospel reading (Mk 16:15-18) about the missionary mandate to go out to the whole world and tell the Good News and about the signs of protection and power that will accompany the believers is fully exemplified in the life and person of Saint Paul. He went to the Gentile world to preach the Gospel of salvation. He was baptized by Ananias in Damascus. Totally obedient to Christ in faith, he became God’s vessel of salvation to the nations. He made the crippled man in Lystra walk. Through the apostle, God performed unusual miracles in Ephesus. Even handkerchiefs and aprons Paul had used were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them. At Troas Paul resuscitated Eutychus, who fell from the third story to the ground during an evening fellowship meal while sitting drowsily by the window. When they picked him up, Eutychus was dead but Paul gave him back to them alive. After a shipwreck in Malta, Paul was bitten by a snake but was unharmed. Also in Malta, he healed the father of Publius, the chief of the island, and many others. Wherever he went, Paul was speaking a totally “new language” – the good news about Jesus as the Son of God – a marvelously “new language” of love and salvation.
The mystical and transforming experience of Saint Paul is replicated in the lives of many people through time and space. Here is a modern-day example (cf. Nathaniel Hurd, “Former Atheist Recounts His Journey to the Catholic Church” in Our Sunday Visitor, December 1, 2013, p. 22).
“These crazy Catholics are going to trample me to get to their bread”, I thought as the crowds pressed forward. It was Easter Sunday Mass 1998, outdoors in St. Peter’s Square. I was traveling with my friend Chris. He was a Catholic and a pilgrim. I was an unbaptized atheist and a tourist. Chris saw priests in cassocks and surplices, distributing the Body and Blood of Christ. I saw men in dresses, carrying bread. Fourteen years later, on October 11, 2012, I stood in that same square as a Catholic. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was the celebrant for the Mass starting the Year of Faith. I was preparing to receive Holy Communion, because seven years earlier, I had finally, fully accepted the gift of faith.
In my years as an atheist, agnostic and Episcopalian, I surprisingly remembered almost everything from that earlier Easter: Walking into St. Peter’s Square, thinking it was like two hands cupped together, waiting for people to fill it. Standing ahead of hundreds of thousands of people. Seeing flags from so many countries. Kenyans dancing when Pope John Paul II said “Happy Easter” in Swahili.
There is only one other sacred experience from my atheist years that I remembered so completely. My parents and I visited a cloistered convent when I was a teenager and heard the nuns sing evening prayer behind a screen. The prayer ended, and I sat transfixed. I thought it was only the beauty that moved me.
How did this atheist come to see the supernatural behind and beyond the beauty? First, Catholic friends modeled and shared the Faith. They answered my questions with respect and reason, not simplistic brush-offs. They stressed that they were sharing the teachings that Christ entrusted to his Church, not personal opinion. These friendships moved me to finally open the door to the divine.
God also provided moments of Grace. The first was during a run on Dec. 23, 2001. My thoughts were on the snow that covered the cornstalks, the river to my left and road under my feet. Although I had been thinking about faith over the past few years, I had not focused on Christianity. That moment I recognized the reality of one God in three Persons – Father, Holy Spirit and the Son who lived, died and rose for my sins. It was the start of seeing.
Easter 2002, I was baptized Episcopalian. However, I was a lazy disciple who took no responsibility for responding to the Lord. I eventually began to wonder if he was calling me to more than what I was receiving from my faith community. I stopped going to church.
On Good Friday two years later, a Catholic friend and colleague invited me to a “Way of the Cross” walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the first Good Friday that the Passion was real and painful for me. The force of Christ’s challenge – “I did this for you. What are you doing daily for me?” – of the faith of the faithful around me, of the whole experience, overwhelmed and lifted me to an Easter Vigil Mass. I sat in back but felt as if I was in front on the altar experiencing Christ’s sacrifice. The power of the liturgy moved me to return for Easter Sunday and reconsider why I had been closed to Catholicism.
The more I learned the “what” and “why” of the Church and its teaching, the more it was clear that my original understanding had been based on stereotypes and misinformation. Only the Catholic Church seemed to be the sure way for me to know what Christ taught, how he wanted me to live and where I should go for whatever I needed to do. Only the Church seemed to be preserving and promoting the fullness of the Bible and the teachings of the apostles since Pentecost.
I entered a parish Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program … I was received into full communion with the Church and received first Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil 2005. I was struggling to understand some of the teachings of the Church, but my faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Church was strong.
God protected me during many trials. My mother threatened to cut off any communication with me. My father objected to the Church’s teaching that there is one Church and one way. For two years, my parents forbade me from visiting during Christmas and later banned me from using their car to go to Mass when I saw them.
Other obstacles were internal. I delayed going to daily Mass, thinking that I wanted to avoid “too much, too soon”. When I started going, I discovered what I had missed, what no one had explained to me: it is impossible to encounter God too much and too early. My personal and professional life changed. Daily Mass led to regular confession. When I returned to Rome, I returned as a Catholic. At St. Peter’s tomb, I made sure to pray for Christian unity.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we see the mystical experience as an important element in the conversion of Saint Paul and in our own personal conversion?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(cf. Opening Prayer, Mass of the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul)
God our Father,
you taught the gospel to all the world
through the preaching of Paul your apostle.
May we who celebrate his conversion to the faith
follow him in bearing witness to your truth.
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.
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
As we celebrate today the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, resolve to be more open to the grace of his presence, especially in the Letters of Saint Paul, and to find ways to make people interested in them.
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January 26, 2022: WEDNESDAY – SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, Bishops
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Sows the Seedling of the Word … “He Is the Icon of Pastoral Ministry”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Tm 1:1-8 or Ti 1:1-5 // Mk 4:1-20
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 4:1-20): “A sower went out to sow.”
Today’s Gospel (Mk 4:1-20) depicts Jesus as sitting in the boat on the sea, with a large crowd gathered on the shore. The eager crowd of country folks has the potential of opening their hearts to the word of Jesus. To them he addresses the parable of the sower and the seed. The seed sown by the sower falls on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns and on rich soil. In the first three cases nothing happens, but in the last case an abundant harvest is produced. Indeed, the coming of the kingdom of God means the abundance of all good. Jesus is the sower who sows abundantly the word of the Kingdom. The “seed” of the word is lavishly sown because the Lord wants to address all without discrimination.
Saint John Chrysostom asserts: “The sower does not make distinctions between different soils; he simply throws the seed. Similarly, Jesus does not distinguish between rich and poor, learned and unschooled, careless and fervent, courageous and timid. His word concerns everybody.” Though the parable underscores the inherent fecundity of the seed of God’s kingdom, it also emphasizes the responsibility and the positive response to be given by the recipients of the “seed” of the divine word. We need to believe and be more open to God’s word.
The following is a testimony regarding the power of God’s word and one’s personal response to the offer of God’s kingdom (cf. Janet Perez Eckles in Daily Guideposts 2015, p. 90). Janet lost her sight at the age of 31, when her sons were 3, 5 and 7. She uses her own example of victory to teach others to triumph over trials. She lives in Orlando, Florida, and is warmed by the love of Gene, her husband of thirty-eight years, and the joy of her two grandchildren.
“Retinitis pigmentosa”, the doctor said, and finally the dreaded day came. I awoke, held my hands in front of my face, and saw nothing. At thirty-one, I was facing the rest of my life as a blind person. It terrified me.
“I can’t do this, God. I hate my life”, I whispered. How could God let a young mother go blind? Why would He refuse to answer my prayers for sight? Family and friends tried to support me, but none could understand the depth of my pain.
Then a friend called. “Come to my church. You’ll enjoy the service.” A trace of hope flickered, and I went. The message of Matthew 6:33 shook me. God was asking me to seek Him first. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I soaked in God’s Word. He promised to be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I believed it. I received it. And I applied it to my every moment as a wife and mom.
My life is peaceful now. Rest comes knowing God guides my footsteps, holds my future, and erases my fear.
B. First Reading (2 Tm 1:1-8): “I recall your sincere faith.”
In the First Reading (2 Tm 1:1-8), Saint Paul underlines the obligations of Christian faith. Paul was martyred at Rome in the year 67. His second letter to Timothy represented his last will and testament. Paul exhorts the young pastor, Timothy, to exercise serving faith. The “gift of God” that Timothy received at ordination implies dutiful service to the faith community. Paul reminds Timothy that the divine gift received through “imposition of hands” needs to be continually exercised and rekindled for the common good. Timothy is likewise called to an enduring faith. Timothy needs to give witness to our Lord. He must endure sufferings for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.
The following inspiring article illustrates what it means to remain “in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus” and how a Christian disciple could exercise a serving faith and an enduring faith in today’s world (cf. David Aquije, “The Bicycle Disciple” in Maryknoll, April 2010, p. 24-31). Fr. McCahill manifests his faith and shares this wonderful gift as he serves the sick poor in Bangladesh.
The day Maryknoll Father Robert McCahill arrived in Narail it was raining. The thin, 72-year old priest was physically exhausted and tired of looking for the place where he could begin a new phase of mission. Narail “was kind of miserable”, says the missioner, who for more than 35 years has been living in different villages of Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, with a population of 150 million in a land the size of Iowa. Narail, a small, underdeveloped village without infrastructure in the southeast of the country, seemed to the missioner like “a good place to make a mark of Christianity, not for the purpose of conversion but simply for the idea of showing what a Christian is and does.”
McCahill was one of five Maryknoll priests who arrived in Bangladesh in 1975 to begin a ministry of Christian witness. For eight years, the missioners lived together, forming a Christian fraternity in Tangail, near Dhaka, the capital. Afterward, McCahill focused his mission on traveling to the interior of the country to help people, particularly children, who were in urgent need of medical assistance. Finding a place to begin his next stay can take McCahill months of research. He has his own criteria: the place should be poor, have no other foreigners or Christians and some of the people must be willing to allow him free use of a small piece of land where he can build his own shack.
A disciple of our times, McCahill arrives alone – with only a bag with a change of clothing and the essential elements to celebrate his own Mass – in any community where he might live for the next three years. There he sits in any tea shop – “tea stalls” he calls them – where men generally congregate to drink cha, sweet tea with milk that is the national drink, the way coffee is in the United States. Noting the presence of a foreigner, the rustic shop quickly fills up with people and McCahill responds honestly to all their questions. “I am Brother Bob, a Christian missionary”, the priest from Goshen, Indiana, tells them. “I am here to serve seriously sick people who are poor.” In the predominantly Muslim nation with a large Hindu minority, the questions that McCahill receives are many: has he come to convert, how does he finance the help he offers and why had he no family? He responds that the medical help he offers depends completely on the financial donations of his extended family and not on an organization; that his purpose is to live among people who are not Christian and treat them with love, respect and brotherhood; and that his family is all of humanity. McCahill describes the three years that he lives in each town this way: “The first year many are suspicious of me. The second year trust begins to build. The third year people’s affection is felt. They say, ‘He said he only came to do good and that is what he does’.”
In Narail, a short while before finishing his three years, McCahill continues getting up very early in the morning to dedicate time for prayer and meditation before beginning his mission work. This morning in October, he leaves his shack of jute-stick walls, a dirt floor and a corrugated roof and mounts his bicycle that will carry him over windy dirt roads through the beautiful countryside of Bangladesh’s fertile farmland, where ironically millions of people live in extreme poverty. The missioner pedals some miles to the next village of Bolorampur, where he visits Mehenaz, a 3-year-old girl who suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of a poorly handled delivery by a midwife in the village. Mehenaz’ grandmother brings the girl out of her hut and puts a mat on the ground. The missioner squats down in the style of the Bangladeshis and observes and assists the grandmother with the recommended physical therapy for the child. The girl’s mother isn’t there and McCahill is happy that someone else in the family has learned the exercises.
Afterward, amid the songs of wild birds and the smell of burning firewood, McCahill again mounts his bicycle and pedals several more miles to the village of Buramara. In Buramara, McCahill visits Liza, a 2-year-old who suffered serious burns on her left arm before her first birthday. The burns were so grave that her entire hand was fused to her forearm. McCahill was able to take the girl to a hospital in Dhaka where surgeons separated her hand from the forearm. Liza wears a brace so that the hand stays straight. The missioner explains that the child needs another surgery to straighten out two fingers that are bent. Liza cries easily and McCahill thinks it is because she is still in pain, but he tries to console her and make her laugh.
That is McCahill’s ministry. He mounts his bicycle and rides miles to his destination. It doesn’t matter if the roads are full of mud during the monsoon season in this tropical Asian land, east of India, on the Bay of Bengal. He arrives in a village and looks to help people who would otherwise be disabled and burdened for a lifetime by their physical conditions. With a small camera he takes photos of their conditions: cerebral palsy, burns, muscular dystrophy, cleft lips, hernias, tumors and broken bones caused by accidents. Every week he goes to Dhaka, traveling the same as the poor, in the old buses that are part of the complicated and dangerous Bengali transportation system. At a hospital in the capital, McCahill shows the photos to doctors who make their provisional diagnosis. With this information the missioner arranges for free treatment at one of the government hospitals in the city and eventually makes the eight- or nine-hour trip again with the children and their parents. “Not a great expense”, McCahill says. “I afford them their tickets. I usually provide the medicine. It’s not a matter of money; it’s a matter of love, the heart.”
Because he lives in a poor and predominantly Muslim country, McCahill relies on only a modest budget that comes from donations from his extended family for his ministry. “If I had lots of funds at hand to use, and lived apart (in a parish), people’s attitude to me would differ”, he says, adding the people would be tempted to wheedle money out of him. “People here understand I’m using more money for their needs than I use for my own needs. No one can look at my life of service and say ‘he can only do that because he’s a rich American’.” For that reason McCahill shares the donations he receives through Maryknoll with other Christian communities that serve the poor in Bangladesh, especially communities of apostolic Sisters.
His is a life of service that he says began on Oct. 31, 1956. He was 19 years old and was interested in a career in political science. But that day as he was returning home from Seattle University, where he was studying, “I received – I can’t even describe it – an attraction to God like I had never felt before nor have needed since. The motivation I received in that moment was sufficient to keep me for life, as long as I continue to remember it.”
For years, McCahill has described his mission in a journal that he types every month on an antique Olivetti typewriter and shares with friends and family. “My mission”, he says, “is to show the love of Christ, the love of God for all people of all faiths; to be with them as a brother, to establish brotherhood by being a brother to them.”
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Alternative First Reading (Ti 1:1-5): “To Titus, my beloved son in a common faith.”
In the alternative First Reading (Ti 1:1-5) we hear from Saint Paul’s letter to Titus, a Gentile convert to Christianity, who became a fellow worker and helper in missionary work. Titus is Paul’s young legate in the island of Crete. Paul underlines his authority as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul has been chosen by God and sent to promote the faith of the God’s chosen people. Such a task will be accomplished through the help of Titus, Paul’s “loyal child in faith” who is faithful to his teaching. Paul charges Titus with the task of organizing the church in Crete. Such pastoral action is necessitated by the disruption caused by false teachers. In view of a more efficacious pastoral ministry, Paul’s invocation of blessing upon Titus becomes meaningful. He prays: “May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.”
Saint Paul’s relationship with the Church leader, Titus, is inspiring. The following modern-day account gives insight into the bond of charity and unity of faith that fellow workers in the Lord share (cf. Francis, Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Testimony of Hope, Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 2000, p. 111),
I would like to remember for a moment the “kingdom of the wretched”, as one deportee called it, the prison camp in the Solovetsky Islands of Russia. One deported remembered an image of love in the midst of that great hell:
Uniting their efforts, a Catholic bishop who was still young worked together with an emaciated old man – an Orthodox bishop with a white beard, ancient in days but strong in spirit, who energetically pushed the load … Any of us who would one day have the good fortune of returning to the world, would have to testify to what we have seen here and now. What we saw was the rebirth of pure and authentic faith of the early Christians: the union of Churches in the persons of the Catholic and Orthodox bishops who participated unanimously in the duties, united in love and humility.
This happened in Solovetsky, “alma mater” of the Soviet prison camps.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Are we thankful for the goodness and generosity of Jesus the Sower? Do we truly believe in the power of the word of God?
2. Do we endeavor to rekindle the gift of faith we have received at baptism and when ordained for a special service to the faith community? Do we endeavor to remain in the faith and love that are ours as Christians united with Christ Jesus?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Cf. Prayer by Nerses Snorhali in Jesus, Fils unique du Pere in Sources chretiennes 203, Paris: Cerf, 1973, p. 133)
I hardened myself like a rock;
I became like the path;
the thorns of the world have choked me
and have made my soul unfruitful.
But, O Lord, Sower of good,
make the seedling of the Word grow in me
so I may yield fruit in one of these three:
Hundredfold, sixtyfold, or even thirtyfold.
Thank you, loving Jesus,
Amen.
***
O gracious God,
faith is your gift – your offer of eternal life.
Thank you for your goodness!
Through the intercession of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops,
let our faith response
be marked with strength of hope
and service of love.
May our Christian discipleship
be known for its serving and enduring faith.
We adore you and give you 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.
“And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.” (Mk 4:8) //“Bear your share of hardship for the Gospel.” (2 Tm 1:8) or “Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior” (Ti 1:4)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray that the seed of the Kingdom may find rich soil to make it grow and be fruitful. Be attentive to the word of God in the liturgical assembly and in the daily events of life. // Make an effort today to spread the Good News to the people around you. Pray that our Christian discipleship may be an authentic sign of an enduring and serving faith.
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January 27, 2021: THURSDAY – WEEKDAY (3); SAINT ANGELA MERICI, Virgin
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Reveals the Mystery of the Kingdom … He Is God’s Blessing to Us”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Sm 7:18-19, 24-29 // Mk 4:21-25
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 4:21-25): “A lamp is to be placed on a lamp stand. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you .”
Jesus Master continues to reveal himself not only through miraculous deeds, but also by his teaching. His parables were not meant to conceal the mystery of the Kingdom but to enable his audience to take his word to heart more personally and more profoundly. A lit oil lamp is not put under the bed or covered with a bushel basket, but placed on a stand to maximize its light-giving. The parables of Jesus, when received with humble hearts, are like an oil lamp that shines brightly from a stand. They shed light on the heavenly kingdom that Jesus proclaims. They challenge the audience to conversion and, when pondered dutifully and lovingly, they evoke their faith response.
Today’s Gospel (Mk 4:21-25) also contains a parable-like saying of Jesus about the measure that is given is the measure that is received and that to one who has more will be given while the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is a powerful invitation to respond wisely and generously to the kingdom of God. The wise person who seeks to grow in the knowledge of God is fully rewarded. Those who foolishly refuse to listen to Jesus would end up terrible losers. Indeed, the Divine Master calls us to an attentive hearing and true understanding of his saving word. Jesus calls his disciples to a deep spirituality.
The following charming story gives insight into what true light means and what deep spirituality entails (cf. Anthony de Mello, Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations, New York: Image Books, 1988, p. 161).
A Guru asked his disciples how they could tell when the night had ended and the
day begun. One said, “When you see an animal in the distance and can tell whether it is a cow or a horse.” “No”, said the Guru. “When you look at a tree in the distance and can tell if it is a neem tree or a mango tree.” “Wrong again”, said the Guru. “Well, then, what is it?” asked his disciples. “When you look into the face of any man and recognize your brother in him; when you look into the face of any woman and recognize in her your sister. If you cannot do this, no matter what time it is by the sun it is still night.”
B. First Reading (2 Sm 7:18-19, 24-29): “Who am I, Lord God, and who are the members of my house?”
The reading (2 Sm 7:18-19, 24-29) contains David’s prayer of thanksgiving and intercession. In grateful response to the Lord’s benevolence, David acknowledges his own littleness to the Lord’s greatness. King David is overwhelmed that God has made promises not only about him and his family, but also about his descendants in the years to come. In his prayer, David recalls with gratitude Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and how the Lord God has made them his own people. Finally, he invokes God to bless his descendants so that they may enjoy his favor and that the divine blessing may be with them forever.
The following modern-day account of praying for a family member gives us a glimpse into the nature of King David’s prayer (cf. Julia Attaway, Daily Guideposts 2010, p. 304).
“How’s John doing?” a woman from my prayer group asked. I hadn’t touched base with her in a while. We changed my son’s anxiety medication over the summer, and instead of improving, my twelve-year-old son spent two weeks in the hospital. “He’s up and down. Some days he seems fine, and he is. Other days, he seems fine, and a minute later we’re wondering if we should call 911.”
There was a pause in the conversation. Then, gently, my friend commented, “The unpredictability must be hard.” It was my turn to pause and collect my thoughts. “Yes”, I said, “but I don’t focus as much on that now. What I’m finally beginning to grasp is that part of the point is learning to say thank you each day my son is alive.” Still another pause, “It took me a long time to get there”, I added.
“How do your other kids handle it?” my friend asked. “They pretty much know to go to another room and entertain themselves when John starts to blow. They enjoy him when he’s able to be fun and keep themselves safe when he’s not.”
“I’ll keep praying for you.”
“Thanks. It’s hard, but it’s harder to be John. He’s a great kid with some really difficult problems. He thinks it’s horrible. I wish he could know fully just how precious he is to God – and to us.” My friend nodded. There wasn’t much else to say, but a lot to pray for.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do I cherish the light of the Word of God and make it shine like a burning lamp on a stand? Do I dedicate myself to the meditation of God’s Word and the study of the parables of Jesus?
2. Do we respond to God’s benevolence with prayer of thanksgiving? Do we make prayers of intercession for our loved ones?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Jesus Lord,
your Word is a light that brightens our path.
Help us to respond generously to your saving Word.
Let it transform us and may we continue to grow in your love.
You are our Divine Master, our way, truth and life.
We love and adore you, now and forever.
Amen.
***
Jesus Lord,
you incarnate God’s mercy and compassion.
Teach to respond to divine goodness with thanksgiving.
Help us to intercede for our needy loved ones.
We praise and 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.
“Is a lamp not to be placed on a lamp stand?” (Mk 4:21) //“Bless the house of your servant that it may be before you forever.” (2 Sm 7:29)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Make an effort to study and meditate upon the Gospel parables. // Be grateful to God for blessings received and humbly intercede for the needs of your family members and loved ones.
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January 28, 2022: FRIDAY – SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Doctor of the Church
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Makes the Seed Grow … He Brings about Fruits of Conversion”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17 // Mk 4:26-34
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 4:26-34): “A man scatters seed on the land and would sleep and the seed would sprout and grow; he knows not how.”
The farming images we have in today’s reading (Mk 4:26-34) are beautiful and powerfully symbolic. The parable of the growing seed while the farmer sleeps (verses 26-29) teaches us that the growth of the Kingdom is inevitable and that it is God’s initiative. The image of the sleeping farmer shatters the illusion of those who believe that the coming of the Kingdom is under human control. The Kingdom grows by the power of God. Like a seed that breaks forth from the ground, God’s Reign has already irrupted into the world through Jesus’ ministry.
The parable of the mustard seed (verses 30-34) underlines the contrast between an insignificant beginning and the full growth of God’s kingdom. The tiny seed grows into a full-blown tree. This symbolizes the organic continuity between Jesus’ ministry, so disappointing to Israel’s hopes, and the future of the Kingdom of God, that would encompass both the Israelites and the Gentiles – indeed peoples from all nations and cultures.
We are called to promote the growth of the Kingdom of God and the integration of creation. The following story illustrates the value of our personal contribution to bringing about the fruition of the divine saving plan (cf. Fr. Eric Haarer, “The Old Man in the Plaza” in Catholic Digest, July-August 2011, p.66-67).
Barcelona, Spain is an amazing city … I had been walking all day and it was hot, in the 80s. I wanted a rest away from the hustle and bustle, so I ambled down a side street and sat on a low wall in a tiny plaza near the Gothic Quarter. To my right was a small fountain, basically a pipe in the wall that spilled drinking water into a cement basin. In front of me stood a sickly looking sapling. It received little light in this narrow plaza, and its leaves were drooping and discolored from thirst and exhaust. An older, well-dressed gentleman at the fountain was filling an empty plastic soda bottle. He walked over to the tree and poured the water at its base. He returned to the fountain for more, and again watered the tree. And again. And again. I stopped counting after 12 trips and was on my way before he finished.
This simple act of kindness touched me deeply. It reminded me of something Mother Teresa said about her work in India: “We don’t do great things; we do small things with great love”. (…) This gentle man was tending the Earth, and in this “small thing done with great love”, he did his part to bring hope and new life into the world. Certainly he brought it to one foot-sore pilgrim.
B. First Reading (2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17): “You have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.”
The reading (2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a) depicts David’s corruption and sin. While his army is out to war, the king stays in Jerusalem. One idle afternoon after taking a nap and while walking about on the palace roof, David spots the beautiful Bathsheba taking a bath in her house. He sends for her and makes love to her. The fact that Bathsheba is the wife of one of his army officers does not deter him from possessing her. Bathsheba becomes pregnant and the king devises an elaborate ploy to cover his paternity. He sends for Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, and makes three attempts to send him to sleep with his wife. Uriah’s moral uprightness contrasts with David’s lust and evil design. When asked why he does not go home to his wife after a long absence, Uriah answers King David: “The men of Israel and Judah are away in battle and the Covenant Box is with them; my commander Joab and his officers are camping out in the open. How could I go home, eat and drink, and sleep with my wife? By all that’s sacred, I swear that I could never do such a thing!” In frustration, David devises a way out by instigating Uriah’s death under a cloak of war. David adds salt to injury by sending the “death command” to his general Joab in a letter carried by the victim himself. The crime of David, God’s anointed one, is hateful. His adultery and murder call for judgment.
David’s lust caused him to commit one sin after another. The life of Saint Mary of Egypt (died c. 421 A.D.) likewise shows the unfortunate consequences of an unbridled sexual passion (cf. “St. Mary of Egypt: A Saint to Invoke against Sexual Promiscuity” in Our Sunday Visitor Special Supplement 2013, p. 14-16)
The sexual revolution of the 1960s dramatically altered the moral landscape of the Western world. But of course, sexual promiscuity was not invented in the 1960s; it has always been with us, although it may have been more rampant in some places and some periods of history than others.
St. Mary of Egypt was born into a family of Egyptian Christians. At age 12, she ran away from home and went to live in Alexandria, the most cosmopolitan, most sophisticated and in many ways one of the most corrupt cities in the Mediterranean world. She supported herself as a singer and a dancer. At some point, we don’t know when, she lost her innocence.
Mary’s sexual appetite took over her personality. She cruised the streets of Alexandria, looking for partners. Her favorite diversion was to corrupt innocent young men. But many years later, as she told St. Zosimus – the monk who wrote down her autobiography – she never accepted money from the men she slept with; she never became a prostitute.
Once, while walking along the wharves at the harbor, she saw a group of men boarding a ship. She asked one of the sailors who the men were, and where they were they going. He said they were pilgrims, heading to Jerusalem to celebrate there the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On impulse, Mary decided to go, too. By the time the ship reached the Holy Land, Mary had seduced every pilgrim and every member of the crew.
In Jerusalem she continued her usual routine of looking for new partners. On the holy day, a throng of pilgrims made their way through the narrow streets of Jerusalem to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Mary, out of curiosity, joined them. But when she reached the threshold of the church, some invisible force held her back. She could not enter. All at once the wickedness of her life overwhelmed her and she began to cry.
Near the door was a carving of the Blessed Virgin. Turning to the sacred image, Mary prayed for the first time in years. “Help me”, she begged our Lady, “for I have no other help.” With that, the power that had kept her from entering the church withdrew and Mary went in. She found a priest and made a full confession.
After the Mass and veneration of the Holy Cross, Mary left Jerusalem, crossed the Jordan River and headed out into the desert. There she became a hermit, living a life of prayer and penance for nearly 50 years.
Toward the end of her life she encountered the monk Zosimus, to whom she told her story. Then she begged him to return to her on Holy Thursday with the Blessed Sacrament – it had been decades since she had been able to receive Holy Communion. Zosimus returned, as he had promised, but he found that Mary had died. He buried her, then went back to his monastery and began to make known the story of Mary of Egypt.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we believe in small beginnings and in the power of God to make his kingdom grow and embrace all nations and creation? What do we do to promote the growth?
2. Are we aware of our human weakness and propensity to sin and of our great need for the grace of God to make us faithful? What are the crimes and sins we have committed that keep us from being the servants and children of God?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
how marvelous is the growth of the heavenly kingdom!
It is a seed sown in human history by your messianic ministry.
Its power irrupts into our lives and we are a part of its growth.
We thank you for the power of life
and the universal expanse of the kingdom of God.
Grant that we may continue to give our very best
– no matter how humble and insignificant –
to promote the growth and fruition of God’s Reign
upon earth and in all creation.
We love you and praise you, now and forever.
Amen.
***
Lord Jesus,
you are our saving Lord
who enabled us to experience God’s loving mercy.
Deliver us from sin and wickedness
and by the grace of God, make us faithful.
We love 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.
“Once it is sown, it springs up.” (Mk 4:32) //“Some officers of David’s army fell and among them Uriah the Hittite died.” (2 Sm 11:17)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for social justice and the integration of creation. In view of the integration of God’s creation, practice proper waste management in your household using the ecological principles: reduce, reuse and recycle. // Pray for the victims of violence and injustice and for the conversion of those who commit adultery. Make an act of reparation for those whose sexual appetites have gone awry and beyond control and offer prayer of intercession for their spiritual healing.
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January 29, 2022: SATURDAY – WEEKDAY (3); BVM ON SATURDAY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calms the Raging Sea … He Overcomes our Sinfulness”
BIBLE READINGS
2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17 // Mk 4:35-41
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 4:35-41): “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
(Gospel Reflection by Andy Ruperto, Fresno, CA – U.S.A.)
Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him? Lord, who are You? Is this not the question we must constantly ponder? In today’s Gospel we again see Jesus’ disciples continuing on their journey of faith and asking, “Lord, who are You? You have power over the wind and the sea!”
In this event, we must place ourselves in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. The wind and waves are beginning to violently shake the boat. The disciples are stumbling around and yelling, trying to get things under control. I do not know what it must have been like being in a potentially life-threatening storm, but I do remember being in a motorboat with family on a lake. When the front of the boat took on some water, because it was too heavy, there were screams and a bit of hysteria. How much more so if we were in a violent storm?
In the meantime, our Lord is asleep in the stern. So, then the disciples ask – “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” This is a question I sometimes ask in different life situations. God, do You not know what I’m going through?” “Why is this happening to me?” Sometimes I ‘feel’ like my life is ending or that I cannot go on. There are too many storms – confusion, stress, studies, relationships, finances … So I ask, “Lord, do You not care that I am perishing?”
Jesus then comes in power, and stills the storms with His word and says, “Peace! Be still.” This is the peace that comes from Jesus and it is a peace not as the world gives it. Christ is the only way to true peace. Here, our Lord Jesus shows His power over the wind and sea and amazes the disciples. Jesus is GOD. He is powerful. He is mighty. He can do anything. He can calm these modern-day storms. He is also humble and sometimes we cannot see through the veil of humanity.
A friend once told me that the hard part for God is not the miracles, but changing human hearts. It seems that in this event, our Lord Jesus was using the storm to awaken the disciples’ hearts to faith. He asks them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
The “good news” of the reading today is one that was constantly repeated by our late Holy Father, John Paul II. It was the message, “Do not be afraid!” Our Lord tells us not to let our hearts be troubled. He is with us, and so what can we fear? He will take care of us. It is our faith that enables us not to fear. Let us always call on the name of Jesus in the stormy chapters of our lives. In these times let us quickly say, “Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You …”
B. First Reading (2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17): “I have sinned against the Lord.”
In the reading (2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17), we hear how the prophet Nathan, the mouthpiece of God, denounces the sins of David. Indeed, the chosen one of God, the hero of the people and the object of God’s grace, has sinned terribly. The intervention of a prophet is needed to make him conscious of his crime. The threat of God’s punishment brings David to his senses. Greatly chastised, David responds to the call to conversion. He acknowledges his personal responsibility: “I have sinned against the Lord”. Recognizing our sin and taking responsibility for it is the first step to repentance. The key to forgiveness is taking responsibility for our evil deed and being sorry for it. We need to see our anomalous situation and resolve to turn away from our wicked ways in order to experience the gift of God’s forgiveness. Confronted by the light of truth, David comes to his senses and is filled with sorrow for the awfulness and horror of his crimes. To the repentant David, the prophet Nathan communicates the gift of forgiveness from a loving and merciful God.
The merciful forgiving God continues to bring people back to him as the following account recalls (cf. Pauline Wilson, “Confession after Abortion” in 101 Inspirational Stories of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, ed. Sister Patricia Proctor, Spokane: Franciscan Monastery of Saint Clare, 2006, p. 108-109).
When I was seventeen years old, living at home, I unfortunately became pregnant. … All I could think about was getting rid of the baby so my parents would never find out … The day I went to have the abortion, I woke up and asked the Lord to please forgive me. I was scared and just wanted to get it over with. My boyfriend picked me up at the corner and we drove to the abortion clinic in silence. We walked and waited for them to call me back. I have never felt as guilty in my entire life as I did when I knew I was about to kill my unborn child.
I had the abortion and tried to forget about it as I went through life. I later married a wonderful man and had two beautiful children. Despite all this, I carried around the guilt of that day and never got over it. For more than fifteen years I was haunted with thoughts of the child I knew I would have had. I hated myself for going through with the abortion.
As an infant I was baptized in the Catholic Church and now I wanted my children to be baptized as well. I also wanted to be confirmed since I had never received that sacrament. I worked toward the day that I would be confirmed and my children would be baptized. Unfortunately, the very thought of going to confession for the first time scared me, but I knew this was what I needed to do to get rid of the guilt I had been carrying around.
My very first confession was made to Father Pellegrino from Saints Peter and Paul Church in West Valley City, Utah. I practiced over and over what I needed to tell him, hoping I would not feel like a complete idiot. As I drove to the church that night, I had a knot in my stomach and just wanted to turn around and go home, but something kept telling me that everything would be okay.
The wait in line seemed like an eternity as the events of my past abortion flashed over and over in my mind. Father Pellegrino called me in and listened to my confession as I cried and poured my heart out to him, I asked for the Lord’s forgiveness and felt a feeling of peace as Father prayed over me. As I left to go home, the dark cloud that had been following me around for the last fifteen years finally disappeared.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we believe in faith that God is in control? Do we place our trust in Jesus whom even the wind and sea obey? Do we derive strength from the fact that the Lord Jesus masters the storms and the raging seas?
2. Are we touched by David’s acknowledgment of personal responsibility for his sins? How? What do we do when we fall into a sinful situation? Do we repent and seek out God’s forgiveness? Do we trust in the merciful love and care of God for us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(Prayer n. 1 by Andy Ruperto, Fresno, CA-USA)
So, Lord, who are You?
You are my refuge, savior and teacher in the storms.
You are GOD!
I have often tried to control the storms myself.
Let me learn to go through them with You,
having recourse to You when I find myself in trouble.
Peace! Be still my soul!
Know that Jesus is GOD and that He does care
and that He loves me.
Mother Mary,
you know our Lord so intimately.
Please purify our faith in Him.
Form us into His likeness and into fearless saints.
Amen.
***
Loving God,
when the guilt of sin torments us,
help us to call on Jesus.
He overcomes the violence of our sinfulness.
Forgive our sins
by the power of his passion, death and resurrection.
Let us live again in Jesus, our merciful Savior.
We adore 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.
“Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mk 4:41) //“I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Sm 12:13)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Offer comfort and assistance to those whose faith is wavering. Share with those who are overwhelmed in the sea of sorrows the comforting presence of Jesus who masters the winds and the raging seas. // Be an instrument of God’s forgiving love, especially where there is injustice and abuse. Endeavor to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation more meaningfully and worthily and invite others for this celebration.
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Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
3700 North Cornelia Avenue, Fresno, CA 93722 (USA)
Tel. (559) 275-1656
Website: WWW.PDDM.US