A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 1)
First Sunday of Advent, Year A – December 2, 2007
“In Days To Come …”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 2:1-5 // Rom 13:11-19 // Mt 24:37-44
N.B. Series 6 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 A from the perspective of the First Reading. For another set of reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year A, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 3.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
With the First Sunday of Advent, we begin a new liturgical year – a “sacrament” or “sacred sign” of the presence of Christ in time. The liturgical year is a complex of celebrations by which the Church annually celebrates the saving mystery of Christ. Through the liturgical year, the community of believers has a panoramic vision and comes in contact with the entire arc of salvation history. We welcome the new liturgical year in a spirit of thanksgiving and the words of a Morning Prayer hymn could describe what is it for us. The liturgical year is a gift of “fresh beginning like gentle dew from heaven above” and it gives us “new promise of God’s love” (cf. “O God of Light” by James Quinn, SJ).
The new liturgical year brims with a vision of hope. The prophet Isaiah speaks ecstatically “in days to come” about the gathering of nations on Mount Zion, the people being nourished by the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and the wondrous condition of the messianic age (Is 2:1-5). James Weaver comments: “In today’s reading, Jerusalem’s temple mount (the mountain of the Lord’s house) is the goal toward which the nations stream … A reign of peace is the predicted result of God’s instructions, walking in God’s ways and submission to God’s judgment. Tools of war beaten into tools of farming depict a future, difficult to imagine, in which the cultivation of the earth replaces violence and the threat of violence as the chief occupation of nations. In this reading, the condition of universal peace is submission to God.”
With the celebration of the Advent season, which prepares us for the coming of the Lord, the Church’s liturgy directs our attention not only to our need for vigilant expectation, but to the justice, peace and harmony that Christ’s reign would bring. The heart-warming image of weapons being recast into gardening tools and farming implements enkindles our desire to draw out beauty and abundance from the earth, instead of giving in to violence and hatred. Indeed, the prophetic vision of nations not raising the sword against another and not training for war again makes our Advent season this year a “fresh beginning like gentle dew from above”.
The mood of the Advent season, while intensely challenging and demanding, is basically hopeful and optimistic. It helps us focus on what we can do – to be servants and instruments of the messianic peace and justice. The true peace and security envisioned by the prophet Isaiah “in those days” would be ours to claim if we live by the word of the Lord and if we walk in his ways, especially in promoting human dignity and the true worth of every person. The following insight that I read in MARYKNOLL magazine (July- August 2007 issue, p. 28) is an example of how to live more meaningfully our Advent expectation as Church in today’s world.
In the last decade alone, more than 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict, millions of people have been displaced and whole nations have been held hostage to fear. Extreme poverty, hopelessness and lack of access to basics like food, water, sanitation, housing, education and health care are the reality of life for millions of people. Ours is a world hunger for peace and security, but what do we mean by “security”? Think for a minute about how you experience or wish you experienced security. What would it look like? What do you need to imagine a secure life for you and your family? A safe and comfortable home? Enough money to pay necessary bills? A job that pays well? Assurances you will have sufficient resources in your old age? A car? A gun? A $500 billion annual military budget? Nuclear, biological or chemical weapons? Freedom of speech and assembly? What else would you add? … The concept of human security is rooted in our faith tradition: that every person has intrinsic dignity and is of equal value before God. The security of one person or nation cannot be guaranteed while ignoring or undermining the security and well-being of others in the global community. At issue is how we define security, from which perspective and through what lens. Given the lack of future for millions of young people around the world, might not the most effective security measure be quality education and decent jobs that ensure that all people have access to a dignified life?
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Why is the new liturgical year a “fresh beginning like gentle dew from above”? What is our attitude toward this special “sacrament” of the presence of Christ in time? Do we regard the liturgical year and the season of Advent as a gift for which we need to thank God?
2 How does the messianic vision of the prophet Isaiah about the gathering of nations on Mount Zion and the various images of peace and harmony impact you? Are you willing to join the peace-loving people who “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks”? How do you respond to the invitation, “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord”?
3 How do we heed Christ’s wake-up call and exhortation to vigilance for his end-time and ultimate coming? Are we responsive to the Lord’s continuous advent or coming in our personal life, in our family, our community, our world, and in creation?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(An excerpt from Pope John Paul II’s “Prayer with Young People” – April 9, 1985)
Leader: Lord Jesus Christ,
give us your peace,
the peace that springs from your pierced heart,
peace in truth, in justice and in love.
Give us your peace,
but not for us to keep for ourselves …
Make us defenders of Abel wherever he lives:
Abel the poor and outcast,
Abel the elderly and without a proper job,
Abel the persecuted for his faith,
Abel the defenseless in his mother’s womb.
Forgive the Cains of our time
for they know not what they do.
Convert the oppressors and the violent to your peace.
Give enlightenment and courage
to the rulers and leaders of nations
to restrain the spiral of that crazy logic
that leads to resources being removed from life
and used instead for the purpose of death
and the destruction of the planet.
Assembly: May you, Jesus, be our peace.
May your Holy Spirit pacify our soul
with the sacrament of your Church
and so we ourselves may be peace for all our brothers …
Your eternal and universal Kingdom is approaching,
the Kingdom of truth and of life,
the Kingdom of sanctity and grace,
the Kingdom of justice, love and peace.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” (Is 2:3)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Meditate on the messianic vision of hope portrayed by the prophet Isaiah and the challenge of vigilant expectation for the continuing advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. By your acts of justice and charity, contribute to the realization of the beautiful vision of peace, justice and harmony of nations of the messianic era.
ACTION PLAN: To help us realize more effectively the messianic vision of peace, justice and harmony of nations brought about by the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. 4, n. 1): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US