A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 9, n. 14)
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – February 27, 2011 *
“He Is Trustworthy”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 49:14-15 // I Cor 4:1-5 // Mt 6:24-34
(N.B. Series 9 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 Second Reading. For reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 3. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 6.)
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
The Word of God continues to strengthen us in our Christian discipleship. To help us respond to its exigent demands, this Sunday’s liturgy of the Word focuses our attention on God’s trustworthiness. With tender and enduring love, our heavenly Father cares for us. He provides for all our needs. Indeed, God deserves to be loved. He is worthy of our faith and trust.
The Old Testament Reading (Is 49:14-15) depicts with poignant beauty God’s protestation of love to a people crying out in despair that they been had abandoned and forsaken. To his anguished people exiled in Babylon, the Lord God spoke these consoling words: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” The love of God surpasses that of a mother for her child. God would never forsake his Chosen People though they themselves had forsaken him. Deeply chastised and painfully humbled by the Exile experience, they would become the object of divine mercy that transcends anything we could ever imagine.
The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “God has always been faithful to his people; he had never forgotten them. Our first reading presents God under the tender image of a mother, and the people of God under the image of a nursing infant. Isaiah makes it clear that God’s love is ever greater than the image presented … While the people of God were in exile in Babylon, God still loved them; their release was a sign of compassion. He had never abandoned them, and they had no reason to lament … All through their punishment, God had remembered them and had now liberated them from bondage. Isaiah’s message is that we are to trust God even when the days are darkest, for God does not abandon his people.”
The absolute trustworthiness of God’s love, which demands a personal response, is again delineated in the Gospel reading (Mt 6:24-34). Through his beautiful sermon on the mount, Jesus invites his disciples to respond with faith, which is a confident trust in a loving and provident God. We turn to God in faith because of his benevolence and unmitigated concern for us. Our daily choices as Christian disciples are animated by this spirit of trust in his provident care.
Eugene Maly remarks: “Today’s Gospel proposes the same message. Matthew shows us Jesus preaching to people who toiled under the hot Mediterranean sun day after day. Jesus reminds them and us of the necessity of trust. We must work, but we cannot rely on our own means for all of our needs; it is necessary to trust God and his Son Jesus Christ. At the same time such trust does not mean that we are to sit back and do nothing … In speaking to workers Jesus has to remind them to take one day at a time and leave the rest to God. He takes care of his own. What is demanded of workers for the Lord is that they remain steadfast in their resolve to serve him and not be governed by the things of this world.”
In the Second Reading (I Cor 4:1-5), Saint Paul describes himself and other apostles as servants and the stewards of the sacred truths revealed in Jesus Christ. The stewards of the saving Gospel need to be “trustworthy”. The apostles of the Gospel are to rely on the grace of God in all their endeavors. Moreover, in their limpid witnessing of the Gospel, they must mirror the integrity and trustworthiness of God, fully revealed in Jesus Christ, who will come again on the last day. The Lord Jesus will then expose the deep motives of our hearts and grant us the praise and reward we deserve.
The following charming story gives us an idea how Christian disciples, especially those who are “servants of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God”, must trust in the grace and loving providence of God (cf. Msgr. Scott Friend, “God Always Provides” in The WORD Among Us, October 2010, p. 61-63).
After my ordination, I was assigned to work with a growing number of Hispanic immigrants in my diocese. Most of them were from Mexico, but just about every Latin country was represented among them. They have taught me many lessons and have helped me to depend on God for everything. They have especially taught me to be the priest that God called me to be. Here is one of the lessons.
Fiesta Frustration: In the first part of my priestly life, I was assigned to develop a Hispanic ministry in the diocese. I would drive three thousand miles around the diocese every month, knocking on doors looking for immigrants, and I would celebrate Masses in different parishes. At this time I was still very impressed with my own abilities, so I would ask God for help if I really needed it, but mostly I ran off of my own energy.
So it is not surprising that I got discouraged after a short while. I would drive several hours for a Mass, and only ten or twenty people would show up. I was frustrated and not sure what to do. I was also very cynical about things, although I tried not to show it.
Around the end of October in my third year of the priesthood, I went to St. Luke’s Parish for the monthly Mass and a meeting that followed with the leaders of the parish. They told me, “Padre, we are making plans for the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe in December. We are going to have a big fiesta to feed everyone who will come. We have enough beans and rice, but we don’t have enough meat. Could you find us a deer?”
I thought to myself, “This is it! All the time I spent in school, all the training that I’ve had, and these people want me to find a deer as if they grow on trees.” So I said, “Si Dios quiere,” which means “God willing”. However, I really meant it sarcastically.
Drama of the Deer: The following Tuesday, I got a call from a man I’d never met before who wanted to talk about the Hispanic ministry. I invited him to come the next morning for Mass. After Mass, I greeted everyone, and this man stayed back until everyone had left.
I am used to the usual formalities when I meet someone for the first time, but his guy came up with trembling hands and said to me, “Father, do you have a sharp knife and some plastic bags?” Now, I have watched enough cable movies to know that you don’t give your own knife to someone, so I asked him what was going on. His answer made my hair stand on end.
“On the way this morning, I hit a deer, and it is in the back of my car! I need to drain the blood from the deer so that the meat doesn’t spoil.” I was speechless. I went into the rectory, got the knife and the bags, and went with him to his car.
Sure enough, there was a dead deer in the back of his car with its tongue sticking out. I began to question the man, because my mind did not want to believe what was happening. I asked him to tell me how this happened. He said that it was really strange. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, and he was enjoying the drive. He noticed up ahead the deer eating grass on the side of the road. He said that when he got close to the deer, it lifted its head, looked him right in the eye, and just walked in front of his car and gave up its life. Those were his exact words.
While it is not unusual to hit a deer in Arkansas, it is rare when it occurs in the daytime. Another thing the man did not understand: There was no visible damage to the car, not even a scratch – only some fur on the bumper. The man said he was trembling from the experience.
I didn’t want to let on that it was my fault that all of this had happened! But I finally gave in and said to him, “I am supposed to ask you for some deer meat.” He did not say anything; he just cut off the back hindquarter and gave it to me. I carried it back to the rectory, and I said to God, “You don’t have to be so dramatic!” I could hear God rolling on the floor, dying from laughter.
Walking in Faith: The following week I went to the parish and handed the deer meat to Ana, one of the leaders, and said rather enthusiastically: “Here’s your deer meat.” She just took it like she was expecting that it was coming, so I said, “Wait a minute – this was a miracle!”
I will never forget the look on her face. She said to me, “You’re a priest, and you don’t know that God is providential?” I got the lesson.
I am indebted to all the people I have had the pleasure of serving in our diocese. They pray for us priests, and they put up with us! I am thankful that the Lord has called me to be a priest here. But I am especially grateful to the Hispanics in my diocese and those I have come to know through them in Mexico and other places in Latin America. They have helped me learn how to rely on God and ask with faith, knowing that the Lord will listen.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
In moments of despondency or distress, did I ever cry out with reproach: “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me”?
Do I allow myself to be overwhelmed with anxiety and worry unnecessarily about “tomorrow”?
Have we cooperated with “the servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God”? Have we lived our lives according to Christ, the Wisdom of God, as servants and stewards of the Gospel?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving God,
you love us tenderly and constantly,
as a mother loves the child in her womb,
but with a love that surpasses all we could ever imagine.
We are your chosen people.
You will never forget nor forsake us.
We thank you for your Son Jesus Christ,
the full revelation of your saving love.
Help us to trust in you
and to rely on the name of your Son Jesus Christ.
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
let us promote your kingdom of love, justice and peace.
As servants of Christ and stewards of his Gospel,
may we always mirror in today’s world
your trustworthy love and grandiose benevolence.
By our charity and kind deeds,
help us to touch today’s anguished people
with the healing balm of your compassion.
Make us your docile instruments
to nourish the hungry with the bread of compassion,
to delight the lonely with the wine of gladness,
to cloth the naked with the robe of Christ’s glory,
and to fill the barren desert with the breath of life.
We adore you and praise you;
we proclaim your abounding love
and extol the gift of your trustworthiness,
now and forever.
Assembly: Amen.
(N.B. The following prayer may be included.)
All: Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Leader: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,
and grant us peace in our day.
In your mercy keep us free from sin
and protect us from all anxiety
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Assembly: For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (cf. I Cor 4:2)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that by our life of loving service we may clearly image the trustworthiness of God. Be attentive to the urgent needs of our brothers and sisters who are unfortunate victims of natural and manmade calamities, crime and violence, political turmoil and economic depression. Assist them in any way you can.
ACTION PLAN: That we may experience more intensely the trustworthiness of a provident God, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR: A Weekly Pastoral Tool (Year A, vol. 7, # 14).
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