A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 16)
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year A – March 16, 2008
“A Sacrificial Love”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 50:4-7 // Phil 2:6-11 // Mt 26:14-27:66
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
The Old Testament reading of this Sunday’s Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Is 50:4-7), which is taken from the prophet Isaiah’s “Third Song of the Suffering Servant”, depicts the Servant of Yahweh as one who perseveres in the face of adversity without concern for self-preservation. Accepting his afflictions nobly, bravely and willingly, this enigmatic and fascinating disciple is upheld by the strength of the Lord God, who cares for him and destines him for a sacrificial and saving mission.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 2, comment: “This text exalts the Servant’s perseverance and constancy: he faithfully dispenses a teaching that shocks the hearers to whom he is sent. This faithfulness is certainly meritorious, even though the Servant could not evade it, because the teaching he imparts is not his own. The Lord himself instructs him; the constant contact with the Lord’s word keeps him watchful and goads him so that he cannot but speak. The daily nearness of the Servant of his Master explains his courage, his ability to comfort others who are worn out. Whence his strength of soul, his nonviolence. He does not defend himself. He puts his trust in God, since it is because of his word that he is reduced to such straits … By presenting Jesus as this Servant of God, the Church wants to show that far from holding the divine plan in check, the outrages inflicted on him were rather its profound realization. Such is the logic of the cross: to die by the hatred of others in order that they may live again by Christ’s love. Only God can give all of us the proofs of his love and render us capable, through the example of his Servant, of hoping against all hope in the victory of love stronger than death.”
Indeed, Jesus is the ultimate Servant of God who brings to fulfillment the logic of the cross, which is a sacrificial love to bring life to others. The mystery of the passion of Christ is not a mystery of death alone, but a mystery of love that triumphs over death. The sacrificial love of the saving Lord Jesus is the focus of our contemplation this Holy Week, a season of beauty and grace ushered in by the celebration of the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. On this Holy Week, the community of believers is immersed into the heart of the Paschal Mystery – a mystery of dying and rising, of humiliation and exaltation, of suffering and glorification, of sacrificial death and eternal life, and of defeat that leads to ultimate victory.
It is only in the context of love that suffering can have meaning. Jesus Christ, in his passion, loved us to the end. The mystery of Christ’s sacrificial love – often unrequited - endures through time and space and continues to be replicated in the men and women of today. The following story illustrates this:
My mom had one eye. I hated her … She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers to support her family. There was this one day during elementary school when my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school, one of my classmates said, “EEEE! Your mom only has one eye!” I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom just to disappear. I confronted her that day and said, “If you’re only going to make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?” My mom did not respond. I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings. I wanted out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real hard, got a chance to go abroad to study. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts. Then one day, my mother came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren. When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!” And to this, my mother quietly answered, “Oh! I’m sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,” and she disappeared out of sight. One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So I lied to my wife that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old shack just out of curiosity. My neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she wanted me to have.
“My dearest son, I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children. I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. You see… when you were very little you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine. I was proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. With all my love to you … Your mother.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
What is significant about the life and mission of Yahweh’s Suffering Servant? How does his faithfulness and trust in Yahweh impact you? Are you able to affirm, together with the Suffering Servant that “the Lord God is my help”?
Why is Jesus Christ the ultimate “Suffering Servant”? How did Jesus surrender himself to the saving plan of God? Do we respond with love to our Lord Jesus, who loved us to the end? Do we allow ourselves anew to be immersed fully into the paschal destiny of Jesus who suffered and died for us that we may live to eternal life?
Do we give ourselves the time and leisure to contemplate the saving events of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection? Do we commit ourselves to glean the lessons of beauty and grace offered by the liturgy of the Holy Week and the Easter Triduum?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for Jesus, the ultimate Suffering Servant,
who loved us to the end.
He immersed himself fully into the bloodbath of passion and death
that we may live.
We are deeply sorry
for our lack of response to your Son’s sacrificial love.
May the glory and victory that he won for us
by his suffering and death
enfold us and bring us to eternal life.
By his wounds we were healed!
In Jesus Christ, we live now and forever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced.” (Is 50:7a)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Meditate on the passion and glorification of Christ and thank God for the wonder of this saving grace. As baptized Christians, strive consciously to replicate the paschal mystery in your daily life. Imitate Christ’s sacrificial love by greater self-giving even when it is often not requited or justly recognized.
ACTION PLAN: To help us experience more gratefully God’s sacrificial love personified in 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. 16): 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