A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 24)
Pentecost, Year A – May 11, 2008
“The Church Blossoms on Pentecost …”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 2:1-11 // I Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 // Jn 20:19-23
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
There is an intimate link between 1) the birth of the Church from the wounded side of Christ dying on the cross and commending his Spirit to God the Father, 2) the breathing forth of the Holy Spirit by the Risen Lord upon the disciples on the “first day of the week”, 3) the pronouncement of the evangelizing power of the Spirit promised by Jesus to his little flock before he ascended into his glorious throne in heaven, and 4) the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Christian disciples gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. In all these paschal events is the vital role of the Holy Spirit as the animating principle that brings to completion Christ’s paschal mystery and God the Father’s compassionate, grandiose saving plan. The Spirit of life that Jesus, the Servant-Son of Yahweh, obediently breathed forth to the Father in an act of sacrificial worship on the cross is the very same gift of life that Jesus, as the Risen Lord, breathed forth upon his disciples gathered in the upper room, enabling them to participate in his power of life over sin and death. Moreover, the Holy Spirit, the Easter gift that leads to healing and forgiveness, is the very same Spirit promised by the glorified Jesus, ascended into heaven, as the power to anoint the disciples for their public mission as a universal Church on the day of Pentecost.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 3, remark: “The communication of the Spirit to the first disciples cannot be separated from the paschal event. John reports that, on the evening of that first day of the week, when the Lord appeared to the disciples, he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (cf. Jn 20:19-23). But, on that day, the disciples were in a house where all the doors were locked. At Pentecost, the Spirit made them open the doors, speaking without fear to the people who gathered as a noise like a strong driving wind filled the whole house. This was a public event. On this fiftieth day was celebrated the feast of Weeks – Sabu’ot – a commemoration of all the covenants, from Noah to Sinai. One can therefore see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this day as the solemn promulgation of the new covenant and the birth of the Church. Shrouded in the secrecy of its paschal baptism, where the Spirit brought it to maturity, the Church blossoms on Pentecost, and it is quite clear that the fruits of the Lord’s Passover surpass the promise of the buds.”
Indeed, the Easter and Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit is the force of life that animates the paschal and evangelizing Church and renews it from within. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 3, explicate: “After having spoken for so long through the prophets (Heb 1: 1), God reveals himself as Father by sending his only son to save the world. The gift of the Spirit inaugurates the last age by communicating to humanity the secret force that animates his life and the Son’s … Born at Pentecost through the breath of the Spirit, the Church cannot escape its impulse. The Church is constantly prompted to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world. If it should fall asleep, the Spirit reawakens it, sometimes rather brusquely; under the Spirit’s impulse, the Church, though thought to be out of breath, renews its youth from age to age.”
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, continues to be present, active and alive in each one of us. The mystery of “the blossoming Church on Pentecost” lives on through time and space and is experienced by the Christian disciples in the “here and now” through the animating power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Harold Buetow comments: “Through the ministry of the Church, whenever we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’s action in our lives we experience a “little Pentecost”. “Little Pentecosts” happen whenever we use the special gifts gently given us by the Spirit to serve all the other members of the community of humankind. They happen whenever we cooperate with God’s inspiration to bring peace, to unify our parish, to do a good deed, to help a needy neighbor, to think a kindly thought of others, or to allow God to forgive our sins.”
These past days have been very significant for me. Last April 27, 2008, the last Sunday of the month, I had a grand time exploring some of the wonderful spots in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Malibu, through the kindness of my wonderful friends Martin and Gloria Malonzo. While walking at the famed Sunset Boulevard in downtown Beverly Hills, I was greatly struck by a text featured at a showcase of ILORI store. I commented to Gloria that the text gives fascinating insight about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Gloria gave me some index cards so that I could copy the text, which I now share with you.
“Air is the most intimate of all elements. It caresses us. It pushes us. It reaches deep inside our bodies. It cleans our minds. Air speaks to us in a language all its own. It carries the scent of the rain, the smell of fire, the fragrance of flowers. It plays with our senses in a magical way. We understand the language of the air as we gaze at the clouds. We dream of flying in the wind. We blow kisses to our loved ones. It is always present, always near. Air is the elemental symbol of thought, of dreams, of magic! In it we release our hopes; we look to the future. We celebrate the element of air.”
I returned to the convent in the evening carrying many delightful memories in my mind and heart: the visit to the Good Shepherd Parish in Beverly Hills where Gloria once saw actor Brad Pitt praying intensely and quietly in the Church for about twenty minutes, the Confirmation Mass presided by Cardinal Roger Mahony at the Santa Monica Parish which is the parish where California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and his family belong, a pilgrimage of prayer to the Franciscan Serra Retreat House with its breathtaking view of the Malibu hillside and the Pacific Ocean – I was informed that Mel Gibson and Britney Spears reside in that area, and finally, a leisurely walk along the beautiful Malibu beach where we were thrilled by the slapping of ice-cold waves on our bare feet.
My sense of joy, however, was replaced with concern when I was informed that our dear Sr. Mary Agape of the Fresno community was dying. I was requested to leave for Fresno the following day to help prepare the funeral liturgy. I headed off from our convent in Los Angeles to Fresno the following day. I arrived at our convent in the afternoon and while we were celebrating Vespers, Sr. Agape passed away to eternal life at 5:30 P.M. We celebrated the funeral rites for Sr. Agape on May 2 (Friday). Together with some other Sisters, I returned to Los Angeles in the afternoon of the same day. On Saturday morning – May 3 – I received a notice from the Immigration Office advising me to go to USCIS San Jose to fulfill some application requirement. At the crack of dawn of Sunday morning, while I was preparing to leave, I answered a telephone call transmitting the sad news – not totally unexpected – that our ailing Sr. Mary Elisa had passed away at 3:10 A.M. A long trip from Los Angeles to San Jose that Sunday, and in the afternoon of Monday another long trip from San Jose to Fresno – and in all this I knew that the Spirit of love was pushing us to be there for others. We celebrated the funeral rites for Sr. Elisa on May 7 (Wednesday).
In this painful experience of the death of two exemplary PDDM Sisters within a week, the Holy Spirit was energizing us with a sense of hope that the power of the Risen Lord triumphs over the bitterness of death. The funeral rites and the process of bereavement for both Sr. Agape and Sr. Elisa turned out to be a “little Pentecost” experience. In supporting each other with the love and power of the Holy Spirit, we – the PDDM Sisters, the pastor Fr. Tim Cardoza and the other priests, and the many friends and benefactors who were there for us – were bonded into a faith community of peoples from all nations, cultures, and walks of life, celebrating the Risen Lord’s gift of eternal life to our beloved Sr. Agape and our dear Sr. Elisa!
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
What role does the Holy Spirit play in the life of Jesus?
What role does the Holy Spirit play in the life of the Church?
What role does the Holy Spirit play in your personal life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for the Holy Spirit,
the power of love that bonds you to your Son Jesus Christ
and the power of life that raised him up from his sacrificial death.
We thank you, dear Father,
for the Risen Lord’s Easter gift of the Holy Spirit
that enabled the disciples to participate in his paschal victory over death.
We thank you again
for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost
and the public inauguration of the missionary Church.
Above all, we thank you
for the blossoming of the Church at Pentecost
and for choosing peoples from all nations and cultures
to be a part of the blooming and fruitful Church.
We love you and serve, almighty God and gracious Father,
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.
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” (Acts 2:4)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Meditate on the animating power of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus, the Church and in your personal life. By your life of service to the poor, the needy, the grieving and suffering and by your endeavor to proclaim the Gospel in all kinds of situations, enable the people of today to have an experience of a “little Pentecost”.
ACTION PLAN: To help us experience more deeply the “Pentecost” experience that the Risen Christ continually brings into our life through the power of the Holy Spirit, 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. 24): 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