A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 9, n. 34)
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – July 17, 2011 *
“The Spirit Intercedes for Us”
BIBLE READINGS
Wis 12:13, 16-19 // Rom 8:26-27 // Mt 11:24-43
(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: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
The message of this Sunday’s liturgy of the Word is very comforting: confronted by evil and disobedience, God is just but kind. His leniency is an expression of power. Like our heavenly Father, we too must be both righteous and kind. If we fail and fall, there is good ground for hope in repentance for sins. Our justice and kindness to one another and to others manifest intensely God’s very own justice and kindness. Indeed, our efforts to act justly and kindly draw their strength from divine power and mercy.
Today’s Second Reading (Rom 8:26-27), which is a lesson on prayer, teaches us that the intercession of the Spirit is the font of strength. In a distressing world that challenges our limits, the Spirit of Jesus comes to help us in our weakness. He pleads to God on our behalf. In the face of trials and adversity, the Church in prayer – animated by the Spirit – mirrors the divine power and patience that overcome evil.
Mary Ehle comments: “When our hope is not enough, the Spirit helps us wait patiently for that new day when our sufferings will be replaced by the glory of the Resurrection. Paul’s lesson on prayer not only teaches us that the Spirit intercedes for us, but how the Spirit does so. The communion of the Spirit with God – the one who searches hearts – is so deep that God knows the intercessions of the Spirit even before he intercedes for us. The Spirit’s intercession follows God’s plan of salvation … The Spirit draws us into communion with God because the Spirit himself longs with us for that day when we will know the redemption of our bodies and everything will be accomplished according to God’s will for those of us who are his holy ones.”
The ministry of prayer – by the power of the Holy Spirit – is an efficacious way of overcoming adversity and triumphing over sinful situations. The following inspiring story is a proof (cf. Mike Cassidy, “Valley’s Jobless: Hear Our Prayer” in San Jose Mercury News, October 5, 2010, p. 1, 5).
At a time when thousands in Silicon Valley are spending months or years looking for work, there are plenty among the unemployed who feel like they don’t have a prayer. And then there are those who gather each week in a small room in a converted industrial building just off the freeway in Mountain View. For them, it’s only a slight exaggeration to say that they feel like maybe a prayer is the only thing they do have.
“We believe that God has a plan”, says Geraldine Hill, who leads a small prayer group for the unemployed at the Abundant Life Fellowship church. Good and bad happen for a reason, she tells those looking for work and salvation simultaneously. “We push that”, she tells me. “Sometimes they hear it and sometimes they don’t.”
Hill, whose title is director of prayer and visitation, oversees the mega-church’s weekly Prayer Works meetings. It’s a group for the downsized and the outsourced, for the weary and the wary, for those who devoutly power their job search with a higher power that has nothing to do with Monster, LinkedIn or Career-Builder.
“For me, this has been the best time of my life”, says Marvin Ewing, a veteran of the first Gulf War, who joined the group after he was laid off from his telecommunications job early in 2009. “I’m closer to God. My prayer life has increased.” And his job prospects? “I know that I’m going to get a job”, Ewing says. “That’s going to come.”
His is the kind of faith that is rarely at the forefront of the conversation in Silicon Valley. This is a place about commerce and invention. It’s a place that puts its faith in science, technology and measurable results. Everything else is slightly suspect.
But it’s a mistake to look at unemployment as only a statistic. Layoffs and unemployment do broad damage. Sure, they drain bank accounts. But they also cause the stress that shatters relationships and inspires the despair that tests the faith of even the most faithful – whether that trust is placed in God, the market economy or one’s self.
Some turn to social mixers or professional networking events to replenish their sense of significance. Some turn to God and to those who believe as they do.
Last week, about a dozen people sat in a circle of chairs in one room in the vast building that serves as Abundant Life’s worship hall. They were a sampling of the misery that the downturn has delivered: Ray Guzman, a 63-year-old trucking dispatcher who was laid off two years ago; Alfred Kennedy, who’s worked some, but mostly looked for work for the past nine years; Tony Waller, who is praying to find forgiveness for the employer that dumped him; Tina Beauchamp, who is intent on leaving her old career behind and starting anew.
Each came with a prayer request and each prayed for the others in the room. Hill offered quiet amens and thank-yous as the prayers went around the circle. She is a woman with the soft eyes of a grandmother and the resolve of a drill sergeant. She tells the group that PrayerWorks, which started during the downturn following 9/11, will always be there for them. But it’s not as simple as that.
“You will get a job”, she says. “God said to Adam and Eve, ‘You gotta get out of here. No more free lunches. You have to work’.” Hill expounds on the point outside the meeting. PrayerWorks is strictly a “God helps those who help themselves” operation. There is no magic potion. This isn’t some sort of Hail Mary pass for the jobless. “You have to do your part”, she says of job seekers. “God doesn’t have a problem doing his part.”
And so she passes around printouts of various job openings during the prayer meetings. Participants trade news of opportunities they’ve heard about. She invites guest speakers to talk about resumes and interviewing techniques. And she asks alumni who have found jobs to come back and offer encouragement. Alumni like Jackie Ellison, who was laid off in 2008, when her payroll manager job was outsourced.
Ellison searched for work for months. (“I did have to say at one point, ‘God, are you still there?’”) And then, about a year ago, she landed a similar job at a similar salary. It turns out Ellison’s former supervisor knew the hiring manager and put in a word for her. “Maybe it was a little guilt”, says Ellison, of San Jose. “Maybe it was God tapping her on the shoulder.”
And maybe what it was depends on whether you’re one who believes you don’t have a prayer or one who believes a prayer is all you have.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
What is our personal response to God whose benevolence is marked with power?
How do we imitate the patient God who allows good and evil to co-exist until the judgment at the final harvest?
Do we unite ourselves with the Holy Spirit who pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his saving will?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Leader: O powerful and patient God,
we love you.
We thank you for your justice and leniency.
We bless your patient endurance
in regard to those who alienate themselves from you
by their wicked ways.
You graciously give sinners
hope of repentance and forgiveness.
We praise you for the Holy Spirit,
your gift to us in Jesus, the Risen Lord.
In the midst of trials
and in various difficulties of today’s troubled world,
the Spirit of Jesus is our consoler and intercessor.
In the face of adversity,
the Holy Spirit comes to help us in our weakness.
He, who is totally united with you,
pleads for us before you.
You search our hearts and know our thoughts.
We trust that you will strengthen us by your Spirit
when you will separate the weeds from the wheat
on the day of the “final harvest”.
You are our just Judge and merciful Savior,
now and forever.
Assembly: 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.
“The Spirit intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.” (cf. Rom 8:27b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
ACTION PLAN: Pray that the homeless and unemployed and all those who are experiencing the ill effects of today’s economic downturn may find strength in the consolation and intercession of the Holy Spirit. By your acts of justice and mercy on behalf of our needy brothers and sisters, let the love of God and the healing power of prayer touch their hearts.
ACTION PLAN: That we may fully participate in the ministry of intercession of the Holy Spirit and derive full benefits from it, 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, # 34).
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