A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 9, n. 37)
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – August 7, 2011 *
“Distress in My Heart”
BIBLE READINGS
I Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a // Rom 9:1-5 // Mt 14:22-33
(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 A 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 word of God addressed to the worshipping community is a font of strength and consolation. Today’s liturgy of the word depicts various personages in distress. Overwhelmed momentarily by circumstances, God’s faithful servants were steadied by his saving presence. Our compassionate God, the strength in adversity, is with us in daily trials and afflictions. May he be blessed forever!
In the Old Testament reading (I Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a) the prophet Elijah, exhausted and persecuted, took shelter on Mount Horeb. God manifested himself to the deeply anguished Elijah, not dramatically with spectacular signs, but gently as in a whispering breeze. The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “In his discouragement, Elijah asked the Lord to take his life … The actual appearance of the Lord, his presence to his prophet, is symbolized, not in those stirring phenomena of nature, but in a tiny whispering sound … Only the person of deep faith can see the hand of God in the small and simple things of life … Where do we find the source of our faith? Where do we look for it?”
The Gospel of this Sunday (Mt 14:22-33) presents us with a fascinating picture of Peter in his vintage impetuosity. He initially believed that Jesus could make him walk on the water, but since he had little faith he doubted. The raging waves were about to swallow him. Sinking into despair, Peter called out to Jesus for help. The Lord stretched out his hand to save him.
Saint Augustine comments: “Look at Peter, who in this episode is an image of ourselves; at one moment he is all confidence, at the next all uncertainty and doubt; now he professes faith in the immortal One, now he fears for his life … When he counted on the Lord’s help it enabled him to walk on the water; when human frailty made him falter he turned once more to the Lord, who immediately stretched out his hand to help him, raised him up as he was sinking, and rebuked him for his lack of faith. Think, then, of this world as a sea, whipped up to tempestuous heights by violent winds … If you feel your foot slipping beneath you, if you become prey to doubt or realize that you are losing control, if, in a word, you begin to sink, say: Lord, I am drowning, save me! Only he who for your sake died in your fallen nature can save you from the death inherent in that fallen nature.”
The Second Reading (Rom 9:1-5) delineates the apostolic anguish of Saint Paul. He is overwhelmed with sorrow for the rejection of the Gospel of Christ by the chosen people Israel. By recalling God’s irrevocable gifts to Israel, Paul’s faith was strengthened. The liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent explicates: “They have been given the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, and the promises of God. The patriarchs belong to them, and above all, it is from their race that the Christ has been born. Israel has all it needs in order to understand the word of God and to become part of Christ’s new people. Yet all that has not kept them from not receiving Christ. For Paul, this is reason for an immense feeling of sadness. The Christian cannot refuse to acknowledge the riches of the Jewish people, whom God has so loved, and to be saddened, with Paul, that they have not believed in Christ. We must be united with them at least through love and prayer.”
Paul’s sorrow for his fellow Jews was intense. He was willing to be accursed, that is, to undergo the worst possible fate, in imitation of Christ’s suffering, so that the obdurate chosen people may experience life and salvation. Harold Buetow remarks: “Why did the Jews reject Jesus as Messiah? In part, at least, because they had their own preconceived ideas of how God should act; they especially could not accept the scandal of the cross. Paul’s reaction, like God’s most likely, was not one of anger, but of heart-broken sorrow over the people’s rejection.”
The following story, circulated through the Internet, gives us an idea of the graciousness of God, as well as the awfulness of ingratitude and of our ugly refusal to embrace fully the love of God manifested in his Son Jesus Christ. The lines of action that accompany the story hint on how “to see” the blessings of God in our daily lives.
There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, “If I could only see the world, I will marry you.”
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn’t expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying, “Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.”
This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.
Life Is a Gift: Today before you say an unkind word, think of someone who can’t speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food, think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife, think of someone who’s crying out to God for a companion. Today before you complain about life, think of someone who went too early to heaven. Before you complain about your children, think of someone who desires children but they are barren. Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn’t clean or sweep, think of the people who are living in the streets. Before whining about the distance you drive, think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet. And when you are tired and complain about your job, think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job. But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another, remember that not one of us is without sin and we all answer to one Maker. And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down, put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we seek God in serenity and simplicity … and in the daily events of life?
Do we cry out to God when in trouble and distress and trust in his saving help?
Do we have compassion for others and experience sorrow and anguish on their behalf? What do we do that God may be blessed always and forever?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Leader: O loving Father,
we thank you, we love you and we praise you.
Your presence is as gentle as the cooling breeze
that we welcome in summer’s heat.
We listen attentively
as you speak tenderly your saving word
and we cherish it in our heart.
We turn to you in our need.
We trust that you listen to the cry of the poor.
Help us in our distress and never let us despair.
Through the raging waves of today’s world,
let not fear engulf us.
Let your Son Jesus reach out to us with his saving hand.
Grant us compassion for your suffering people.
Make us feel their anguish
and let their sorrow be in our own heart
that we may love and serve them,
and sacrifice our life on their behalf.
God the Father, you are great and almighty.
May you be blessed 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.
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.” (cf. Rom 9:3)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
ACTION PLAN: Pray that the people of Israel, the first to hear the word of God, may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant, and may arrive at the fullness of redemption. By your act of compassion and charity, enable those who are in despair to experience the saving hand of God through his Redeemer Son Jesus Christ
ACTION PLAN: That we may extend more efficaciously the redeeming hand of God to the needy and the despairing, 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, # 37).
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