A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 9, n. 39)
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – August 21, 2011 * *
“How Inscrutable His Ways!”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 22:19-23 // Rom 11:33-36 // Mt 16:13-20
(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
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Is 22:19-23) speaks of the authority vested on Eliakim by God, which is to be used at the service of the chosen people and promote the divine saving plan. Chosen and favored by God, the servant Eliakim would be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. He would have the keys of office; what he opens, no one would shut; and what he shuts no one would open.
The Gospel reading (Mt 16:13-20) depicts Peter’s authority received from Jesus. Like Eliakim’s mandate, the authority received by Peter was meant to promote the kingdom of God and his redemptive plan. Mary Ehle comments: “Through the authority given to Peter, represented by the keys, and through his responsibility to bind and loose, the Church will proclaim salvation, grow, and be structured during this interim period before the fullness of the kingdom comes. Yet Peter alone retains the unique role of being the Church’s rock; only he has the keys … The symbol of the keys is the clear link to today’s First Reading. A second more subtle connection is Peter’s confession. By it, Peter, like Eliakim, shows he is faithful to God and is God’s servant.”
Another exemplary servant of the divine saving plan is Saint Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. In today’s Second Reading (Rom 11:33-36), he acknowledges the boundless works of divine providence. Greatly awed by God’s mysterious goodness, Paul exclaims: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!”
James Weaver explicates: “Romans 9-11 constitutes the core of Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome. In these chapters, Paul continues to argue his letter’s main point, that Jews and Gentiles, through the cross of Jesus Christ, stand as equals before God and are united in a single plan of redemption … Scripture bears witness that God’s fidelity to Israel has not wavered. The fact of God’s mercy to the Gentiles does not mean that God’s covenant with Israel has been scrapped. Today’s reading comes from the climactic verses of Rom 9-11. On its own, the main point of the reading is that people can do little more than marvel at the evidence of God’s thought and plans, for a full understanding of God lies well outside human’s grasp. In the context of Romans 9-11, these verses express Paul’s wonder and praise of a God who has chosen to redeem all the world, not just one nation here, or one people there! (…) For Paul, no less extraordinary is the way God has rescued the world from the powers of sin and death through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The following story illustrates the “inscrutable” divine saving plan at work even in modern times and the contribution to it by a faithful servant of the all-knowing God (cf. “The Bishop in Prison” by Archbishop Francis Xavier Van Thuan in CATHOLIC DIGEST, July/August 2011, p. 57-59). Through God’s mysterious ways and power, the incarcerated Bishop Van Thuan was able to loosen the shackles of evil and un-freedom about him.
I was in Saigon the week that the Americans left my country. Planes and copters were hauling American troops by the thousands to ships offshore headed for America. Many of the people who had helped the Americans vainly tried to get aboard and away. There was little room, and the rush to escape was destined for American countrymen. I still see the tears and the dust and hear the cries.”
A month later I was appointed bishop of Saigon. Barely had I begun my service than the government began to pressure me. I was to instruct my clergy that they may not instruct against government policies. The authorities severely limited us from charitable care for our parishioners. The state would take care of everything. They wanted to interfere in the training of seminarians and reduced the number we could recruit. All this was accompanied by angry threats.
I refused to obey them. Within three months, they removed me from office, arrested me, and put me in prison, where I lived for the next 13 years. The last half of that imprisonment, I was in solitary confinement. There I was in a dark cell with no one to talk to other than the six guards, two every eight hours. They were forbidden to converse with me. I knew that I loved God and could continue to do so in jail. My inner life was free. But I also concluded that I have a calling to love my enemies. So I set out to show my guards that I loved them. It wasn’t easy. But gradually I found ways to show my interest in their needs. I asked them about their children, how many, their names, their ages, their health. I showed concern for their wives and parents and, gradually, the burdens of their lives both at the prison and in their neighborhoods. Somehow I was able to establish a relationship with them.
After many months I summoned the courage to ask them for a favor. Could they give me a piece of wood, some wire and – holding my breath – a knife that I could keep for a few days? Many days passed, but finally they gave me what I requested. Secretly, I carved a cross with the knife and cut my bar of soap in half, inside of which I hid the cross. Lastly, I twisted the wire into a small chain. I now possessed again the cross and chain of a bishop. I never wore it visibly until my release years later, I am wearing that gift from God here tonight. By the way, I returned the knife.
I continued to foster the relationship with the guards. There were some changes, and I had to start over with a new crew of hostile men. Eventually, I made a request. Could I have some bread and wine? My relatives could supply it. So much time passed that I believed they would not help me. Praise God, they arrived one day with a very small bit of wine and bread.
So began my Holy Thursdays and Corpus Christis and Easter Sunday to brighten up my daily Good Fridays. Each day I placed a tiny piece of bread and a few drops of wine in the palm of my hand and celebrated Mass. I had no beautiful vestments, no candle light, no polished gold chalice, no lectionary, no sacramentary, no ordo, no altar, no choir or servers, no visible congregation.
In faith, of course, I knew the Holy Trinity, the angels and saints, and the Body of Christ on Earth joined me in my cell, lent me their courage, and I offered the Eucharist to praise God and help all people to receive salvation.
By the grace of God I was finally let free. Today I work with the Vatican’s Office for Justice and Peace. They like to send me to minister to those who do not like each other. My prison training in loving my enemies is now finding a new audience.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
What is the significance of God’s predilection for the servant Eliakim and the debasement of Shebna, the master of the palace? What lesson do you derive from it?
What does Jesus’ giving of “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” to Peter mean to you? Do you pray for the Pope and bishops of the Catholic Church and aid them in their ministry?
Do we trust fully in God whose judgments and ways are inscrutable? Do we commit ourselves to God and give him praise and glory in all the vicissitudes of life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Leader: Almighty God,
all authority comes from you.
It is entrusted to your servants for the good of the Church
and the advent of your kingdom upon earth.
We pray for the Pope and bishops;
cover them with your protection.
Be their light, help and consolation.
Let the “keys to the kingdom of heaven”
be used wisely in accord with your saving plan for all peoples.
Like Saint Paul,
we greatly marvel at the universal extent of your redeeming love.
We adore your wisdom.
How mysterious your thoughts!
How inscrutable your ways!
How deep are the riches of your wisdom and knowledge!
We love your loving design for each of us.
We submit ourselves to it for love of you.
Bless us, merciful God,
and make us instruments of your all-inclusive and compassionate care
for all peoples and creation.
We bless and praise you,
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.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” (cf. Rom 11:33)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
ACTION PLAN: Pray for the Pope and bishops of the Church that they may use “the keys to the kingdom” according to the saving plan of God. In your care for the poor, the needy and the marginalized, welcome the trials and difficulties that come your way in a spirit of faith, trusting fully in the wisdom of God’s inscrutable ways.
ACTION PLAN: That we may submit more completely to God’s mysterious wisdom and inscrutable ways, 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, # 39).
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