A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 43)
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – September 21, 2008
“My Ways Are Not Your Ways”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 55:6-9 // Phil 1:20c-24, 27a // Mt 20:1-16
(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
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Is 55:6-9) tells us of God’s infinite mercy and asserts his unfathomable ways that transcend human logic. Composed at the end of Judah’s exile in Babylon in the mid to late sixth century B.C., this poetic passage was addressed to the Jewish people who had returned from exile. It was an invitation for a dispirited people to seek the Lord and call upon him, as well as an exhortation to trust the ways of God, which are often mysterious and unfathomable.
The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “The prophet invited them to return to the source of all life and strength. God has not abandoned them; they have abandoned God. They have abandoned him because they tried to cut him down to their size, but he didn’t fit. They wanted to make their thoughts his thoughts, their ways his ways. But his thoughts and his ways are as high as the heavens are above the earth. They wanted to repay their enemies for the losses inflicted on them, but the Lord was for mercy. They wanted vengeance, but the Lord is generous and forgiving. They wanted their own closet God who would take care of all their needs as they felt them, but he is Lord of heaven and earth. And yet, this Lord is near to them. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call him while he is near. Only recognize the Lord as God, the prophet urges them, and surrender your petty ambitions and selfish desires. Then you will experience how generous this God can be.”
The Isaiah text on the call to conversion and on God’s ineffable ways provides a fitting backdrop for today’s Gospel reading (Mt 20:1-16) of the story of a landowner who went out at various hours of the day to the market place to hire laborers for his vineyard. At the end of the day all the laborers, including those who were hired at the last hour, were paid a full day’s wage. Eugene Maly explains: “Jesus was telling a simple agricultural story whose meaning was not in details but in the story itself. In the Father’s kingdom all are equally loved and human standards are not to be used to measure God’s generosity. God forgives and loves as the world does not know how to forgive and love. The Church must do likewise.”
The following story by Marc Levy and published in FRESNO BEE (August 17, 2008, p. A3) gives us a glimpse of how a stance of generosity and compassion could generate resistance and resentment among those who felt that such benevolence is unwarranted.
MARIETTA, Pa: A former tough-on-crime Pennsylvania lawmaker has adopted a new and unpopular cause, taking into his home three sex offenders who couldn’t find a place to live – a stand that has angered neighbors, drawn pickets and touched off a zoning dispute. As cities across the nation pass ever-tighter laws to keep out people convicted of sex crimes, Tom Armstrong said he is drawing on his religious belief in forgiveness and sheltering the three men until he can open a halfway house for sex offenders … Nearly 100 Pennsylvania municipalities have ordinances restricting where sex offenders may live. The ordinances generally bar them from moving in next to schools, playgrounds or other places where children might gather. In early June, Armstrong quietly allowed a rapist and two other sex offenders who had served prison time to move into his 15-room century-old home 75 miles west of Philadelphia after another town blocked his plans for another halfway house … A Republican, Armstrong served 12 years in the Legislature before he was defeated in a primary in 2002. He was known for making conservative positions on abortion, taxes and crime but also for his role in later years supporting prisoners’ rights. Over the past two decades, he also took in homeless veterans, and more recently he has been a mentor to ex-cons.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Have we experienced that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and that our ways are not his ways? What is our stance when our thoughts and our ways contradict those of our loving God? How do we assert our faith in this situation?
What does the parable of the generous landowner tell us? Do we see ourselves as the laborers of the first hour – begrudging and resenting God’s generosity to others? Do we see ourselves as the laborers of the last hour – the recipients of unmerited divine mercy and goodness?
How do we incarnate in today’s situation God’s generosity and goodness?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O loving God,
we thank you that our feeble thoughts are not your thoughts
and that our wicked ways are not your ways.
We are often selfish and unkind.
We thank you that you are God
and that you transcend our fragility.
We adore your unfathomable designs
and your compassion for each one of us.
O Lord, you are generous and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
You are good to all
and compassionate towards all your creatures.
Do not allow us to use our faulty human standards
nor to limit your generosity.
May we not obstruct your kindness
and benevolent justice towards all.
You are our all-knowing and gracious heavenly Father.
Help us to be gracious to the needy
and kind to the broken-hearted
who yearn for your healing touch and renewing love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus
and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We praise and glorify you,
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.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Is 55:8)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray for the marginalized and underprivileged who need the “benevolence” of the Savior Lord and Divine Master. Be an instrument of divine mercy for the needy members of our society in any way you can and in the best way you can.
ACTION PLAN: That we may perceive and appreciate the meaning of “God’s ways” not being our 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, # 43).
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