A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 8)
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – January 20, 2008
“A Servant From The Womb”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 49:3, 5-6 // I Cor 1:1-3 // Jn 1:29-34
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
During the Christmas-Epiphany season, we have celebrated the radiant mysteries of the birth of Jesus and his various “epiphanies” or manifestations, as well as the indispensable role of Mary in salvation history as the Mother of God. In these Sundays of Ordinary Time, we now turn our attention to Jesus’ public ministry as Divine Master-Shepherd and his paschal destiny as “Servant of Yahweh”.
In today’s Gospel reading of the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jn 1:29-34), we hear that at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, John the Baptist gave a radical witness on his behalf: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world … I saw the Spirit came down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him … Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God”. Jesus of Nazareth – the Servant of Yahweh - was destined to take away the sin of the world. The Son of Mary was the personification of the ideal “Servant of Yahweh” prefigured in the Book of Isaiah’s four oracles or “Songs” (cf. Is 42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-11 and 52:13-53:12).
Against the backdrop of this Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Is 49:3, 5-6), which is part of the second “Song of the Servant of Yahweh” (Is 49:1-7), we contemplate Jesus as the universal Savior whose vocation is to be a “light to the nations” and whose mission is to bring salvation to the “ends of the earth”. As the ultimate “Servant”, his saving mission came from the loving God who formed him as his servant “from the womb”.
Harold Buetow comments: “Today’s passage from Isaiah, which is closely connected with our Gospel, presents this mysterious Servant of God. It is the second of the four hymns called the Songs of the Servant of the Lord. All these hymns taken together give a composite picture of the Servant. He has a mission from God. He sums up great figures from the past, but his mission lives in the future. He is at the same time a real figure, and an ideal. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah is God-with-us, a beautiful person suffused with the intense caring passion of God for the world. He is lovingly inviting, vulnerably returns good for evil wherever he is, and brings out in everyone all the good that they are capable of.”
Jesus is truly the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the beloved Servant-Son who fulfilled his mission to Israel, to all the nations and the entire creation by his radical submission to the Father’s saving plan. Indeed, the meaning of “service” and “mission” was utterly fulfilled by him in his paschal sacrifice.
The Christian disciples of all ages are challenged to fully appropriate the saving mystery of Jesus Christ in their lives. As baptized Christians immersed into the Lord’s paschal destiny of death and rising, we are called to spread the light of God’s saving love to all nations. The following story illustrates how 22-year old John-Paul Deddens endeavors to carry out his vocation and mission as a torchbearer in today’s confused and troubled world (cf. “Torchbearers of the Faith” in Our Sunday Visitor, June 10, 2007, p. 10). Like Jesus Christ, the ultimate “Servant of Yahweh”, John-Paul Deddens was “formed as God’s servant from the womb”.
The 2007 Sex Out Loud Fair at the University of Illinois, Champaign, looked, for the most part, just like last year’s fair. Like last year, it took place in the student center. Like last year, Planned Parenthood handed out emergency contraception. Like last year, The Feminist Majority and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Alliance distributed literature about “safe sex”, “casual sex”, “group sex” and every kind of sex imaginable. And like last year, there were sex-toy raffles and other off-color activities designed to make light of sexual intimacy. Unlike last year, however, was the theology of the body display set up directly across from the Feminist Majority booth. At the theology of the body display, on the table, sat a basket of Miraculous Medals wrapped in gold foil. “For your spiritual protection,” the students manning the table would say as they passed them out to passersby. Those same students also passed out literature and tapes on Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body and engaged attendees in discussions about the true meaning of sexuality. The display was the brainchild of a 22-year old engineering major from Dayton, Ohio, John-Paul Deddens. With the help of the school’s Newman Center and Illinois Collegians for Life (ICFL), Deddens made it possible for the Catholic perspective on sex to have a place, for the first time, at the annual event. And that’s not all Deddens made possible during his time at the university. As a sophomore, he concluded that Illinois Collegians for Life was good at doing big things, hosting events and bringing in speakers, but it wasn’t doing the small, day-to-day things the pro-life movement needs. Accordingly, Deddens founded Lifesavers, a sister organization to ICFL that organizes weekly trips to the local Planned Parenthood clinic. A year later, Deddens founded yet another organization, Students for Life Illinois (SFLI). Designed to serve as a resource for collegiate pro-life groups throughout the state, SFLI helps new groups get off the ground and helps existing groups work more effectively. Thus far, 19 colleges have joined the network, and the group will host its first major conference in Chicago this October. Studying for classes and combating the culture of death doesn’t leave a lot of room in Deddens’ schedule for things like sleep. But he’s not complaining. “I come from a big family,” Deddens explained. “I have six sisters and two brothers. Growing up, people would comment on how big our family was, and not usually in the most positive way. I knew a lot of those people thought I should’ve been avoided, that I should have never been born. I do the work because I was born. I survived.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
How does the figure of the “Servant of Yahweh” affect or move us? Why is this prophetic figure so important and fascinating? Why is Jesus the ultimate “Servant of Yahweh”? How did he carry out the vocation and mission as “Servant of Yahweh”?
2 What is the relationship of Jesus’ designation as the “Lamb of God” with the “Servant of Yahweh”? What is the sacrificial aspect present in Jesus as the “Lamb of God” and as the “Servant of Yahweh”? What are the feelings evoked in us by the figure of the “Suffering Servant of Yahweh” and by the “Servant of Yahweh” destined to be a “light to the nations”?
3 How do I respond to the challenge of being a “Servant of Yahweh” today? Do I believe that God has formed me as “his servant from the womb”? Am I willing to embrace the sacrifices entailed in being a “Servant of Yahweh” and in participating in the paschal destiny of the “Lamb of God”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father, we believe in the love and presence of Jesus, the Lamb of God and the obedient “Suffering Servant” in whom you were most pleased. We believe that like Jesus, we too have been formed as your “servants from the womb”. In the sacramental waters of baptism, we were immersed into his paschal destiny of death and rising and destined to bring the light of your saving truth to all nations. Give us the grace to be truly configured to Jesus your “Servant-Son” that we may be torchbearers of faith to all nations and cultural situations. Our most compassionate God, make us glorious in your sight and may we fully trust in your grace and strength. Empower us and anoint us with the Holy Spirit with whom you anointed Jesus, the perfect Servant and our beloved Savior. We love you; we serve you; we 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.
“I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Is 49:6)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Meditate on the meaning and dignity of being formed by God as his servants from the womb. As Christian disciples, endeavor to spread the light of truth by incarnating God’s compassionate care and love in everyday situations, especially on behalf of the troubled, the confused and the suffering people of today.
ACTION PLAN: To help us experience more deeply the saving mystery and the universal mission of the Servant of Yahweh, 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. 8): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
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Website: WWW.PDDM.US