March 2
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BIBLE READINGS: I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS When I was a student at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute at St. Anselm University in Rome, I took two seminars on the biblical readings of the Sundays of Lent, guided by the famed liturgist Rev. Fr. Adrian Nocent, OSB, a member of the Commission responsible for preparing the Vatican II Lectionary. He introduced us into the science of liturgical hermeneutics, specifically, the interpretation of the biblical texts proclaimed in the celebration of the Eucharist. He trained us to see the central message in the Gospel reading against the context of the Old Testament background. He taught us to note the title headings of the biblical passages contained in the Lectionary for they can give us the key to a proper interpretation of the Word of God proclaimed in the liturgy. The Gospel of this Sunday’s liturgy provides a good example of the liturgical reading of a biblical text. Fr. Nocent explains: “In today’s liturgy, the first reading provides the context within which the Gospel is to be read and tells us that in reading Mark, we are to concentrate chiefly on the presence of the Bridegroom and on the behavior this presence suggests.” The nuptial imagery dominates the theme of this Sunday’s biblico-liturgical texts. Jesus, the Healer of all our infirmities and the merciful Lord who forgives our sins, is the messianic Bridegroom. Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church, invites us to a new relationship that transcends mere legal observances and superficial piety. A loving relationship with the Bridegroom entails a radical transformation and infuses new meaning into such religious practices as fasting, an issue raised by some people when they observed that John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast, while Jesus’ disciples did not. Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day” (cf. Mk 2:19-20). The reference to the Bridegroom being taken away is an allusion to the death of Jesus that led to his saving glory. Indeed, in the new dispensation that resulted from the paschal event of the death and resurrection of Jesus, his disciples would fast, but not in the normative meaning given to this religious practice by the disciples of John and the Pharisees. Following a new lifestyle based on the radical salvation won for us by Christ’s saving death on the cross, the Christian disciples would also fast, but for the right reason. An erroneous notion of fasting has no place in the messianic kingdom ushered in by Christ. Indeed, the followers of Jesus would exercise various forms of salutary asceticism, in a spirit of receptivity to the coming of the Kingdom. They would carry these out in anticipation of the full joy that is prepared for them by the victorious Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, in the nuptial banquet in heaven. The radical newness of our relationship with Christ can be compared to a piece of new cloth which should not be sewn into an old cloak, for it will make the tear even greater. It can also be compared to new wine which should not be poured into an old wineskin for it will cause the skin to break and spill the wine. Indeed, the love-relationship with Christ, the Bridegroom, demands an exhilaratingly new vision and life-style, symbolically portrayed by Mark as “new wine being poured into fresh wineskins” (cf. Mk 2:22). The portrait of Christ as Bridegroom takes on a deeper character when seen in the context of the first reading (Hos 2:16b, 17b, 21-22). The prophet Hosea portrays Yahweh as a faithful lover who pursues the wayward Israel with an eternal love. The espousal imagery underlines the magnanimous quality of God who led his liberated people from Egypt into the desert. In a kind of spiritual idyll, the desert was the place where they were forged into a chosen people and their covenantal relationship with Yahweh ratified. Hosea’s prophetic oracle about God leading anew the wayward Israel into the desert, the paradigmatic place of salvation and covenantal union, manifests the Lord’s gratuitous intention for his fickle people. Indeed, it is God’s indomitable hope that a fresh encounter with his beloved Israel will result in a perpetual espousal. In nuptial terms, the Lord attempts to renew his covenantal union with his people Israel: “I will espouse you to me forever; I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the Lord” (Hos 2: 21-22). The nuptial relationship between Yahweh and his people Israel, portrayed in the oracle of the prophet Hosea, is brought to a radical fulfillment by the marriage covenant between Jesus Christ and his Bride, the Church. The covenant was made possible by the coming of Christ into the world as the Incarnate Word. Indeed, the mystery of the incarnation is the most important step towards making the nuptial union a reality. According to an ancient Church writer Paschasius Radbertus (c. 785-860), “A most strange, indeed, unheard marriage took place when, in the womb of the Virgin, the Word became flesh and so dwelt among us … He became man and like a bridegroom came forth from the womb of the Virgin.” But the nuptial union between Christ and the Church would reach its utmost intensity in his sleep of death on the cross. Paschasius, therefore, asserted: “When the Church is reborn of water in the same Spirit, she becomes one body in Christ, so that they are two in a single body … This wedding lasts from the first moment of Christ’s incarnation until his return.” The Church is, therefore, eternally wed to Christ. The Bridegroom of the Church can really never be taken away from the Bride. He who loved us to the end will accompany us with his abiding presence. Indeed, the eternal Bridegroom is with us. He will always be with us! II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD (From the Liturgy of the Hours, Monday, Evening Prayer, Week II)
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 espouse you to me forever.” (Hos 2:21) V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
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Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM
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