A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 19)
5th Sunday of Lent, Year B – April 2, 2006
“The New Covenant”
BIBLE READINGS
Jer 31:31-34 // Heb 5:7-9 // Jn 12:20-33
N.B. This new series of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY presents a biblico-liturgical study of the Old Testament reading of each Sunday Mass to serve as background for a better understanding of the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy. For a biblico-liturgical study of the Gospel for each Sunday, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Every Sunday after Mass I make it a point to read THE TIDINGS, Southern California’s Catholic Weekly, from cover to cover. In its March 17, 2006 issue, page 5, I was greatly impressed by an announcement made by QueensCare, a faith-based public health care charity that follows the healthcare directives of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops: “QueensCare is pleased to announce its program for free hospital care for qualified low-income persons … Between now and 06/30/06 QueensCare will spend $5,000,000 on hospital care for low-income medically uninsured residents of Los Angeles … People meeting the qualifications may register at one of the listed churches during normal office hours. You do not need to be a church member, but you must visit in person … Immigration and citizenship status are not considered in determining eligibility for care.” There is something very refreshing in QueensCare healthcare initiative to help the poor and needy. One can feel the spirit of love and compassion that animates this endeavor. There is a breath of “newness” in this Christian ministry. As a community of believers, we are heartened by this new, spirit-filled approach to a pressing social problem of today’s world.
This Sunday’s liturgy also speaks of “newness” – the radical newness of the New Covenant offered to us by Jesus Christ, the “little grain of wheat” that falls to the ground and dies in order to produce abundant fruit. Indeed, our spiritual journey during this Lenten season puts us in contact with fascinating Old Testament readings that enable us to glean wonderful insights regarding our covenantal relationship with God. On the First Sunday of Lent, we have perceived the basic content of God’ inchoative covenant with Noah: his benevolent permission to continue the history of humanity (cf. Gn 9:8-15). On the Second Sunday of Lent, we were enthralled with the sacrificial character of God’s covenantal relationship with Abraham, the father of faith (cf. Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-12, 15-18). On the Third Sunday of Lent, we have realized that the purpose of the Decalogue – the Ten Commandments, the fundamental law that regulates the people of Israel - was to deepen God’s covenantal relationship with them and protect their identity as a people consecrated to him alone (cf Ex 20:1-17). On the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we have experienced the pathos of a broken covenantal relationship and commiserated with the Jewish people, wallowing in the pain of their self-inflicted misery and weeping by the waters of Babylon, where their conquerors drove them into exile. But in the wreckage of their sin and humiliation, the mercy of the God of the covenant was greatly revealed.
Today, on the Fifth Sunday of Lent and at the threshold of the Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, the Old Testament reading (cf. Jer 31:31-34) invites us to focus our prayerful meditation on the promise of the New Covenant, announced by the prophet Jeremiah to an obdurate people who were at the brink of a violent catastrophe: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah … I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people … All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” The scholars who prepared the Jerusalem Bible comment: “In verses 31-34 Jeremiah reaches its highest peak of spirituality. The old covenant has been violated and the attempted reform under Josiah has been short-lived. It is evident now that God has other plans. A disaster will ensue, leaving only a remnant of the nation, and then an everlasting covenant will be made, a covenant as in the days of Noah. The former perspectives remain: man’s obedience to the Law, and the divine presence bestowing peace and material prosperity, this ideal being summed up in the formula: I will be your God, and you shall be my people. But the covenant is ‘new’ in three respects: God’s spontaneous forgiveness of sin; individual responsibility and retribution (cf. Jer 31:29); and interiorization of religion – the Law is no longer to be a code regulating external activity, but an inspiration working on the heart of man, under the influence of the spirit of God, who gives man a new heart, capable of knowing God. This new and eternal covenant, proclaimed again by Ezekiel, by the closing chapters of Isaiah, and operative in Psalm 51, will be inaugurated by the sacrifice of Christ – and the apostles will proclaim its fulfillment.”
Indeed, the radical “newness” of the New Covenant is not to be found in the essentials of the covenant, for they are fundamentally the same, but in its remarkable realization and christological thrust. The promise of the New Covenant is radically actualized and perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the Son of God himself. Jesus is the New Covenant, and in his love, forgiveness, concern for others, unmitigated compassion, and above all, in his sacrificial offering on the cross, he became the head of the people of the new and eternal covenant.
Recognizing that Jesus is the crystallization of the New and Everlasting Covenant, the authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 2, avow: “Grain of wheat fallen into the earth, he has risen, tree of life laden with fruit. Lifted up on the cross, he is forever the sign and source of salvation for all those who look to him with faith and follow him into the glory God reserves for them. He is the head of the people of the new and eternal covenant in his blood poured out for all as atonement for the sins of all.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
By Anh Theresa Nguyen PDDM
PDDM Community, Monrovia, California, U.S.A.
In the Gospel according to St. John, the crowd asked about Jesus: “Who is this Son of Man?” (Jn 12:34). The crowd neither understood nor believed in Jesus. Thanks be to Jesus Christ for our faith now. Through him, we have the answer: He is our light! He is our hope!
Blessed are those who do not see but believe! Unfortunately, the crowd then had eyes, but they did not see. How many times did Jesus explain to them who the Son of Man is and that he had to suffer, die and be glorified. He had made himself known to them for three years – preaching, calling for conversion, making miracles, and healing many of them physically and spiritually.
He also said to them: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” The more he talked, the more they did not get it. They did not understand the reason why Jesus had to suffer and to die. Their thought was not the same as Jesus’. Therefore, Jesus gave them a hint by responding differently and indirectly (in verses 35-36) to their question concerning the Son of Man: “The light will be among you only a little while. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness may not overcome you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light.”
We do believe that Jesus is the light! He is our only hope! Let us stand firm in this reality and choose to stay close to him. Let us search for his truth through his words in the Bible, and he will show us what we have to do.
We, like the crowd of Jesus’ time, do not see and understand much about his plan for us. If we understood well Jesus’ saying, we would live as he does. We would embrace and accept suffering in life as a gift from God, without discouragement and offense. It is part of the paschal mystery; it is part of our spiritual journey.
More than that, we also fail to love him. Unless we love him with faith and trust, we will not be able to overcome many things. Love gives us joy and peace of mind to choose to do the right thing. In the dark, we could not see God at all; we see only hatred and ourselves wandering in the shadow of hopelessness, and we neither see joy nor love in our neighbors. Let us ask for his forgiveness. Let us be aware of his presence and his light.
Indeed, love casts out darkness and gives light and joy, which already exist in the innermost core of our being. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI released an important document, his Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est (“God Is Love”). Let us read, discover and contemplate it as a guideline. However, it is even more important that we live by it and put it into practice. Pope John Paul II also gave his final words, “Do not be afraid! I am happy, and you should be as well.” Let us embrace this inspired thought, live with trust and enjoy the present moment of God’s gift of love.
In this Lenten season, let us ask Jesus to heal our wounded souls - full of discouragement and the fear of the unknown. Let us ask him to journey with us in this spiritual journey of life. Let us ask him to transform and give us the graces we need to accept the sufferings and challenges of our daily life, and the fidelity and love to walk humbly with God and others.
Let us choose Christ and walk in his path for he is our true light. He is our hope and resurrection. Let us follow him as he said in the Gospel of John, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12).
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What are our personal experiences of broken relationships? What are the circumstances in our life that provoke shattered and betrayed relationships? Do we feel responsible and accountable when we allow covenantal relationships to warp and deteriorate due to neglect, indifference, abuse and malice on our part?
B. How do we feel about our broken covenantal relationship with our loving and merciful God? Do we deeply regret our guilt and detest our sinful actions that lead to the breaking of our covenant with him? How do we respond to the Father’s gracious initiative to heal, restore, renew and deepen our relationship with him? How do the tumultuous history of Israel and the prophetic words of Jeremiah about the “new covenant” impact us?
C. Do we treasure the refreshing quality of “newness” that Jesus Christ brings into our life? Are we grateful for the life-giving sacrifice he made for us as a little grain of wheat that falls on the ground and dies in order to bear abundant fruit? How does his covenantal fidelity to his heavenly Father inspire and strengthen us? Do we respond fully to the paschal sacrifice he offered on the cross in order to bring about the “New Covenant” in his blood? Are we willing to submit ourselves totally to Jesus, the head of the New and Eternal Covenant?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Biblical verses set into music by Lucien Deiss)
Antiphon: Grant to us, O Lord, a heart renewed. Recreate in us your own Spirit, Lord!
1. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord our God,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.
2. Deep within their being I will implant my law;
I will write it in their hearts.
3. I will be their God and they shall be my people.
4. And for all their faults I will grant forgiveness.
Nevermore will I remember their sins.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah … For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:31, 34)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray for the candidates who are preparing to celebrate the Rite of Christian Initiation during the Easter Vigil and for all the baptized that they may be faithful to their covenantal relationship with God. Pray for the QueensCare healthcare initiative to help the poor. As an expression of your covenantal fidelity to the saving plan of God, offer a life-giving ministry to someone who is in dire need.
B. ACTION PLAN: To express our deep gratitude to God for the New Covenant inaugurated and actualized in the sacrificial blood of his Son Jesus Christ, 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. 2, n. 19): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
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