A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 21)
Easter Sunday, Year B – April 16, 2006
“Witnesses of the Resurrection”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 10:34a, 37-43 // Col 3:1-4 or I Cor 5:6b-8 // Jn 20:1-9
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 First 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
After the summer break in 1980 I returned for class and had a talk with a diminutive CICM religious brother who was studying with me at Maryhill School of Theology in Metro Manila, in the Philippines. That summer he was involved in a terrible and notorious accident while on his way to Iloilo Island for vacation with his family. Late in the night, an oil tanker vessel collided with the overloaded passenger ship he was on. There were frantic screams and great fear as darkness enveloped the ship and it started to sink. Hundreds of passengers fiercely fought for the few remaining lifesavers. As the youthful-looking small seminarian stood in panic, somebody shoved a kiddy lifesaver to him. He hastily put it on and jumped into the shark-infested water. Five desperate women who were non-swimmers grabbed him and tightly clung to him in a futile effort to live. Like lead they sank into the deep. After a lengthy struggle to survive, he finally untangled himself and rose above the water. A fishing boat rescued him and some other passengers after floating helplessly in the sea for almost a day. They were brought to a fishing village where the kindly barrio folks welcomed them with joy and compassion. As they sat on the beach, their benefactors served them food and drink – all what they could manage from their poverty and the bounty of their hearts. The seminarian narrated how a pretty teenager coaxed him to eat and drink, and since he was too weak to do anything, the girl pried opened a bottle of Coke with her strong, beautiful teeth and offered it to him. As they ate and drank in safety, with the sound of the sea waves peacefully lapping on the shore, it was undoubtedly an unforgettable “Easter” experience for him. Like the Risen Lord’s Easter meals with his disciples, the partaking of food and drink on the shore of that hospitable village was a celebration of the victory of life over death.
Today’s First Reading (Acts 10:34a, 37-43) delineates the privileged and important role of Peter and all those who were “witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection” – those “who ate and drank with Jesus after he rose from the dead”. Peter, who was initially baffled by the empty tomb in the garden on the third day after Jesus of Nazareth’s passion and death, progressively absorbed the truth that Jesus Christ is risen and living with the Church in his Holy Spirit. In today’s episode, Peter – as a staunch witness – was resolutely proclaiming the good news of the Lord’s resurrection and God’s all-inclusive saving design to the Roman centurion, Cornelius and his household.
The speech of the Spirit-filled Peter to the equally Spirit-receptive Cornelius’ household, the first Gentiles to be included among the followers of Christ, summarizes the Christian “kerygma” – the faith community’s elemental proclamation to the Gentiles about Christ. The Easter message that we hear today from the mouth of Peter contains, in a nutshell, the truth of the Christian faith: 1) the public ministry of Jesus who was anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit to save, to heal and to do good; 2) the central saving event of the death and resurrection of Jesus as the basic content of Christian witnessing; 3) and the apostolic mandate received by the witnesses chosen by God in advance – “those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” – to proclaim to the whole world that Jesus the Lord is indeed risen - the heavenly judge in whom sins are forgiven.
The meals that the Risen Lord shared with his disciples strengthened them in their conviction and Easter witnessing that Jesus is the Christ – the Son of God – the judge of the living and the dead, victorious over sin and death. Jesus, the Risen Lord, continues to live on in our midst, especially through the Eucharist – the sacred banquet graciously hosted by him as he offers us anew his saving body and blood. The glorified Jesus is the Lord of the New Covenant who makes himself eternally and lovingly present to his Church, in many and varied forms, especially the Eucharist. Like Peter and the other disciples we too are called to be witnesses of the Risen Lord in today’s world – for in the sacramental Eucharistic banquet we too eat and drink with Jesus who rose from the dead. Through our Eucharistic encounter with him, we are given strength and energy to share the joyful and transforming experience of “new life” and his power as the Risen Christ with the people of today’s anguished world.
According to Harold Buetow: “Christians see help against despair in the celebration of Easter. The resurrection of our Lord is the central mystery of our faith, our chief festival of life. It gives hope to those who have lost it. It is the day on which Jesus snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, vindicated his life and teachings, and confirmed our faith. It is the most exciting event of world history. It is not only an event that happened once in the past; it is the power of God that is seen constantly in people’s inner experience of newness of life. The resurrection is a sign of God’s loving interest in our world. All that we do on this day shows our joy and our hope: coloring Easter eggs, wearing nice clothes, dining together. Sundays are all “little Easters”. They celebrate the same ideas, which are at the heart of the Christian faith.”
On this beautiful Easter Sunday, we therefore join the early Church Father Epiphanius as he exclaims: “This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it with a spiritual gladness pleasing to God. This is our greatest feast, one that is celebrated by the world, a feast of renewal and salvation … We too must be renewed today; we must renew a right spirit within our hearts and so prepare to enter into the mysteries of this new and perfect feast and to exult in this day’s heavenly joy.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION: JN 20:1-9
By Sr. Mary Marta Soza PDDM
PDDM Community, Monrovia CA-U.S.A.
Every time I read the story of the resurrection of Jesus in the Gospels, I sigh and wish I were there among the women who first came and saw the empty tomb! And after the confusion of what had occurred, what a joy it would have been to truly understand what really happened, that instead of defeat, the most real and important victory in the world had been won: the victory of life over sin and death.
This account of the resurrection of Jesus in Jn 20:1-9 gives us only the first reaction of his followers at the sight of the empty tomb; but what a change they were to undergo in the days following the morning of the “first day of the week”. Later on, Luke would tell us what happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Jesus opened the minds of the disciples in Jerusalem to make them fully understand the Scriptures. And later in the Acts of the Apostles we will learn of a greater change that would be taking place at Pentecost! What a miracle! What is beyond the reach of our minds and our senses, love and faith are able to understand, realize and fully grasp.
Yes, the resurrection of Jesus challenges reason, contradicts the mind; and indeed, the resurrection is a truly unique and a totally revolutionary event in the full sense of the word. It made a tremendous change of consciousness in the first disciples of Jesus and continues to do so through all generations for those who believe in him. No other event in the world can ever give us the everlasting peace, joy and freedom that this one has assured us of. Death has been defeated; time and space have been transcended; and now in him we are free to love without fear and without measure. What else can change the world so radically?
Since we have been given a free gift of such magnitude, let us wake up and rejoice with Mary, our Mother, at the sight of the risen Son. And with hearts full of joy, let us run with Mary of Magdala to tell the whole world that we are loved beyond measure, that life has triumphed and that he is alive! JESUS is the Good News that all women and men of good will must bring to the entire world. In him we have been restored, healed and made whole. Let the sight of the empty tomb not deceive us, but with faith let us look for him in our own hearts and awake fully to this new reality being displayed in such splendor before our very eyes. Heaven and earth have embraced and the King of creation is now here with us in the form of Bread silently but powerfully communicating eternal life to all those who believe in him. Come, then, and shout with joy: ALLELUIA! LOVE AND LIFE HAVE TRIUMPHED! ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA!
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What impact does the event of Christ’s resurrection from the dead have on us? Are we truly an Easter people with “Alleluia” as our song?
B. How are we “witnesses of Christ’s resurrection” in today’s world?
C. Do we perceive the intimate presence of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist? Do we believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is an Easter event?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Adapted from P. de la Tour, cf. Days of the Lord: The Liturgical Year, vol. 3, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1993, p. 67)
Leader: Light of the world, O Jesus,
although we have never seen your open tomb,
whence comes this light among us:
this feast among feasts, if not from you, the risen one?
Assembly: Glory to you, O Risen Lord!
Leader: When someone we meet says to us:
where is your Christ today and his miracle?
We respond: whence comes the Spirit that turns us toward his Passover,
if not from him?
Assembly: Glory to you, O Risen Lord!
Leader: Our hearts burn when your love descends and whispers to us:
Love has come;
the day will come in the hearts of all creatures.
And the Lord will appear.
Assembly: Glory to you, O Risen Lord!
Leader: And if someone says to us:
Now show us a worthy sign beyond ourselves!
The sign is that at his return we must do what he loves
in order to testify that he is love.
Assembly: Glory to you, O Risen Lord!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” (Acts 10:41-42)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Today, Easter Sunday, commit yourself to be inwardly and outwardly joyful. Endeavor to make your Eucharistic encounter with the Risen Lord Jesus meaningful and draw out from this Easter experience the energy and strength you need to assist the poor and the underprivileged in our society. Transmit an Easter greeting by mail, telephone, E-mail or any other means to person(s) who direly need(s) a message and symbol of hope.
B. ACTION PLAN: To deepen our participation in the joy of the Risen Lord and to discover the personal challenge that he addressed to us as part of the Easter people, 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. 21): 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