A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 22)
3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B – April 26, 2009
“Jesus Christ, the Just One”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 // I Jn 2:1-5a // Lk 24:35-48
(N.B. Series 7 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 B from the perspective of the Second Reading. For other reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year B, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 1 & 4.)
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Even though we are beset by trials and the vicissitudes of daily life and are challenged by human limitations and vulnerability, we – the community of Christian believers - rejoice with hope and courage on account of the transforming Easter event. By the grace of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, God continues to defeat the evil of this world, to heal our sinfulness and to offer us the gift of peace and eternal life.
The Jesuit scholar Martin D’Arcy remarks: “The disciples of Christ were changed from despair to unshakable joy by the events of Easter. Human beings differ in temperament … But all can come to happiness and acquire a disposition in which hope and courage have the upper hand … Such a disposition, however, to be secure and to give real peace must rest on a profound conviction of truth. The apostles had lost heart after Gethsemane; and they saw a dead man alive and speaking in their midst, and truth came upon them in such a way as never to be dislodged. It was a strange truth, which looked unblinkingly at shame, suffering and death. Those once abject apostles now preached what they felt might be to others a stumbling block or folly; of a God crucified and risen, a lamb slain and alive. They created hope out of death.”
This Sunday’s Second Reading (I Jn 2:1-5a) helps us to have a deeper understanding of the Easter mystery. Jesus Christ is the righteous one who intercedes for us as the “advocate” in the presence of the heavenly Father. Confronted with the harsh reality of sin, we relish the truth that Jesus Christ is there to help and strengthen us, and to save us from our sinfulness and from sinful, destructive situations. Indeed, Jesus offered his life in atonement for our sins and the whole world. We are thus called to open our hearts to his redeeming sacrifice for through Christ, our sins and those of everyone are forgiven. By obeying God’s commands, we participate in the universal and eternal efficacy of Christ’s atoning death. In submitting to God’s benevolent will, we manifest that we really know him and that we are united with him. For whoever obeys the divine word is the one whose love for God has really been made perfect.
As an Easter people, we feel the undercurrent of Christ’s definite victory over evil and death. We believe that Jesus Christ, the righteous one, rose from the dead to give us the gift of peace and to make us participate in his eternal glory. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 3, comment: “The Lord’s resurrection remains a mystery. But the resurrected is present in the midst of the world and the Church. The apostles proclaim it, believers witness to it by their faith, conversion and obedience to the commandments. Each Sunday, the Christian community experiences the grace and joy of coming together to feed and fortify its life by communicating in the Body and Blood of Christ.”
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, who was falsely accused of sexual crime in 1993, experienced deeply the Easter mystery of Christ’s passion and resurrection. Trusting in Jesus Christ, the righteous one and our advocate, Cardinal Bernardin spoke the word of truth that set him free. In his brutal ordeal, he experienced that God continues to defeat evil and is victorious over sin and falsehood. In his uplifting book, “The Gift of Peace” (New York: The Image Book, 1997), we read his poignant account (cf. p. 26-30).
The next morning, Friday, November 12, the allegations against me were the lead stories in the press of almost every large city in the world. As I prayed the rosary early in the morning, I meditated on the first of the sorrowful mysteries, the Agony in the Garden. I said to the Lord, “In all my sixty-five years, this is the first time that I have really understood the pain and agony you felt that night.” And I also asked, “Why did you let this happen?” I had never felt more alone.
I spent most of my morning meeting with my advisers, preparing for the press conference that was scheduled for 1:00 P.M. My morale was boosted by the letters and calls of support that had already begun to arrive, including a supportive statement from the Holy See.
My counselors discussed all aspects of the case as well as the strategies to use in handling them. We learned that CNN was airing promotional pieces every hour for a Sunday night special entitled “Fall from Grace” about priests who were found guilty of sex crimes. The promotional piece promised an interview with Steven Cook. He and the reporter were shown examining what they called “evidence” against me – a book and a picture. Because this interview had already been conducted and the show scheduled to air on the eve of the semiannual meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, it seemed that a good measure of planning had gone into developing the “case” against me.
At the conclusion of the meeting with my advisers, I decided to take an hour by myself to pray and reflect. I was being emptied of self in a way that I never could have anticipated, and I wanted to let go and place myself and my cares in the hands of the Lord. I was conscious of the blur of everyday life in the great city outside my windows and of the arrival once more of the caravan of media trucks in the street below. Ten minutes before the scheduled press conference I called an old friend and said, “I have been listening to good advice from good people all morning. I have made a decision to follow my own instincts. I am just going to tell the truth.”
Electricity filled the conference room of the Pastoral Center where almost seventy reporters were jammed together in a tangle of cameras, lights, and trailing wires. I understood that these journalists, many of whom I knew and liked, had to assume adversarial roles to carry out their work. But I was not there to battle with them. I just wanted to answer truthfully their questions.
But as I moved behind the brace of microphones, I felt that I was literally standing before the entire world, and I still felt very much alone. The most important thing I had going for me at the moment was my forty-two years of ordained ministry, my name, and my reputation. But there was also an inner strength, and I am convinced that the Lord was giving me that strength. For me, the moment of public accusation and inquiry was also a moment of grace. A moment of pain, but a moment of grace because I felt the great love and support that many people were giving me. Above all, it was a moment of spiritual growth. I felt that I was entering a new phase of my spiritual journey because of the events of those few days.
Midway into the session, the tension in the room lessened somewhat. While the atmosphere remained grave, it appeared that the truth, as the Lord promised, was freeing me and, in turn changing the attitudes of those asking me questions. They seemed less doubting, less hostile, more ready to believe than to disbelieve me. Still, their job was to probe and provoke.
The tension reappeared in the waning moments of the press conference when a young man in the front row asked me, “Are you sexually active?”
I paused only a moment, feeling briefly the enormous gulf between the reporter’s world and my own. “I have always led,” I said simply, “ a chaste and celibate life.” The reinstated tightness in the atmosphere loosened, and I could read in the eyes of the assembled journalists that they believed me. Afterwards, one told me, “We know now that you’re telling the truth, Cardinal, but we have to ask these questions. Our job depends on it.” The next day’s headline in the Chicago Tribune read, “‘I’ve Led a Chaste Life,’ Bernardin Says.”
After the session ended, I returned to my office. If it was an ordeal, I thought to myself, it was only the first of many. Indeed, I was to hold fourteen press conferences over the next week, all of them governed by the same dynamics. The truth, as faith promises, did earn me a greater sense of freedom at each of these meetings.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we listen attentively to the Gospel proclaimed by the apostles concerning God’s creative and marvelous act in raising Jesus from the dead? How does this Easter event affect our life?
How do we receive Jesus’ Easter benediction, “Peace be with you”? Are we thankful for this prayer blessing? How are we channels of peace for others?
Do we love and serve Jesus Christ, the righteous one and the expiation for our sins? How do we make our faith alive, transforming and efficacious?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Eternal God,
we thank you for the Easter event
that transformed the Christian disciples from despair to unshakeable joy.
Jesus Christ, your beloved Servant-Son,
is the atonement for our sins and the whole world.
He loved us unto death
and offered his life for us
that we may be freed from the bonds of sin and the clutches of evil.
Unite us with your saving will
and help us follow your life-giving commands.
Help us to love, follow and serve Jesus Christ more fully and intimately.
Enable us to be victorious through him, with him, and in him,
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.
“We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. He is the expiation for our sins.” (I Jn 2:1b-2a)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that the Easter victory of Christ may prevail in every sinful and hurting situation in today’s world. By your acts of love and service, endeavor to be an instrument of Christ’s benediction of peace to the unfortunate people around you.
ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate and be thankful for the Easter victory won for us by Christ Jesus, 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 B, vol. 5, # 22).
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