A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 24)
5th Sunday of Easter, Year B – May 10, 2009
“Those Who Keep His Commands Remain in Him”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 9:26-31 // I Jn 3:18-24 // Jn 15:1-8
(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
The Eastertide of the Church is a season of joyful celebration and growth. In the liturgy of last Sunday, we have contemplated with wonder and thanksgiving the power of Christ’s paschal mystery that made us God’s children, the flock he shepherds. On this 5th Sunday of Easter, the proclamation of the living Word of God invites us to consider seriously the absolute necessity of mutual “indwelling”. Jesus is the vine that gives life and we are the branches in full union with him, the Risen Lord. In order to promote the springtime growth of the Church and the maturation of its spiritual fruits, we – the children of God - should be totally and intimately united with Jesus, the living vine. United with the vine, we are destined to bear abundant fruits. Separated from the vine, we are nothing. Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no life. The intimate attachment to the vine, from which the life-giving sap flows, ensures the vitality and fruitfulness of the Church.
This Sunday’s Second Reading (I Jn 3:18-24) serves as a commentary on the Gospel reading (Jn 15:1-8). Our claim of “indwelling” – our avowal that we are in Jesus – proves true when we keep God’s great command of love. Our faith in Jesus is real and authentic when we love one another as he commanded us. We are truly united with Jesus by the loving concern we have for one another and by the love with which we serve each other. Indeed, the Spirit of love at work in our midst is proof that God lives in union with us.
The liturgist Mary Ehle comments on today’s Second reading: “Christians live in the here and now. Accordingly, John writes that Christians – the children of God – are to love not only through the profession of their belief in Christ, but also through deed and truth … In our contemporary idiom, John teaches in this passage that Christians cannot say one thing and mean another. John is realistic, though, realizing that sometimes our hearts lead us to sin. In this case, we are to know that God is greater than our hearts and knows everything – God is a God of forgiveness … Christians remain close to God by keeping his commandments. The Spirit of God, alive in them, will show them as true believers, separating them from false believers who speak their faith, but do not follow God’s commandments.”
I met Mrs. Vicky Trevillyan on March 8, 2009 at the Congress on Divine Mercy in San Ramon, California. She is a volunteer for the Vladivostok Mission aimed to revive the Catholic Church in Eastern Russia. Based in Modesto, she is in charge of receiving the donations in kind from California to be sent to our needy brothers and sisters in Vladivostok. Vicky writes an article in the newsletter VLADIVOSTOK SUNRISE (January 1, 2009, p. 7-8), which illustrates the meaning of “remaining in Christ” and the challenge of fulfilling his command of love and of bearing apostolic fruits.
I pray this story of one mission team to Vladivostok can remind us of the hope of Christ and how our prayers and efforts do make a difference. Our mission team in Vladivostok was assigned to work in one of the Hospice Hospitals outside the city. The women of our team were given buckets and gloves and asked to clean the floors and walls of one room. The walls were covered with human waste and dirt. The team dutifully scrubbed the room and made it as comfortable as they could. The men of our team were asked to carry the three male patients from this second floor room downstairs to the tiny plaza outside.
One team member shared later he carried a quadriplegic patient down the stairs and onto the courtyard below. He couldn’t bear the odor of urine and feces coming from the patient as he carried him. At one point the patient informed one of the attendants he needed to use the bathroom. The attendant ignored him and as if it was the norm, the patient casually proceeded to soil himself and was later carried back to his room in such a condition. Our team member asked not to go back to the hospice as the conditions were too unbearable and sad for him.
Days later, the administrator from the hospice sent a thank you note for the much needed help the team provided along with a message that changed the hearts of all in the team. When the three patients were carried downstairs and out to the courtyard, it was the first time in six years they had been outside! The hospice is understaffed with women employees and with no elevators, other resources or male employees to help. The patients live in their rooms day after day.
The mission team realized the simple acts of love they could provide are what bring Christ to the people of Russia. The team member who could not go back to the hospice, now wanted to return in renewed hope and understanding of the love of Christ. Later, when the story was told to his family, his father wisely said, “He did not know it was Christ, whom he carried down the stairs.”
This is one of countless stories of your prayers and support touch that bring hope to our brothers and sisters in Russia. If you would like to know more about how to volunteer your time with many tasks in the mission office, become a mission speaker, travel to Russia, and areas of financial help, and more, please contact me at (209) 408-0728 or write usoffice@vladmission.org. God bless you. Thank you for all you can do to revive the Catholic Church in Eastern Russia.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Is Eastertide a season of joyful celebration and spiritual growth for us? How?
How do we respond to the following words of Jesus Christ: “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit”?
Do we truly believe in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the living vine, and live out his command to love one another? In our sacrificial love and compassionate service to one another, do we experience the reality of “indwelling”: God dwells in us and we in him?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for engrafting us into the living vine Jesus Christ,
our Risen Lord and Savior.
We cling to him as the branches adhere to the vine.
We partake of its life-giving Eucharistic sap,
which flows from the vine to the branches.
Let our life of intimate communion with Jesus
bear abundant fruits of peace and justice,
of compassion and service to the poor and the needy.
Help us to be always faithful to Christ’s love command
by allowing the power of the Holy Spirit, the Easter gift,
to transform us into a joyful people
zealous to proclaim the Good News of salvation to all.
We praise you, we love you, and we adore 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.
“What he commands is that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as Christ commanded us.” (I Jn 3:23)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that we may have true faith in the Risen Lord Jesus and that we may truly love one another as he commanded us. By our compassionate and preferential concern for those in greatest need in our society – the unborn, those dealing with disabilities and terminal illness, the poor and marginalized – let us show that God really remains in us.
ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate the indwelling of God and its effects in our lives, 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, # 24).
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