A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 32)
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – July 2, 2006
“He Wants To Give Life …”
BIBLE READINGS
Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 // 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 // Mk 5:21-43
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
The series on “Mysterious Healings” that is found in GUIDEPOSTS magazine is very inspiring. In her article “8:04 A.M.” (cf. p. 67-70 of the May 2006 issue), Jan LaRosa shares a tremendous experience of personal healing. At 8:04 A.M. on an autumn day in October, while herding her kids off to school, she received an urgent call from her doctor informing her that an MRI test showed an aneurysm at the base of her skull. An aneurysm is a weak spot in the artery. The artery wall stretches like a balloon until it bursts, and the patient bleeds to death internally. Her neurosurgeon scheduled a head and neck angiogram to get a better view. Jan was devastated and wept bitterly, feeling abandoned by God. Her 75-year old mother herself died of an aneurysm that burst during surgery. She lost gallons of blood before dying. While taking a bubble bath the next day, Jan’s eye was caught by a single bubble rising through the air. She thought, Is that maybe how God wants us to live? Yes, God was the same at 8:03, before the doctor called. He was the same at 8:04, when I got the news. And he was the same at 8:05. The aneurysm didn’t surprise him, just me. Trust him, Jan. He’s the same even now. See yourself in that bubble. Let go. A few days after the angiogram, the neurologist called: “I’ve been doing this for more than thirty years and I’ve never seen this happen. Jan, you had an aneurysm. Now, you don’t. I have no medical explanation. I can only tell you the word I wrote in your chart and circled: Miracle.”
Jan’s healing story acquires greater perspective against the backdrop of this Sunday’s Gospel passage (Mk 5:21-43) and the Old Testament reading (Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24), which both underline the benevolent character of God as giver and protector of life. Indeed, God’s will is for life and his own beloved Son Jesus wishes to give that life and salvation to those who have faith in him. The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly comments: “The Gospel reading is a glorious celebration of life. It tells of the restoration of the fullness of life to a hemorrhaging woman and to a young dying girl. To both, Jesus brings life and brings it gladly. Obviously, physical life is the primary object of Jesus’ concern here. But the Greek work Mark uses to describe the woman’s saving faith is often used to include as well that richer life with God. If we enjoy good health, we should be grateful to God and see it as one of his special gifts. But if we are in poor health, we can take comfort in the fact that we do share the far more precious life with God that never ends.”
The ineffable reality of God as author of life and of Jesus as savior of life is perceived more intensely when we consider the various declarations in the book of Wisdom: God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. Death is not from God. In his loving design the world that he created is good and wholesome. Human beings, however, do experience “corruption” or death, but this unfortunate reality is the result of evil having entered the world by “the envy of the devil”. Eugene Maly explains: “The author attributes the introduction of death to the envy of the devil. Almost certainly he is referring here to the sin of Adam and Eve, instigated by the serpent (Gn 3). Here, for the first time, that serpent is identified as a symbol for personified evil, the devil. A fascinating statement by the author is his final one, “They who are in his (the devil’s) possession experience it (that is, death). Here he is thinking only of spiritual death and says that those who have rejected God through sin are well aware of it. Their lives are already touched by the joylessness of death.”
In the Book of Wisdom, moreover, is a remarkable affirmation about the transcendent destiny of human beings: “For God formed man to be imperishable; in the image of his own nature he made him” (Wis 2:23). The almighty God created us in his divine image and desires that we share his eternal life. The biblical expert, Jose Vilchez comments: “In Wis. 2:23 the author affirms the positive doctrine and fundamental pillar upon which rests his own eschatological hope and that of all the just ones to whom he explicitly refers (3:1-9), that is, that the human person is not a being hurled out into the emptiness of existence in order to return to nothingness; this creature of God is endowed with a destiny worthy of its Creator, namely a happy eternity with God. The whole person, an indivisible reality, is an image of God and the privileged place of visible creation where God is manifested. Revelation in Christ has carried this theme of the icon of God to its utmost limits in Jesus Christ who is the image of God par excellence.”
This Sunday’s passage from the Book of Wisdom states clearly that God does not rejoice in the destruction of the living (Wis 1:13). The exegete, Carroll Stuhlmueller links this Old Testament assertion with the Gospel reading: “The gospel exemplifies this fact in the tender and determined way that Jesus restores life and health under seemingly impossible circumstances. In the gospel we find that Jesus also claimed these people as his own. He sought out the sick 'little daughter' of the synagogue official. He was also 'conscious that healing power had gone out of him', when the woman with a long-term hemorrhage had touched him … Jesus drew public attention to the fact, however, not in any way to reprimand her, but rather to praise her faith. This faith he assured her, has cured you … Struggling with illness and seeking health were good actions. It was all the better to include the Lord in this search and to believe in the power of miracles. Jesus, in raising the little girl back to life, at once became conscious of her human needs. He told them to give her something to eat … Jesus was blessing our human existence; he was making it possible for us to enjoy physically the normal joys of life. We recall the words of the Book of Wisdom: The creatures of the world are wholesome.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
By John Rigsby
Franciscan University
Steubenville, Ohio
The woman with the hemorrhage suffered for twelve years. She used up all her money seeking healing from doctors, but this was to no avail; her affliction continued. Hearing about Jesus, she is filled with hope and faith. Could this possible mean healing for her? She reaches out in faith and is healed physically, but perhaps there is a deeper healing that must occur in her yet.
Jesus, as soon as the woman touches Him, feels power go from His body and He calls out for the woman to make herself known. This must have been terrifying for her. She had been ritually unclean for the last twelve years of her life. If people had known this about her, it is likely that they would have ostracized her or treated her like a dirty rag. No one could have touched her without becoming ritually unclean as well.
She steps out of the crowd in “fear and trembling” and reveals her history to the crowd. Basically, she fears being known and not being loved. This is something many of us struggle with: if God and others truly knew who I am or what I have done, they would not love me. It sounds ridiculous to the head, especially with respect to God. Jesus died for us to save us from our sins because he loves us; we know that with our minds, but sometimes that message has difficulty making it to our hearts. We assent to the truth that Jesus loves us, but our hearts say it cannot be so.
Today let us let the light of Christ into the dark parts of our hearts. Let us trust in Him as did the woman with the hemorrhage, knowing that he will heal us when we place our trust in Him.
Jesus I trust in you.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. How do the following affirmations from the Book of Wisdom impact us personally and effectively: God did not make death; he does not rejoice in the destruction of the living; he formed us to be imperishable; he made us in his own image; etc.?
B. How do we respond to the miracles of healing and Jesus’ absolute stance for life that we hear in this Sunday’s Gospel reading? Are we ready to join Jesus in his ministry against death-dealing forces, in his defense and promotion of life-giving forces, and in his great celebration of life that is God’s gift to us?
C. Do we commit ourselves to God, the giver of life? Do we allow ourselves to be possessed by God who wants to give us the fullness of life? How do we imitate Christ in his healing ministry and care for life? Do we let the life of Christ take total hold of us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
you are the author of life.
You fashioned all things in your great love
and made the creatures of the world good and wholesome.
You formed us to be imperishable
for you have made us in your image and likeness.
By “the envy of the devil”,
sin and death entered into the world
and we experience the fragility and brokenness
of a human existence alienated from you.
But it is your will to save.
You want to give us the gift of true life.
In your Son Jesus Christ is the healing power
that overcomes the power of sin and death.
In the healing of the bleeding woman
and in the raising to life of the twelve-year old child,
we acknowledge the life-giving strength of Jesus
that is greater than the death-dealing forces of a broken world.
In Jesus, you vanquish the effects of sin.
In him, we celebrate the power of life
for he lives and reigns forever and ever.
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.
“God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living … But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world.” (Wis 1:13; 2:23)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray for the sick and all those who are suffering the painful effects of death-dealing forces in today’s world. Pray for doctors and all those who care for the sick. Alleviate the suffering of the sick and endeavor to share the healing love of Christ to them and to all those who need it most. Participate in laudable efforts that seek to preserve and promote the gift of life.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help experience more deeply the healing power of Jesus who wants to give us life, 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. 32): 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