A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy

 

 

BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 33)

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – July 12, 2009

 

“God Chose Us in Christ”

 

BIBLE READINGS

Am 7:12-15 // Eph 1:3-14 // Mk 6:7-13

 

 

 

(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

 

In this Sunday’s liturgy we continue to delve into the loving action of God in salvation history. The sending of prophets who would speak his message of love to his people and summon the erring to conversion is a manifestation of divine goodness and compassion. God’s choice of prophets, missionaries and apostles is totally free and animated by his absolute wisdom – a divine initiative beyond human understanding and reproach.

 

In the Old Testament Reading (Am 7:12-15) we hear of the prophetic vocation of Amos, a shepherd and dresser of sycamore trees. God sent Amos from the land of Judah to speak to the culpable people of Israel the searing divine word that indicted their crimes and summoned their hearts to conversion. The reluctant Amos felt incompetent and unprepared for the overwhelming task, but God sent him just the same, ordering him: “Go, prophesy to my people Israel” (Am 7:15). The divine mandate, however, was blessed with grace and strength so that Amos could fulfill his challenging service to God’s chosen people.

 

In the fullness of time, God sent to our world the ultimate Prophet and Apostle par excellence Jesus Christ, who shared his prophetic-apostolic ministry with the “12” chosen followers (cf. Mk 6:7-13) and the entire Church. The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “This concept of being sent with authority is built into the fabric of the human race … God did send one unique ambassador to us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. But that did not exclude others … In the Christian community some are sent by Jesus for a special mission. For them the responsibility is awesome, but the assurance of grace is certain. For all, the need to recognize and affirm those who are sent should be accompanied by a keen sense of sharing in the mission itself.”

 

In the Second Reading (Eph 1:3-14), we are invited to contemplate the comprehensive character and expansive horizon of our vocation as Church. The author of the letter to the Ephesians makes us relish the following heart warming reality: God chose us in Christ. God has bestowed upon us every spiritual blessing in Christ. One of the most remarkable blessings for which we render the almighty God thanksgiving and praise is our vocation to be holy and our destiny to become his adopted children through his beloved Son, who redeemed us by his blood. By the paschal sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the mystery or the marvelous plan of the Father to unite all things in his Son was wisely and fully revealed. God destined people of all races, both Jews and Gentiles alike, to share in this plan of total restoration in Jesus Christ. Moreover, the heavenly Father gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit as a pledge of this universal integration and cosmic unification. Our ultimate Christian vocation then, which has its origin from God even before the world began, is to participate in the divine saving plan “to restore all things into one in Christ, in the heavens and on earth” (Eph 1:10). In Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we thus look forward to be united with God the Father forever and with all creation - in peace, joy, harmony and eternal bliss - to the praise and glory of our loving Father.

 

The liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent concludes: “The lesson taught us on this Sunday is clear. The apostles are chosen, but so are we all chosen, and the choice in every instance is a manifestation of God’s merciful love. He chooses us for his own glory and predestines us to be his children. He also chooses us for the great mission that he initiates and that consists in uniting the world under the headship of Christ.”

 

The following story is a beautiful example of a person who played a wonderful part in God’s plan of salvation (cf. “ERNST” by Mary Chandler in The Way of St. Francis, March-April 2009, p. 12-20). In his unique and humble way, the Swiss born American, Ernst Belz embraced his call to holiness and played an important role in restoring all things in Christ Jesus.

 

Sometimes a small body contains a heart as big as the whole outdoors. My friend, Ernst Belz, had such a heart. Standing four feet four inches tall, he refused to be hampered by his physical limitations. He hiked. He skied. He was a mountaineer. He lived life fully – and he touched the lives of all he met. Encouraged by our writing class, Ernst collected some of the stories he had read to us into a book, which he called Glimpses of My Life. The youngest of five children, Ernst grew up in a remote area in the Swiss mountains. His life was never easy; but at an early age he showed compassion for the needs of others. During the harsh winter months, he put hay in crib-like stalls for the elk and deer so they wouldn’t starve. He split wood for his mother’s cooking stove and her bread-baking oven, while at the same time mourning the loss of the beloved tree that had been his friend. In one chapter in his book he talks with a spruce that had to be cut down. The tree convinced Ernst that its sacrifice would benefit the family as firewood and by opening up more space and sunlight for other trees. Ernst’s final request to the spruce was simply: “May I embrace you once more?” (…)

 

In 1934, Ernst immigrated to the United States on the Queen Mary. He disembarked at New York Harbor, wobbly and unsteady on his feet after four days of being seasick, and was welcomed by his sponsors, a young Swiss couple who had immigrated earlier. “As we left the pier”, Ernst said, “it saddened me to notice some lonely and rather bewildered immigrants whom nobody had welcomed. Did they know where they would spend their first night on American soil?” A month later, he left his friends’ home in Connecticut to live in a hostel-type facility, the Sloane House, in New York City. Ernst was determined to “make it”. Every day he went job hunting. American slang proved to be a challenge. One morning a student waiter asked him how he wanted his eggs. Ernst wondered how to order “sunny-side up”. He asked for “two eggs looking at me”, which made the waiter roar with laughter. One morning at Sloane House, a well-dressed gentleman joined Ernst at breakfast and asked if he had a church home. He didn’t. Ernst joined the group, made friends, and for the next four and a half years these young men and women, he said, put meaning and purpose into his life. Ernst landed his first job with a food importer and manufacturing company, where he was expected to keep track of raw materials from the time of shipping until the shipment arrived. He processed the documentation, particularly the proper handling of the bill of lading and the negotiations of the letters of credit. During the job interview, Ernst said, he was touched by his boss’ sensitivity “when he was wondering if the chair would be comfortable because of my height”. Three months after his arrival in the United States, Ernst had a job as the assistant to the vice president. (…)

 

The final years of Ernst’s active life were spent with the Franciscans. A Benedictine priest invited Ernst to the San Damiano Retreat House in the hills near Danville in Northern California to visit his Franciscan friends. Ernst learned that the Franciscans were beginning the “Franciscan Covenant Program” for lay people, which meant that single men, women, or retired married couples would commit themselves to live and work with the Franciscans for a period of time and share their spiritual life. Ernst decided to leave his position at the University of the Pacific to join the program three years before his scheduled retirement. (…) During his time in the Franciscan Covenant Program, Ernst served, for a few weeks each year, at the Paz Y Bien Franciscan orphanage in Guaymas, Sonora Province in Mexico. “What a privileged opportunity it was! This time I was working and living in the midst of about seventy children between the ages of three and a half and eleven years. Although some of them were the poorest of the poor, their happy and cheerful little faces seemed to light up the whole world … I doubt that there could have been amore meaningful way for me to end my active life than to serve in the midst of those dear, innocent little orphan children.” In the picture he brought to class, Ernst blended in so well with the children that he had to point himself out to us. (…)

 

Eventually, Ernst stopped coming to the writing class. The trip became too much for him. He spent the last few months of his life in a care facility in Oceanside, California, where he recently passed away. Long ago, Ernst came to the conclusion that “economic success does not necessarily bring personal contentment”. The orphans, “some of them the poorest of the poor, have nothing, yet their happy, smiling and contented faces light up an otherwise dark and hopeless world like little candles.” Because of his tender heart, his quest for knowledge, and his loving outlook and philosophy, I was not surprised when a friend from Oceanside, California sent me a clipping from the San Diego Union-Tribune, dated May 12, 2006. At the dedication of a special Heritage Room, the library director announced that the late Ernst Belz has bequeathed $67,667 to the Oceanside Public Library. Somewhere, my small friend with his big heart is smiling.

 

 

 

II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

 

  1. What was the difficult predicament of Amos as a prophet? What was the origin of his prophetic vocation? Like Amos, do we feel unworthy of our vocation-mission to be God’s prophets? If so, what do we do?

 

  1. What was the missionary mandate given by Jesus to his apostles? Do we believe that we too are sharers in the apostolic mandate of preaching the Gospel? Are we totally free to commit ourselves to the ministry of evangelization?

 

  1. What is the personal meaning and implication of the lyrical affirmation in the letter to the Ephesians: “God chose us in Christ”?

 

 

 

III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD

 

Leader: Loving Father,

we offer you our song of benediction.

We praise you for the bounty of your spiritual blessings,

especially our vocation to holiness

and our pre-destiny as your beloved children in Christ.

Give us wisdom of heart

to recognize how immeasurably generous you are

in saving us by the blood of your Son Jesus.

Fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit,

the pledge of our future glory.

By the strength of the Holy Spirit, the Easter gift,

help us to participate fully in your saving plan

to unite all peoples and restore all things in Christ.

We love you and praise you

for you are the source of our vocation.

You fill us with abounding goodness,

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.

 

“He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” (Eph 1:4)

 

 

V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION

 

  1. ACTION PLAN: Pray that we may be thankful to God for our Christian vocation. By your commitment to the dignity of human person, the call to social justice and solidarity, preferential care for the poor and vulnerable, and care for God’s creation, endeavor to promote the divine saving plan “to restore all things in Christ”.

 

  1. ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate deeply God’s marvelous plan of “christification”, 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, n. 33).

 

 

 

Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang  PDDM

 

 

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