A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 35)
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – July 23, 2006
“I Will Appoint Shepherds for Them …”
BIBLE READINGS
Jer 23:1-6 // Eph 2:13-18 // Mk 6:30-34
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
I watched the intensely gripping movie, “Hotel Rwanda” two days ago. The chaos, disaster and catastrophic situation that resulted from the tribal war between the Hutus and the Tutsis and the footage of the atrocious genocide brought about by the Hutus against the Tutsis evoke the biblical scenarios of “the sheep without a shepherd” that are found in this Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Jer 23:1-6) and the Gospel reading (Mk 6:30-34). As I watched the movie, I was moved to pity. I also remembered a priest friend from Rwanda – my classmate at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselm University in Rome in the early 1980’s. Very tall, like a pine tree and strong as an oak tree, when he was climbing with me the Aventine Hill going to our school at the Benedictine abbey, he would make his naturally long stride very, very, very slow. I, in turn, would double pace my stride in order to catch up with him. I lost contact with him after graduation from the Liturgical Institute. As I watched the movie, “Hotel Rwanda”, I could not help but wonder whether he – a Tutsi - was one of the “tall trees” cut down by the Hutus. Deep in my heart, I was also sure that just like the benevolent and kind-hearted Paul Rusebagina, the hero of the “Hotel Rwanda”, he played the part of a true “shepherd” sent by God on behalf of the troubled and hapless people of Rwanda.
Today’s Old Testament reading offers a very good background for the Gospel episode concerning Jesus’ care and concern for “the sheep without a shepherd”. Susan Myers remarks: “In the decades preceding the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, the kingdom of Judah was a vassal state, subject alternately to Egypt and Babylonia. Kings ruled in quick succession, often installed by the foreign nations in power at that time. At one point, there were even two kings, one in exile and one in Jerusalem. In this chaotic situation, Jeremiah proclaims the oracle we read today. The false shepherds are those rulers who are responsible for the scattering of the people in exile. Beginning as an oracle of judgment, today’s passage quickly turns to provide hope for those exiled in Babylonia. God promises to take care of the remnant of the people which remains faithful, bringing them back home again. The prophet further predicts that God will raise up one from the lineage of David who will rule with justice.”
Concerning “the shepherds that God will appoint for his people to shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble” (cf. Jer 23:4), the authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explain: “The true cause of the Babylonian Exile lies not in the strength of the conqueror’s arms but in the sin of the people and their unfaithfulness to the covenant. They have turned away from God and placed their trust in others. Hence, the catastrophe – the ruination of the land and the deportation of its inhabitants. This was to be expected, the more so as the prophets had never ceased to warn the people and their leaders against about the disastrous consequences of their aberrations. The Exile was the opportunity for the people to become aware of these deviations and to understand that there is salvation only in God, that only conversion and renewal of fidelity to the covenant are the conditions of a new gathering of the exiles in the Promised Land … Only God can gather those whom sin disperses in all lands; only he can make of them a saved people. In order to accomplish this work, God chooses and sends shepherds charged in his name with leading the sheep on the roads of life where they have nothing to fear from anything or anyone, if they do not succumb to the temptation to leave these ways laid down and marked by the Lord, their only Master. Then it happens, that, among these leaders of the flock, the still indistinct form of the Elect of God is silhouetted on the horizon; born of the stock of David, he will distinguish himself, however, from all others.”
The promise of a future ideal king, described as “a righteous shoot of David” is fulfilled and crystallized in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd - the ultimate Shepherd sent by God to nourish and care for his flock. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explicate: “As time passes, the people realize that no king can correspond truly and for a long time to the hopes placed in him. They will understand that the promise, and the oracles that regularly confirm it, will have their fulfillment only with the coming of a Messiah, born of a David’s race, but so much according to God’s heart that he will be above human standard. He will be the good shepherd (Jn 10:11). It is, therefore, toward God and his Christ that Jeremiah’s oracle turns our eyes, reread within the tradition and with the additional light of ulterior revelations, the hope and the prayer of believers.”
In this light, the Gospel episode of Jesus gathering his apostles who were reporting to him all they had done and taught and his invitation, “Come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest awhile” (Mk 6:31) acquire a wider and deeper meaning. The vast crowd of hapless people were frantically running to “the place of rest” to encounter Jesus. They were intensely yearning to be included in his pastoral ministry. Since they were “like sheep without a shepherd”, Jesus welcomed them. He gathered them together with his apostles and enabled them to share in his all-inclusive and gratuitous invitation, “Come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest awhile”. The restoration of the souls that comes from the love and care of the Good Shepherd is meant not only for a chosen few, but for God’s entire flock – the pitiable crowd who, in their brokenness, have a claim on Jesus’ care and pastoral ministry.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, thus situate the mission and the legitimate need of the apostles for rest in the wider perspective of Christ’s pastoral ministry to the entire flock of God: “The Son of God was sent to earth to announce the good news of peace to those who were much like sheep without a shepherd and to give them access in one Spirit to the Father. He formed the apostles for this ministry by awakening them to pity for the crowds that were hungry for word and bread, and by teaching them, through his example, what they were to do and teach. This urgent mission has priority over all the rest. When the multitudes are here, waiting for the food the shepherds are supposed to give them, it is not time for rest and self-absorption. This is not to say that the missionaries of the gospel do not have the right to seek solitude. On the contrary, it is indispensable for them to enjoy a well-deserved rest – this will come in due course, when the work is finished – but to get closer to God and to Christ and, in a more intimate communion, to learn what it means and what is demanded of them when moved with pity for the crowds.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
By Arline La Porte
Westlake Village, CA-U.S.A.
Jesus, in spite of the needs of the throngs of followers, urged his disciples to take some time for themselves to rest after their long, tiring journey. It appears that, in order to escape the multitudes and have some rest, he and his disciples got into the boat and sailed out onto the Sea of Galilee. And still the people followed them. Being refreshed, they then continued to minister to them.
Care giving can be very demanding and it is important that we kick back from our daily duties and take some rest and relaxation so that we will be able to continue to serve others when God calls us to do so. We should not feel that we are being selfish when we take time for ourselves. It is only common sense.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What are the painful scenarios of “the sheep without a shepherd” that we are witnessing daily in today’s world? What do we do to respond to such gripping and pitiable situations?
B. How does the following compassionate promise of our loving God touches us: “I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble” (Jer 23:4)? Are we ready to be true “shepherds” to God’s flock? In what ways are we guilty of playing the unfortunate roles of “false shepherds”? How do we make amends for our apathy and indifference, and for the injustice we have committed against “the sheep without a shepherd”?
C. What do we do to actualize in our lives the loving care and ministry of Jesus, the Good Shepherd? What is our concept of solitude and rest? Do we endeavor to allow both others and ourselves to relish the quiet and rest promised by the Good Shepherd? Do we allow the heart of the Good Shepherd to throb in us and animate our daily acts of caring and serving?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Cf. Days of the Lord, vol. 5, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1993, p. 154)
Leader: You were far from the source of life,
wandering and dispersed.
Now, rejoice:
by his cross the Lamb gathers the flock,
and all those who follow him proclaim:
Assembly: Jesus, our shepherd, you lead us to the father!
Leader: All of you who are hungry and thirsty,
come quickly: God’s justice is revealed to you.
The walls are destroyed;
the barriers are down:
God reconciles you through the blood of the Lamb.
Joyous news for those who were far and for those who were near:
one body unites them.
Assembly: Jesus, our shepherd, you lead us to the father!
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing”, says the Lord. (Jer 23:4)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Today open the newspaper and see the various situations of “the sheep without a shepherd” in our modern world. Pray over these situations and for those who courageously and generously respond to the Christian vocation of incarnating the role of Jesus, the Good Shepherd in the here and now. Offer the love and pastoral care of the Good Shepherd to one who is in deep need.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help appreciate more deeply our pastoral ministry in union with Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and draw out its challenges and implications, 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. 35): 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