A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 35)
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – July 26, 2009
“Gather the Fragments!”
BIBLE READINGS
II Kgs 4:42-44 // Eph 4:1-6 // Jn 6:1-15
(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 Elisha story that we heard in the Old Testament reading (II Kgs 4:42-44) concerning the feeding of a hundred people with merely twenty barley loaves sets the stage for the multiplication of the loaves and fish in this Sunday’s Gospel reading (Jn 6:1-15). The evangelist John’s account of the miracle of the loaves and fish that satisfied a hungry crowd of five thousand, with leftovers besides, underlines God’s abundant care and generosity on behalf of his chosen people.
Harold Buetow remarks: “The Eucharist makes us companions – literally “bread sharers”, from the Latin cum and panis. And the miracle of the bread shows God’s abundance, in which we recall the abundant wine at Cana, the abundant water which Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at the well, and the abundance of the Spirit which would be poured out. God’s generosity is a recurring theme throughout the Bible.” The Eucharistic bread is immensely satisfying. Received in faith, it nourishes us spiritually for it is the bread of life. Those who share in the Eucharistic meal can truly say that they had “as much as they wanted”.
The bread image has layers of meaning and evokes profound insights. Antoine de Saint Exupery comments: “Bread plays so many roles! We have learned to recognize in it, an instrument of the human community because of the bread we break together. We have learned to recognize in it, the image of the nobility of work, because of the bread we earn by the sweat of our brow. We have learned to recognize in it, the essential vehicle of pity, because of the bread we distribute in time of want. The taste of shared bread is without comparison.”
The biblical image of bread, moreover, is deeply spiritual. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explain: “In the Bible, bread, gift of God to humans to strengthen them, symbolizes intelligence and wisdom. It is a sign of concluded peace, of life (Jn 6:35). The barley loaves are those of the bread offering. The gesture of the man who brings to Elisha the first-fruits which earth has given and human hands have made has a definite liturgical connation. Finally, the abundance of the bread that will feed the poor has come to suggest, in a later tradition, the banquet of the end time, when at last God himself will liberally satisfy all human needs.”
Jesus’ command to his disciples to “gather the fragments” evokes the image of the Church gathering together for the Eucharist. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explicate: “As to the remaining pieces – the fragments – that Jesus orders to be collected so that nothing will be lost, they make us think of the ancient appellation of the Eucharist: ‘the fraction of the bread’. Finally, Christian tradition has seen the relation between those pieces carefully gathered and the Eucharistic meal that Christian communities, scattered through time and space, continue to celebrate until the day when Christ will assemble the elect at the heavenly table. The Eucharistic bread, the food that endures for eternal life (Jn 6:27), will never fail in the Church; everyone is abundantly fed with it today, and there will still be plenty of it tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”
The theme of the Church gathering together in unity is reinforced in today’s Second Reading from the letter to the Ephesians, which is called “the epistle of unity”. Jesus Christ is the Savior sent by the Father to gather all human beings in the unity of the one body and one Spirit. Their vocation is to serve one Lord and to share one faith and one hope. Immersed into the blood bath of Christ, they are reborn and renewed by that one baptism and become the beloved children of the one God and Father of all (cf. Eph 4:1-6). The scattered “fragments” of the one loaf – the dispersed members of the Body of Christ – are destined to be restored in the Eucharistic Christ and to be gathered in unity.
The sharing of a meal is a means and sign of unity. In the following story, we can have a glimpse of how the “gathering of fragments” and the spirit of love and unity is at work in a domestic Church in Guatemala (cf. “Missioner Tales” in MARYKNOLL, March 2009, p. 6.)
A village in the highlands of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, where I served as a missioner, was having its annual festival for its patron saint. Standing on the fringes observing the comings and goings, I noticed a man and a woman and two children – a girl about 8 and a boy maybe 6 years old. Most likely they came from an outlying area, and from their clothing, I sensed they were quite poor. Quietly and respectfully, they stood as a family enjoying the music and the activities. Nearby a man was selling ice cream cones. They were not expensive, maybe the equivalent of 10 cents. Suddenly, the father approached the ice cream man and bought just one cone. What I witnessed then made a lasting impression upon me. The father returned to his wife and children, and the four of them shared one ice cream cone.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
How does the Elisha story impact us? Do we believe that the Lord feeds us and answers all our needs?
How does the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves and fish hearten us? How do we respond to Jesus’ command, “Gather the fragments …” (Jn 6:12)?
Which virtues are we to cultivate as Christian disciples and as Church in order to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received? Are we grateful and do we respond fully to our vocation to live as one body and in one Spirit, to share one hope, one faith and one baptism, and to serve one Lord Jesus Christ and to love with filial affection the one God and Father of all?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for your Servant-Son Jesus Christ
who came into the world to satisfy our deepest hungers.
On the holy mountain,
he felt compassion for the distressed people
who were “like sheep without a shepherd”.
Jesus nourished the hungry crowd
after inviting them to recline and rest on the green grass.
The “loaves and fish” that he multiplied to feed them abundantly
is a symbol of the greater gift – the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Jesus,
the Bread of life and the eternal Shepherd of your sheep.
Help us to be mindful of your Son’s command
to “gather the fragments”.
Give us the grace to promote love and unity within the Church,
the body of Christ.
May the Eucharist that we celebrate
from the rising of the sun to its setting
be a sign and means of unity for the Church.
We love you, the one God and Father of all,
and we wish to serve you as one body and in the one Spirit.
We proclaim one hope, one faith and one baptism.
We give you praise
and we wish to glorify you in the one Lord Jesus Christ,
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.
“Preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Eph 4:3)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray for a greater and more efficacious sharing of material and spiritual resources in today’s world. Be an instrument of the multiplication of the “loaves and fish” for the hungry and the world’s poor. Strive to follow Jesus’ command, “Gather the fragments …” and promote the unity of the Eucharistic Church.
ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate the goodness and generous compassion of God who feeds the hungry, 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. 35).
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