A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy

 

 

BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 38)

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – August 16, 2009

 

“The Bread of Wisdom”

 

BIBLE READINGS

Prv 9:1-6 // Eph 5:15-20 // Jn 6:51-58

 

 

 

(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

 

This Sunday’s liturgy invites us to relish the exquisite goodness of Jesus, the “bread of wisdom”. He calls us to receive the gift of eternal life by partaking in the Eucharistic feast of his body and blood, offered in the sacramental form of bread and wine.

 

The Eucharistic feast of Christ’s body, broken for the life of the world, and of his blood, poured out to make of us God’s new covenant people, is prefigured in the Old Testament reading (Prv 9:1-6). God’s wisdom is personified as a woman who prepared a delectable banquet of food and drink. She invites the ignorant and those in need of understanding to this sumptuous feast. Through her servant girls, Lady Wisdom calls them to eat the food she prepared and to drink the wine she mixed. She exhorts them to follow the path of understanding that they may live. She enjoins them to avoid Lady Folly that they may not perish.

 

Mary Ehle remarks: “Christians understand the fulfillment of Wisdom’s banquet to be the Eucharistic feast at which we share in Christ’s own body and blood. Through this memorial meal we believe that our days are multiplied and the years of our life increased (Prv 9:11), since, as we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus is the living bread that comes down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever (Jn 6:51).”

 

Moreover, we see in the all-knowing Jesus, who is the fullness of God’s revelation, the fulfillment of the “personified wisdom” referred to in the Book of Proverbs. Jesus is the incarnate Wisdom of God. To share in the Eucharistic feast that Jesus prepared is to receive his pledge of eternal life. At the celebration of the Eucharist, the community of believers is nourished with the bread of God’s word and with the body and blood of Christ’s paschal sacrifice. The Eucharistic bread-sharers and community are required to behave in a way that is shaped by Christ’s gracious teaching and life-giving word.

 

The Second Reading (Eph 5:15-20) gives us an insight into the wise and Spirit-filled behavior of Christian disciples who were immersed into his paschal mystery through baptism and have participated at the altar-table of his Eucharistic communion-sacrifice. The wisdom of God is manifested in their life through prudent action, alertness to God’s inspiration, and an eagerness to follow the will of the Lord Jesus. United intimately with Christ and energized by his Spirit, the believers are able to address one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, to sing and play for the Lord in their hearts, and to give thanks to God the Father always and in everything in the name of Christ.

 

The following story is beautiful and fascinating. It illustrates a person’s receptivity to the wisdom of God (cf. “Freed to Love” by Alexander Osilalu in THE WORD AMONG US, August 2006, p. 57-59). Alexander Osilalu is a pseudonym used at the request of this Nigerian university student. Nourished by the “bread of wisdom”, this remarkable young man desires to commit himself to Jesus Christ, “the food that endures for eternal life”.

 

The evidence of my failure was crystal clear. There it was, posted up on the bulletin board for all the world to see: I had flunked Physics 102. As the implications sank in, I went numb. I had missed the cut-off grade by just a point and a half and had done well in all the other medical courses I was taking. It made no difference. Failing second-semester physics meant that I had to withdraw from the program. With a pang, I thought back to my endless hours of study and to all my novenas and prayers for success. The flash back became even more painful as I remembered the morning of my final physics exams. I had refused to sit among my friends, because I knew I would be tempted to ask them for answers to any questions I didn’t know. Now I felt betrayed. I remembered the words of the psalmist: “I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken” (Psalm 37:25). They seemed to mock me. I had done the right thing by not cheating – but hadn’t I been forsaken? And I wasn’t even nineteen.

 

Being asked to withdraw from the most prestigious department at this Nigerian university was a stigma in itself, but there was more. I was active in a fellowship group for Catholic students on campus. We would come together to pray, study Scripture, and discuss the problems we were facing. Now I felt I could no longer hold up my head in the group, much less invite anyone to join. What kind of an example was I? My failure seemed to mark me as someone who was unable to balance his academic, social and spiritual activities.

 

I hung onto Jesus during this terrible time for one simple reason: I had nowhere else to turn. Since I held him totally responsible for my misfortune, however, our relationship was stormy. I was angry at God for his seeming ineffectiveness and lack of concern. I questioned the purpose of prayer. I even began to wonder whether Karl Marx was right when he said that religion is the opiate of the people. Even if God exists, I asked myself, what difference does it make if he doesn’t intervene to answer prayer?

 

Things continued in this manner for some time. Then one Sunday during Mass, something happened as I stood praying the Our Father with the rest of the congregation. At the words, “Thy kingdom come”, I was suddenly reminded of the passage in John’s Gospel where Jesus told the crowd that they were following him for the wrong reason – “because you ate your fill of loaves”. The people just wanted Jesus to keep multiplying bread to fill their bellies; they weren’t so interested in his offer of “the food that endures for eternal life” (John 6:26-27).

 

It hit me that I was like the people in that crowd. I too was focused on my own desires and closed to the far better gifts God had for me. I had not been following Jesus out of real love and desire to keep his commandments. Rather, I was trying to get him to do the things for me, such as help me pass my exams. It wasn’t God’s kingdom I had been seeking, but my own. In this moment of insight, I saw that Christianity is about unconditional love and not about striking bargains with God. I also saw it as a call to trust that the Father will always give me what is best for me.

 

This experience triggered a conversion that unfolded little by little. As my first response, I decided to stop asking God for things and to concentrate instead on giving myself to others for his sake. This seemed the best approach, as I didn’t yet know how to pray for my needs with real trust that Jesus would provide. Though imperfect, it was my first move to reconciliation with God. I began looking for ways to help people. If someone needed a hand, I was there. I shared my time and the little money I had. I prayed for others, even though I wasn’t feeling especially close to Jesus. And I made a discovery: The more I worked and prayed for others without having an ulterior motive in mind, the happier I became. Stripping away my focus on my own needs was freeing me to know the joy that comes from following Jesus’ command to “love one another”.

 

One day as I walked home from school, I saw a little boy hawking biscuits. He looked tired and hungry, and I realized that he couldn’t afford to buy and eat the food he was selling. It took all the money I had left on me, but I bought two of the biscuits and gave one to him. The look on that boy’s face was all the reward I needed. My act of kindness cost me so little, but it gave me so much more happiness that I could have imagined. I walked away thinking, “This is what following Jesus is all about – love.”

 

Gradually the transformation in my life became more obvious. I became stronger, more able to turn to God in trust for my own needs. I went back to my studies and chose a program related to the one I had been pursuing. I did quite well. Currently in my fourth year, I realize that this program is actually what I wanted and was best suited for all along. As I look back, I now see that my failure of three years ago was really the most educational part of my whole academic career. Through it, I developed and grew. I matured from a child who wants things his way no matter what, to an adult who knows that his way is not always the best. Through what I saw as my moment of failure, Jesus helped me to discover the path to happiness and real success. Lord Jesus, thy kingdom come!

 

 

 

II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

 

1.      Why is the wisdom of God personified in the Book of Proverbs? What does Lady Wisdom have to offer? Why is it important to respond to her call? How do we respond to her invitation?

 

2.      Do we believe that the flesh of Christ is true food and his blood true drink? Do we believe that in participating at the Eucharistic banquet, we remain in Christ and he dwells in our hearts?

 

3.      Is our daily life as Christian disciples marked with the yearning for the wisdom of God? Do we seek the “bread of wisdom”? Is our life Spirit-filled and do we seek the will of the Lord?

 

  

 

III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD

 

Leader: Loving Father,

we yearn for wisdom and long for the gift of eternal life.

In Jesus Christ, your Son,

you feed us with the bread of wisdom and compassion.

In the Eucharistic meal,

we partake of his flesh, which is true food,

and drink of his blood, which is true drink.

By the paschal mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection,

you have revealed your infinite wisdom

and enable us to delight in your enduring love and life eternal.

We thank you and bless you.

We wish to love and serve you, Father,

in the name of Jesus,

through the power of the Holy Spirit,

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.

 

“Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise.” (Eph 5:15)

 

 

 

V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION

 

A.     ACTION PLAN: Pray that the Christian community may always be nourished at the table of the Word and the Eucharist. By the grace of God, endeavor to satisfy the various hungers of today’s humanity by your preferential care and service to the needy and the poor.

 

B. ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate the goodness and generous compassion of God who gives us Jesus Christ, the “bread of wisdom”, 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. 38).

 

Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang  PDDM

 

 

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