A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 45)
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – October 4, 2009 *
“Intimate Union”
BIBLE READINGS
Gen 2:18-24 // Heb 2:9-11 // Mk 10:2-10
(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 reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year B based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 1. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 4.)
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
This Sunday’s liturgy underlines the principle enunciated by Jesus in today’s Gospel (Mk 10:2-10) that the marriage covenant is not to be broken. The biblical scholar Eugene Maly remarks: “In the light of Jesus’ general stance on Kingdom morality, it would seem far better to foster means of preserving marriage union than to seek reasons for exceptions to the norm. The Christian must bear a special kind of witness to a world where marriage is a convenience, not a sacrament … To accept Jesus’ teaching on marriage requires the openness of children and a sense of dependence on God’s strength, matching the child’s sense of dependence on parents.”
The Christian ideal of inviolable and enduring marriage unfolds, however, in the context of human weakness and sin. Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ sympathizes completely with our weakness and our ongoing effort to live this ideal of intimate and enduring nuptial union. By his Son’s redemptive sacrifice and paschal suffering, God strengthens us to live up to this ideal. In the Old Testament, the nuptial covenant was a symbol of the love of the Lord for his people Israel. In the New Testament, marriage becomes a sign of the intimate union between Christ the Bridegroom and the Church, his beloved Bride.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, comment: “God is implicated in marriage, which refers to the mystery of the covenant concluded from the beginning between the creator and humanity, and renewed by Christ. The love that impels a man and a woman to be united into one being is the reflection of the indefectible love of God for his creatures. Spouses have received through grace the mission of witnessing to this love, by living in faithfulness to their mutual commitment, as God remains faithful to those he has chosen through love … To assume such a vocation for a lifetime entails all sorts of difficulties, which many married couples do not succeed in overcoming. Hence, these marriages are so often broken apart today, painful failures of a planned life together that was promised before God and blessed by him. God proposes this ideal of marriage to weak human beings. But he places his trust in men and women, created in his image and strengthened by the help of his grace, a trust inspired by his infinite love as a Father.”
The depth and strength of the love relationship between God and his people, symbolized in a faithful and enduring marriage between a man and a woman, are reiterated in today’s Second Reading (Heb 2:9-11). The author of the letter to the Hebrews expresses the ideal relationship between God and his people in terms of a filial, intimate relationship. Jesus, who consecrates and redeems, and those he consecrates and redeems all have one origin. Thus, they are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. Christ’s incarnation and his redemptive suffering brought about the reconciliation and the intimate union between God and his prodigal children. The paschal mystery of the Servant-Son of God led to his glorification and the perfection of our filial relationship with God the Father. Indeed, because of Jesus’ deep solidarity with us, we are able to attain a profound, fruitful and life-giving relationship with our Creator God and Father.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explicate: “God allowed his Son to become of the same race as human sinners in order to save them. The broken relationship between God and humankind is thus marvelously restored, thanks to the Son of God made human being, by the initiative of the offended one. From all eternity united with the Father in an indissoluble way, from now on – one with humans through his incarnation and his experience of death – Christ has bridged the impassable abyss between heaven and earth.”
The following story is intense and thought provoking (cf. Christine Trollinger, “Healing Grace” in Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart, ed. Jeff Cavins, Matthew Pinto & Patti Armstrong, West Chester: Ascension Press, 1990, p.64-68). It illustrates the heroic, loving effort of the husband to be kind and faithful to his problematic wife. His patient suffering and his fidelity bore abundant fruits in the forgiving, charitable stance of his daughter and the eventual conversion and healing grace experienced by his wife.
Mother and I had never been close. She was very temperamental and domineering. Her quick temper had inflicted great emotional wounds on our family as we were growing up. My father, on the other hand, was a gentle soul. I adored him and was always Daddy’s little girl. As an adult I tried to leave the past in the past, but my mother’s behavior while my beloved father was dying brought fresh strain to our relationship. Mother was neither patient nor kind during Dad’s suffering. The disruption in her life angered her, and probably scared her. Yet, I could not accept her bad temperament during this time.
After my father’s death in 1985, however, I knew I had a responsibility to both God and Dad to forgive. It helped to remember how patient my father had always been. He loved my mother, faults and all. I recalled many times as a child that whenever Mom had been especially cruel, my father would come into my room, out of my mother’s earshot. He would hug me and say, “Please don’t hate her; she needs more love and forgiveness than most people do. She is God’s treasure just as you are.”
After Dad’s death, I wanted to honor my Dad. I knew his hopes and prayers were that I could love and forgive my mom. This was beyond my human frailties so I prayed to God for the grace to do so. As the years passed my feelings of distrust and resentment ebbed. I managed to lay the past to rest as Christ would have me do. Mother and I built a decent, if not perfect, relationship as mother and daughter. The past was just that – the past. The future I would leave to God.
Then during the first week of September 1992, I awoke from a dream sensing a very firm command: “Go home and see your mother.” I had ceased to question God’s inspiration when I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit. As soon as daylight broke, I packed my suitcase. My husband suggested we call to make sure she was all right. Everything was fine and Mother sounded very happy that I would be visiting her over Labor Day.
I arrived by mid-afternoon and Mom and I had an enjoyable time going out to dinner and visiting friends. Mother cut the evening short explaining there was a program on television she wanted to watch. When we got home I got ready for bed and sat in the living room reading my nightly scripture as Mom watched TV. The television volume gradually increased. Every few moments Mom asked, “Does that bother you?” “No, it’s fine”, I repeatedly told her. Finally she had turned the volume all the way up. “Does that bother you?” She asked in a loud but shaky voice. I put down the Bible and looked at her. “Well, it is loud. Are you trying to tell me something? Are you having hearing problems?” I asked. Mother looked at me with searching eyes. Still, I did not understand. Returning the sound back to normal, she explained, “No, what I mean is, does this program bother you?” For the first time, I looked over to see what she was watching. It was a program on child abuse. “I was not talking about the sound”, she said. “I meant, what do you think of parents who abuse their children?”
I was caught off guard. I stared into her eyes. For the first time I recognized pain and remorse. Huge tears trickled down her cheeks. My response was instinctive. “Mom, I love you”, I cried, truly meaning it. “And if you are asking for my forgiveness, you have had it for years. Don’t cry”, I said, coming over to kiss her cheek. “It is all in the past. It doesn’t matter any more.” I then hugged her and wiped her tears away. No more words were needed. It truly was now in the past. For my proud mother to humble herself to ask forgiveness was a grace I never imagined.
The next Saturday, we began with a visit to church to pray the Rosary. Tears of joy, and also of sorrow for all the wasted years streamed down my face. But I praised God for this new beginning. The rest of the day we filled with shopping and sharing as a mother and daughter who fully loved and respected one another. We went to an estate sale and found ourselves giggling and laughing like young schoolgirls. Mom bought me a statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart, which had seen better days. The face was chipped and it had no nose. But it was a precious treasure, representing our newfound love for one another. I basked in the grace of healing. (…)
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
1. How does the Genesis account of the creation of man and woman impact you and shape your perception of the sacrament of marriage? How do you and the people around you endeavor to live the ideal of a monogamous, enduring and life-giving marriage?
2. What is your response to Christ’s teaching on the sacredness and inviolability of marriage? When marriage fails, what is your recourse? How do you participate in the pastoral ministry to those who have “failed” marriages, those who “live in” without marriage, the divorced remarried persons, etc?
3. How does God’s saving plan to make his divine Son share in our humanity and to make him “perfect through suffering” inspire you or baffle you? Do you wish to participate in Christ’s paschal experience of being made “perfect through suffering”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
your love for your people is awesome
and your desire for a deeper faith relationship with your children is great.
A sacred, enduring marriage imbued with love
gives us a glimpse into the mystery
of your sacrificial love and covenant relationship with us.
Help us to respond to your invitation
for a deeper filial relationship with you.
Make us obedient and faithful as your children in Christ.
May we truly love and serve you.
Bless Christian families with healthy marriages.
Fill our society with noble witnesses of enduring and selfless love.
Draw us into a deeper and intimate union with you.
Make us grow in your love,
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 who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin.” (Heb 2:11a)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that the sacrament of marriage may not be redefined, undermined and neglected in today’s society. Promote the Christian ideal of marriage especially where negative forces warp and shatter nuptial relationships.
B. ACTION PLAN: To enable us to be receptive to the Christian ideal of marriage and the challenges that come with it, 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. 45).
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