A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 48)
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – October 22, 2006
“He Suffered for Others”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 53:10-11 // Heb 4:14-16 // Mk 10:35-45
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
John Rosengren, in the July 2006 issue of ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER magazine, presented an excellent sketch of the mission and martyrdom of Father Stan Rother in Guatemala (cf. p. 31-35). Murdered 25 years ago by three tall men wearing ski masks and civilian clothes in the parish rectory of Santiago Atitlan, the memory of the American missionary, Fr. Stan, lives on in his native Oklahoma and in his adopted homeland. John Rosengren writes:
Father Stan Rother so endeared himself to the Tzutijil (Mayans) over 13 years as their parish priest that they still feel his lost today, a quarter century after his death by a paramilitary death squad. Caught between the revolutionary poor and the military government in Central America’s longest and bloodiest civil war, Stan refused to preach rebellion, but his pastoral devotion to his people eventually cost him his life. July 28 marks the 25th anniversary of his death. Declared a martyr, and since proposed for sainthood by the bishops of Guatemala, Stan was an ordinary man who found extraordinary courage in his faith … In Santiago Atitlan, the room where Stan was murdered has been converted into a chapel visited annually by hundreds of people from as far away as Japan and Kenya. The church fills to capacity every year on the anniversary of his death for a memorial Mass attended by many children named after him. His heart rests in a shrine inside the church, part of a memorial to all of the Atitecos who have died for their faith.
The life and death of Fr. Stan Rother illustrates emphatically the insight given by the prophet Isaiah concerning the destiny and mission of the Suffering Servant: “The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear” (Is 53:10-11). As can be gleaned from the above biblical passage that is taken from “The Fourth Song of the Suffering Servant” (cf. Is 52:13-53:12), the Servant remains one with all the people in sorrow, but is paramount in his innocence and total service of God.
Through the suffering and obedience of the Servant of Yahweh, the saving plan of God would be fulfilled. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, comment: “Innocent, he offers himself voluntarily as a sacrifice to justify others. Through him, the will – the plan – of the Lord will be fulfilled; he is an artisan of the work of salvation in which God has been engaged from the beginning. For his part, owing to his expiatory immolation, he shall see the light in fullness of days. What an extraordinary reversal! He will live because he delivers himself to death. Contrary to what normally happens, his death will allow him to see his descendants.”
The Christian believers consider the Suffering Servant as a figure of Jesus Christ in his redemptive passion and death. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, explain: “It comes as no surprise that the Songs of the Suffering Servant have played an important part in the understanding of Christ’s passion and, early on, in the preaching during the apostolic times, and afterwards, in the elaboration of the theology of redemption. The insults and sufferings that Jesus, the Just One among the just, endured; his death on the shameful gallows of the cross of evildoers, forsaken by humans and, it seems, by God himself (cf. Mk 15:34) were a scandal for those who had placed their hope in him (cf. Lk 24:21). The Songs of the Suffering Servant offer the key to this terrible enigma defying reason. The prophet’s oracle helps us to recognize that Jesus saved the world by dying on the cross; that far from abandoning him, God has exalted him above all things because of his obedience unto death (Phil 2:6-11). Jesus on the cross appears at once as the supreme manifestation of God’s love for the multitude and as the ultimate reason for our hope.”
In the light of the Old Testament personage of the Suffering Servant and its full realization in the paschal sacrifice of Jesus, the Christian disciples regard suffering and sacrifice as an intimate participation in his mission and saving work. This Sunday’s Gospel highlights the importance of suffering and the folly of seeking glory. Through the proclamation of this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus invites the baptized Christians, in the here and now, to drink the cup of redemptive suffering and to be immersed deeply into his paschal destiny. Deep intimacy with Jesus Christ entails a service of sacrificial love, which is the true greatness. Indeed, Jesus Christ’s greatest servitude and most acute suffering were accomplished on the saving cross. Those who want to be great must be willing to serve unreservedly in the manner of Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh. Those who want to follow the Divine Master and carry out his saving mission must tread the path of redemptive sacrifice that he brought to completion on the cross, the font of glory.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, conclude: “Jesus freely accepted the cup that the Father, for whom everything is possible, could have taken away from him (cf. Lk 22:42) in order to justify the multitude of human beings imprisoned by sin, assuming the tragic destiny of all those who want to liberate their brothers and sisters from the powers that enslave them. The logic of these destructive forces and the infernal circle of violence generated by violence have been broken by the resurrection of the Crucified One who has passed through the heavens by going through the veil of death in order to enter the sanctuary of God’s presence. He called his disciples to follow him by directing them to vie zealously with one another so that they might become like him, servants and slaves of all.”
MISSION SUNDAY REFLECTION
By His Excellency Rev. Msgr. Joseph Mukala D.D.
Bishop of the Diocese of Kohima
Nagaland, India
It was when I was the Vicar General of the Diocese of Kohima that an Ao Naga Tribesman came to me to tell me he wanted to be a Catholic. I asked him why he wanted to be one as he is already a Christian belonging to the Baptist church, for they are the majority in the area. He told me that he has seen the Catholic Church remaining always one and not getting divided, while he sees other churches in the different villages of Nagaland breaking up into new churches. Incidentally, one must know that they have no central point of reference or authority; each church is independent. Only then did I appreciate our one, holy Catholic Church for the teaching and direction that we are able to get from the Pope and the Magisterium of the Church.
As we reflect and celebrate Mission Sunday, the Lord is asking us not to sell the Gospel, but to be on the move to share our faith experiences with fellow Christians, as well as with others who have not heard of Christ and his Church. The Church is ever vibrant in communicating the message of love and goes out to serve humanity, following the command of the Lord to serve and to do as he has done. Even though there is still stiff opposition to the Gospel values that the Church upholds, there is a tremendous respect for what she teaches. This is the effect of the mission work that the Church carries out. In a meeting of the Naga Christian Forum, where we are also members, the other churches asked for the official teaching of the Church on family planning, abortion and related topics. We have a tradition and a teaching that we uphold, as it is all about the truth of God and Man.
When the world has become so small through globalization and media communication, there is much to be done in the area of building authentic human communities, based on natural virtues and values that are enunciated in the life of Jesus and in the mission carried out by the apostolic community. We need presently such apostolic communities to challenge the world so that the world can hold out with courage the Lord’s command to love one another as he has loved us. As the present Holy Father exhorts us in his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, charity is the soul of the mission. Charity that is driven by the force of God’s love, manifested in loving and serving one another, will be the hallmark of genuine Christian communities all over the world. Every one of us is called upon to make known the eternal truth about God that He is love and the truth about men who are God’s own loving children. The urgency of the mission is ever more relevant as there are efforts to hide the truth in the present world, where man takes on self fulfillment and satisfaction, turning a deaf ear to what God has revealed through His own dear Son Jesus.
When we are able to be heralds of the Good News, after having lived the Good News in a society where there is no good news at all, we are like stars lighting up the sky (cf. Phil 2:15) and making a difference in the society where we live. This would be the greatest act of evangelization when we can usher in the values of the Kingdom and sit with one another as brothers and sisters in harmony and peace.
May the celebration of Mission Sunday this year be a different one for all of us, as we consider love and the charitable works we do as coming from the Almighty. We are just reflecting the love and goodness of Him who created us all in His own image and likeness. May the life that we live bear witness to this fact, so as to draw many more souls to Christ, the Eternal Word, who became flesh and lived among us and is still living in us.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What is the role and meaning of suffering and sacrifice in our personal life and as a Christian disciple? What insights and personal implications can we glean from this Sunday’s “Song of the Suffering Servant”?
B. Do we look to Christ as the true Suffering Servant who brings about our full redemption? Do we contemplate him on the cross? Do we meditate and pray over his cup of redemptive suffering? Do we thank and praise Jesus Christ for all what he has done for us as our Savior?
C. Are we willing to drink the cup of his suffering? Do we live to the full our baptismal consecration and immersion into his paschal destiny? Do we believe that Christian vocation is an immersion into a life of service and perfect charity? Do we carry out our Christian mission of service and as a giver of life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Almighty, ever-living God,
you have given the human race Jesus Christ
our Savior as a model of humility.
He fulfilled your will
by becoming man and giving his life on the cross.
Help us to bear witness to you
by following his example of suffering
and make us worthy to share his resurrection.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Assembly: Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE MARTYRS OF CENTRAL AMERICA
“I Praise You, Lord, for You Raised Me Up” (Psalm 30:2)
Almighty God, Lord of the Universe, we raise up to you your priest Stanley Francis Rother and all the martyrs of Central America. Honor them with Sainthood in Your Church. May we be empowered by your Holy Spirit to so worthily fulfill our part of your plan of Salvation. We pray in the name of Jesus. 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.
“Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.” (Is 53:11b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray for Fr. Stan Rother and our modern day martyrs. Assist in any way you can those who suffer for Christ and for the sake of others.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate more deeply the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh, 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. 48): 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