A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 7, n. 51)
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – November 15, 2009
“Heaven and Earth Will Pass Away … My Words Will Not”
BIBLE READINGS
Dn 12:1-3 // Heb 10:11-14, 18 // Mk 13:24-32
(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
We thank the Divine Master-Shepherd for having journeyed with us in this lengthy but grace-filled season of Ordinary Time and for nourishing us, Sunday after Sunday, at the table of the Word and the Eucharist. With his crook and staff, he led us into the peaceful, green pastures of his merciful love. Our Lord Jesus enabled us to graze upon his teaching and relish it. Through the liturgical year, he helped us to ruminate and ponder on the various aspects of his life-giving Paschal Mystery that formed us into a loving flock of disciples. In this penultimate Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year 2009, Jesus now invites us to focus on the “last things” – on the ultimate realities of our Christian faith: the end of the world, his coming in glory at the end time, the resurrection of the dead and final judgment.
Both the Old Testament reading (Dn 12:1-3) and the Gospel passage (Mk 13:24-32) of this Sunday give us a taste of “apocalyptic” literature, in which dark images of doom are juxtaposed with a powerful, consoling message of salvation: the victory of good over evil. We should not focus on the morbid backdrop of disasters or the frightening details of a great catastrophe, but on the ultimate joy that is to come on the last day. According to the Book of Daniel, at the end of history we shall see, after a last and especially violent confrontation, the dazzling and definitive victory of God. The almighty God will have the last word. Faithfulness to him will be blessed and rewarded.
The Gospel reading reminds us that at his glorious second coming, Jesus Christ will dispatch his messengers, not to destroy, but to assemble the “elect” from the “four winds”. His messengers will leave no stone unturned in their effort to rescue God’s people, gathering them from “earth” to “sky”. Indeed, Christ’s definitive coming at the end time is to integrate all peoples and creation and to finalize the assembly of the elect. What we have here is an encouraging perspective, the ultimate fulfilling of the good news at the end time for his faithful ones. Jesus thus solemnly asserted: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31). He also warns us against efforts to delineate the “specifics”, but rather to be ready for his glorious return. Indeed, our Lord Jesus requires us to be faithful in the interim.
This Sunday’s Second Reading (Heb 10:11-14, 18) reiterates the superiority of Christ’s priesthood on account of his perfect, “once and for all”, saving sacrifice on the cross. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, comment: “In the sanctuary of heaven into which he entered after finishing his work, Christ our high priest, seated at the right hand of God, waits for all things on earth to come to their conclusion. And we also are waiting, but standing, for the Day to come. To live in this attitude of watchfulness and study the signs of the coming of the Lord, allows us to discern, in the little or great events of our personal lives, of the life of the Church, and of the life of the world, the comings of Christ, unceasing, discreet, but decisive as he beckons to us and calls us to follow him day by day.”
The paschal sacrifice accomplished by Jesus the Priest-Victim on the cross assures us of the glorious fulfillment of salvation in the eschaton or at the end time. The saving past ensures the saving future. The biblical scholar Eugene Maly remarks: “He who is coming has already come. It will be a final divine yes to a world already touched by his saving hand.”
This was the faith of the Servant of God, Dr. Takashi Nagai, who experienced the “apocalyptic” destruction of the atomic bomb that hit Nagasaki on September 9, 1945, during World War II. In that “doomsday” in Nagasaki, he perceived the sacrificial participation of the victims in the holocaust of Jesus Christ. Trusting in the words of Jesus, “The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”, he showed us how to be faithful to God and overcome evil with good. Thus for Takashi Nagai, doomsday became salvation. The following is an excerpt from the inspiring account, “Takashi Nagai: Prophet of Nagasaki” (cf. THE WORD AMONG US, September 2006, p. 15-20).
Nagai was less than half a mile from the epicenter of the second atomic bomb dropped by the American forces on Japan. Hiroshima had been devastated a few days earlier, and now the city of Nagasaki had been bombed: Nagasaki, the home of the largest Catholic cathedral in Asia; Nagasaki, the home of Japan’s largest and most vibrant Catholic community. In an instant, 40,000 people were killed; another 32,000 would die within hours; and tens of thousands more were wounded.
Nagai had survived the blast only because his building, made of reinforced concrete, was able to withstand the force of the initial blast, and he was in the far end of the building. When he made his way out of the office, the devastation that he saw horrified him. Bloated, skinless corpses were strewn about the ground. Bodies hung upside down in stone walls and fences, headless or limbless. Fires had broken out everywhere, and the few who survived were crawling or stumbling toward him, croaking, “Water, water. I’m burning up.” With a small band of doctors and nurses, Nagai labored all that day and the next, treating the wounded and encouraging his colleagues. When he wasn’t giving orders or comforting the wounded, Nagai took up the Japanese tradition of the Nembutsu – a short saying repeated over and over. But instead of quoting Confucius, he prayed the Scriptures: “The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will never vanish.”
A couple of days later, at his first opportunity, an exhausted Nagai walked to the site of his house and found his wife Midori’s charred bones amidst the wreckage that was once their kitchen. Kneeling beside her, he discovered a melted blob that had been her rosary lying next to her. Even as he wept, he was filled with gratitude that she had died praying. He was grateful, too, that a few days earlier he had sent their two children, Makoto and Kayano, to stay with their grandmother in the safety of the mountains.
In one sense, the irony could not be richer. A brilliant young doctor, Nagai had been on the cutting edge of Japan’s research into radiology, and he had been diagnosed just months earlier as having a form of leukemia stemming from radiation poisoning. He had been given only a few more years to live and it seemed as if in his own body he were living out the city’s fate. But in the midst of the irony were also the beginnings of a prophetic calling. Takashi Nagai had converted to Catholicism eleven years earlier, and his relationship with the Lord was already on solid footing when Nagasaki was destroyed. But this day of horror and devastation moved him into a new way of living his faith – a way of living that demonstrated how much one person can do to turn the tide of fear, anger, hopelessness, or cynicism. Faced with so much destruction and sadness, this once-proud unbeliever did battle in the only way that mattered: through trust in God’s strength working though his weakness.
As sick as he was, and as devastated as he was, Nagai sensed that the bombing needed a Christian response, that anger and vengeance – or despair and resignation – should not have the last word. So rather than begin a new life with his children in another city, Nagai decided to remain in Nagasaki and live among the ruins. With the help of some friends, Nagai built a makeshift hut on the side of his old house and with only the barest essentials, he and children moved back home. The hut was only about seven feet by ten feet, constructed of charred beams, heat-warped tin, and a thin mat. Nagai knew he would not live much longer and that he would leave his children as orphans in a harsh environment. Still, rather than descend into bitterness or anger, he spent his time praying, reflecting, and preparing his children for the hardships and challenges that would be their lot.
Many other residents followed Nagai’s examples and returned home. Their district of Urakami became a jumble of rubble, ash, and pathetic looking huts. The scene may have been depressing, but many of the residents were heartened as they drew strength from Nagai’s faith and simplicity. Gradually, a small community formed around Nagai. People who had lost loved ones or who were dying of radiation poisoning sought out the “wise man of Nagasaki” for words of comfort and wisdom. People came from all over Japan – people bearing the humiliation of defeat, the physical and psychological wounds of war, or simply everyday questions about life. Even dignitaries, such as Emperor Hirohito, visited him, while others, like Pope Pius XII, wrote to him and sent him gifts. Everyone, it seems, wanted to get a taste of the peace and trust that flowed from him. (…)
When Takashi Nagai died on May 1, 1951, more than 20,000 people attended the funeral. Bells were rung in his memory throughout Japan – in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines as well as in Christian churches … (Today) Takashi Nagai remains a powerful witness, telling us that we can reject the world’s logic of vengeance and hatred. He continues to tell us that it is possible to embrace Jesus’ call to mercy, love, and hope
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
1. Do we trust that even in the midst of devastation and persecution, there is hope of salvation? Do we believe in the resurrection of the dead? What are its implications for us?
2. Do we look forward with hope to the gathering of the “elect” from the “four winds”? In moments of crisis and distress, do we allow ourselves to be comforted by Jesus’ words: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”? How do we contribute to the definite realization of God’s kingdom “here and now” and at the end times?
3. Do we consciously endeavor to participate in Christ’s “once and for all” perfect sacrifice on the cross? How do we relate to the glorified Christ who “sits at the right hand of God”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
the perfect sacrifice of your Son Jesus Christ on the cross
took away all sins for all times.
He is the Priest for all and forever.
He sits enthroned in glory at your right hand.
He will come again at the end time
to fulfill his final, divine “Yes”
to a world already touched by his saving hand.
We look forward with joyful hope to his final coming
to integrate creation
and to assemble the faithful ones from the “four winds”.
Just as we are attentive to the tender preludes of spring,
help us perceive the signs of his various comings into our life.
We put our trust in him who said,
“Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away”.
Let Jesus Christ live in us
and transform our present experiences of desolation
into saving grace.
He is the alpha and the omega and our saving Lord,
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.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Mk 13:31)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that Christ’s second coming may truly be a saving event for us. By your acts of faithfulness to the living Word of God, hasten the definitive coming of God’s kingdom on earth and the integration of creation.
B. ACTION PLAN: To enable us to be ready for Christ’s definitive coming at the end time, 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. 51).
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