A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 9)
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – January 22, 2006
“A Response of Conversion”
BIBLE READINGS
Jon 3:1-5, 10 // I Cor 7:29-31 // Mk 1:14-20
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 Old Testament 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
This Sunday, the Year B cycle of Gospel passages from the evangelist Mark begins to be proclaimed anew to the liturgical assembly for their spiritual nourishment and in view of a life transformation. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest and the most succinct of all the four Gospels. In today’s Gospel episode, Mark depicts vividly the start of Jesus’ public ministry: “After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mk 1:14-15).
Harold Buetow comments: “The very first lines of today’s Gospel, that it was the gospel of God that Jesus was proclaiming, are tremendous words. Contrary to the news of the world, this is good news: godspell, or Gospel. It is full of hope. It is news that can bring people together. It is the news of salvation that gives the power to conquer sin. In essence, God’s good news is his Son Jesus, in whom God appears as he really is.” Indeed, the Gospel of God is eventually the person of Jesus Christ himself, who calls us to repentance and conversion, and to whom we must cleave in obedient faith.
The Old Testament reading (Jon 3:1-5, 10), about the mission of the reluctant prophet Jonah to the “doomed” Ninevites, provides parallels and contrasts to today’s Gospel that would enable us to appreciate the meaning of Jesus’ messianic ministry and perceive the enormous challenge of his call.
The Benedictine scholar, Irene Nowell gives us a background to the fascinating story of Jonah: “The Book of Jonah was written in Palestine around the 5th century B.C., when the Jews were still recovering from the Babylonian Exile, a serious threat to their existence … The returning Jews were convinced that they had suffered exile because of their infidelity to God. As a result, they developed an attitude of exclusivity and rigorous observance of the law. They avoid anything that might lead them away from God, such as foreign customs or even foreign wives … The author told this story to an audience that desired to avoid other peoples in order to be faithful to God. The story of Jonah presents the shocking truth that other nations may also be dear to the heart of God. It is a hard truth, conveyed through a powerful story.” Jean McGowan explains: “The very structure of the Book brings out the irony of a Prophet who benefits from the Lord’s mercy only to rebel because his mercy is extended to others. In the person of Jonah, the author satirizes those narrow-minded Israelites who, despite their long experience of the Lord’s mercy to themselves, begrudge the extension of his mercy to others. The author writes for those of his own day who yielded to the temptation of a covenanted people to limit God’s freedom. The application to our day is obvious.”
Against the somewhat comic background of the reluctant, obstinate prophet Jonah, the figure of the obedient Jesus as the true prophet, sent by God and anointed by the Holy Spirit to bring good news to the poor, becomes even more appealing. Totally committed to the Father’s will, Jesus Christ - the incarnation of the Gospel of God, is absolutely greater than the protesting Jonah, who was marked with parochialism and exclusivity. Inwardly hoping that the Ninevites would remain in their evil ways and thus receive their just punishment from God’s wrath, the extremely prejudiced Jonah couched his message as a prophecy of doom: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed” (Jon 3:4) and willfully omitted any reference to God’s mercy in his preaching lest those wicked people repent. In contrast, Jesus, who preached throughout Galilee, was not a bearer of doom, but of “good news” – the fulfillment of the divine saving plan and the coming of the kingdom of God. The imminent coming of the Kingdom would thus necessitate the conversion response: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Spontaneous repentance was the response of the Ninevites to the morbid threat of Jonah: “they believed in God … they proclaimed a fast … they put on sackcloth … they turned from their evil way” (Jon 3:14, 20). In the Gospel narrative, the response of the first disciples was likewise total and immediate, but even more: their conversion response was not just penitence and turning away from the evil way, but also faith adherence to Jesus Christ – the living Gospel. Indeed, the conversion experience of the Christian disciples surpassed those of the repentant Ninevites for it would involve an intimate configuration to Jesus Christ – the Gospel in person – especially in his paschal destiny.
The late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin comments: “Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel! With these words Jesus began his public ministry. Once we have heard the good news, what is left to do but to pay the price for it – to sell all to possess a pearl of such great worth? To respond means to change in mind and heart. It means faith and love. It means a new mind illumined by faith and a new heart inflamed by the love of Jesus Christ.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
By Sol Tiotuico APC-fdm
(Member: ASSOCIATION OF PAULINE COOPERATORS – Friends of the Divine Master, Antipolo Unit, Philippines)
The Gospel focuses on two things: the coming of God manifested in the Church built by Christ and Christian discipleship instituted by the recruitment of the earliest apostles by Jesus Christ himself.
Here we see Jesus returning to Galilee, telling the people to repent and believe in the Gospel for the kingdom of God is at hand. The very idea of a “kingdom” suggests the involvement of a community of people, working towards the fulfillment of a common goal. Jesus laid down the foundation for the Church he was to build. And since the Church would only stand if people were to actively join in its foundation, Jesus started calling his apostles, “Come and follow me”. With this call, Jesus was actually asking the apostles to become partners in his work. And one wonders! Why did Jesus choose persons who appeared to be poor, insignificant, ordinary, and at times, portrayed as unintelligent – to work with him in such a magnificent and overwhelmingly powerful mission? The most outspoken of the twelve apostles – Peter, the one who would lead the group, is often portrayed in the Gospel with repeated failures and human mistakes. The apostles did not show a full grasp of the mission of Jesus whom they followed; neither did they have a strong faith to make one believe that they were worthy of Jesus’ trust and love. But then perhaps, they were simply there to travel with the Master in his journey of faith and hope so that they might learn in the meantime and earn the right to continue the Master’s works after he has left them. After all, the “kingdom of God” being built by Jesus is not just a kingdom in heaven, but a kingdom here on earth as experienced by a community of people brought together by one discipleship and one allegiance – to GOD!
A message is signaled to us from the Gospel: that we are all personally recruited by Jesus to be his co-workers in his mission. We should recognize this at all times. He does not specifically choose from a certain race, skin, color, financial status, educational attainment, social standing, extent of power, height, weight, beauty, etc. to become partners in his work. Most times, it will not be an easy and pleasurable task. As with the first disciples who left everything, including boats, nets, and even one’s own father, we are to renounce our worldly possessions, deny ourselves, forget about gaining the whole world that we may inherit eternal life. We should not also boast of whatever sacrifices we perceive we are able to do for God – for we will never outdo his unbounded generosity and compassion. For every act we offer him, we receive back a hundredfold. We must always be aware of this great blessing and be grateful for it, too.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What does the conversion experience of the Ninevites and the Christian disciples tell me? What are its implications?
B. How do I compare the prophetic task of Jonah with that of Christ? How do I assess my prophetic ministry in light of the work of Jonah and that of Christ?
C. How do we respond to the continual appeal for conversion and adherence to Christ, the incarnate Gospel, in our daily life? Is my conversion response to Jesus Christ total and irrevocable? How do I share the message of the Gospel with others? What help do I extend to those who are especially dedicated to the ministry of evangelization in today’s world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(“For All Who Preach the Gospel” by Henri Nouwen)
Leader: Dear Lord,
many people experience our era
as an apocalyptic time full of dangers and threats.
I pray now for all who witness for you in this time –
ministers, priests, and bishops,
men and women who have dedicated their lives to you,
and all those who try to bring the light of the Gospel
into the darkness of this age.
Give them courage, strength, perseverance, and hope;
fill their hearts and minds with knowledge of your presence,
and let them experience your name as their refuge from all dangers.
Most of all, give them the joy of your Spirit,
so that wherever they go and whomever they meet
they will remove the veil of depression, fatalism, and defeatism
and will bring new life to the many who live in fear.
Be with all who bring the Good News into this present darkness.
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.
“The people of Nineveh believed God … They turned from their evil way.” (Jon 3:5, 10)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray in thanksgiving for the gift of the Gospel and the message of reconciliation that God continually offers us with love and grace. Pray for the conversion of sinners that they may renounce what is evil and turn to God in a spirit of repentance. Extend your help and collaboration to the prison ministry and for the priestly vocations.
B. ACTION PLAN: To celebrate the gift of the Gospel and merciful love and in order to give homage to Jesus, the Gospel in person, 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. 9): 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