A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 10)
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – January 31, 2010 *
“Love Endures All Things”
BIBLE READINGS
Jer 1:4-5, 17-19 // I Cor 12:31-13:13 // Lk 4:21-30
(N.B. Series 8 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 C from the perspective of the Second Reading. For reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 2. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 5.)
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
The three readings of this Sunday give strength and encouragement to those called by God for a special mission. They underline the divine saving help and the love that endures all things. In the Old Testament reading (Jer 1:4-5, 17-19), we hear God’s reassuring words “I am with you” to Jeremiah, called to upbraid the chosen people for their laxity and unfaithfulness. The reluctant prophet, unskilled in confronting hardened opponents, experienced agonizing rejection. But God was with Jeremiah, transforming him into “a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass against the whole land”. The love of God enabled Jeremiah to endure all things and to promote the divine benevolent plan.
Today’s Gospel reading (Lk 4:21-30) foreshadows the trajectory of Jesus’ public ministry. The inaugural mission at Nazareth which began with marvel and praise ended in violent hostility and rejection of Jesus. The town folks refused to be stretched and challenged by someone scandalously “familiar”. Their resistance seemed to flow from the fact that Jesus was just one of them and from his shocking claim that the messianic prophecy was being fulfilled in him. Their initial fascination turned dark and their attitude hostile. The sins of their ancestors were repeated.
Like Jeremiah, Jesus was a rejected prophet. The biblical scholar Eugene Maly remarks: “Jeremiah and Jesus: The similarities are striking. Both were called to be prophets. Both were to suffer the agony of desolation. Both were to proclaim a message that would be repudiated. But the Father’s presence would insure the ultimate vindication of both.” Indeed, the powerful love of God vindicated both Jesus and Jeremiah. In his love for the Father, Jesus of Nazareth endured the most intense cruelty and suffering. Nonetheless, the compassionate love of the Father and Christ’s sacrificial love prevailed over hatred and hostilities, over sin and death.
The Second Reading (I Cor 12:31-13:13) is one of the most beautiful and sublime passages in the Bible. Paul’s “Hymn to Love” delineates the life-giving qualities of “love” that ought to animate the Christian community in their baptismal consecration and prophetic mission. God’s gift of love enables the believers to endure all things. Love is the ultimate gift – the one that endures and surpasses all. Love is what characterizes a person and community worthy of being called “Christian”.
The biblical scholar Mary Ann Getty explicates: “In understanding this very famous passage, we need to bear in mind Paul’s description of charity as the gift of the community. It is the more excellent way, the way for all. The love of God, Paul says, has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom 5:5). Any gift without love is really nothing (…) The characteristics of love are the opposite of the self-seeking, competitive characteristics of knowledge. The Corinthians’ hierarchy of values fostered factiousness. But this is opposed to Christian community. Unlike the strong who anathematize the weak, love is patient. Unlike the weak who condemn the strong, love is kind. The enlightened or celibate may put on airs or expect certain honors, but this is not the way of love. The poor, the outcast, or the neglected may brood over their injuries, but love will teach them to forgive and hope without condition. It cannot be love that prompts the Corinthians to rejoice over wrong, as in the case of the incestuous man (see 5:1-13) (…) Love does not run out. Prophecies, tongues, knowledge have limits, but love does not (…) The perfect eliminates the imperfect, which it fulfills. Love perfects knowledge, which is imperfect. The Corinthians strive for knowledge, but Paul tells them that this is symptomatic of their immaturity. Even the clearest knowledge is like a shadow compared to love, which sees face to face. The Corinthians reason like children. As they grow in Christian wisdom, they will learn to put aside childish ways and pursue love as the greatest wisdom. They despise what they do not love, but when they become mature, they will see that only love lasts. Of the three realities which endure, the greatest is love.”
I read with great interest the following article on the ministry of a Catholic sister and physician – Mary Christine Reyelt – for hers was a life truly given. The life-giving qualities of love celebrated by Saint Paul in his “Hymn to Love” seemed to take flesh in her (cf. Patricia Talone, “A Life Freely Given” in AMERICA, October 5, 2009, p. 22-23, 26). In Mary Christine Reyelt we see a love that endures all things – a love that blossomed in fullness.
Mary Christine Reyelt died on June 1, 2008 because she was fully committed to her beliefs. A Sister of Charity of Saint Elizabeth (Convent Station, N.J.), she graduated from Georgetown Medical School and completed a residency at Bellevue/Veterans’ Administration, specializing in infectious diseases just as AIDS, a terrifying and then-unnamed disease, was being reported by physicians on both coasts. Once I asked her why she chose this specialty. She fixed me with her direct gaze, looking at me as if I had asked a really strange question: “Because the poor are disproportionately affected by infectious disease”, she said. “That is where a Sister of Charity should be.” That was her primary motivation, her passion.
As a scientist and scholar, Reyelt approached each person living with H.I.V. as a fellow human traveler; she also welcomed the intellectual and scientific challenge to understand, address and beat this devastating disease. She brought her considerable spiritual, social and scientific skills to bear upon the medical reality of each patient she met.
In the early 1990s Reyelt’s fear was realized when she received a needle
stick while treating a patient, an IV-drug user. Although she followed all
the medically prescribed precautions, Reyelt ultimately became so sick with
hepatitis that her liver function failed. Facing certain death without a new
liver and convinced that her work for the sick and dying was not finished,
Reyelt underwent a transplant. The transplantation process was not smooth,
and Reyelt faced disheartening challenges. Yet she was back at her practice
as soon as she was able. She never missed a Catholic AIDS Network Meeting.
Over the years the AIDS network met in many American cities, always on a
shoe-string budget, sometimes in less than desirable venues. Never did I
hear her complain of the medication she had to take or the edema she
frequently experienced. She joked about “moving slowly”, especially in the
morning. But that did not stop her from attending every international AIDS
conference over a 20-year period. She traveled to
Russia, Thailand and Africa to seek the best combinations of medicine to
treat her patients. She took pride in the fact that some of her poorest
patients lived with the disease for many years. And she thrilled in the
knowledge that her female patients gave birth to healthy babies and were
able to provide for their beloved children.
Caring for poor persons living with H.I.V. and ministering to patients who ultimately die of AIDS is a heavy burden for any doctor. Yet Reyelt never seemed overwhelmed or depressed. She was sustained by a deep faith in the Gospel message and a new sense of humor that gave her a light grasp on life. She did not take herself too seriously, nor was she impressed with pedantic pomposity in other professionals. Reyelt’s eyes would often dance with glee as she silently made note of some humorous remark or a situation ripe with irony. Careful not to give offense, she would hold her wry remarks for a private moment, allowing herself to indulge in mirth and embraced the whole human family.
While Reyelt was a physician par excellence, she was first and foremost a Sister of Charity. Her mother got it right when she would introduce her only child, saying, “I’d like you to meet my daughter, Sister Christine, Doctor Reyelt.” Reyelt’s loving religious community gave her the support to work in often trying circumstances. Her sisters provided the grounding, balance and impetus she needed to meet daily challenges. She relished her time apart with them – times of retreat and celebration.
Reyelt’s transplanted liver, the gift of a generous, anonymous donor, served her well for 14 years. It permitted her to treat countless patients, to rack up thousands of frequent flyer miles, to pray and laugh and to be present to her fellow religious. In February 2008, we met for the last time. Reyelt had a troubling, persistent cough. As a physician she knew that her immune system was severely compromised and that a common cold could lead to systemic illness. Ultimately, infection was the immediate cause of her death, yet her life was not taken from her because of a needle stick. Rather, she gave it fully and freely because of her commitment to Jesus and to the poor and the sick he inspired her to love.
On a misty June afternoon, Christine Reyelt’s worlds – medicine, the state and national boards on which she served, and her religious community – came together in the chapel at Convent Station. Her sisters came to celebrate and thank God for her vocation and dedication; for her prayerfulness, playfulness and humor; and for the way she lived out St. Vincent de Paul’s instruction that “you are the servant of the poor, always smiling and good humored”. Most touching to see was the steady stream of persons, many living with AIDS, and others, family members of those who had died of the disease, who processed up the center aisle, one by one, to offer their thanks for this extraordinary woman.
Not all of us are called to be martyrs, but each one of us is called to give our lives for others. Christine Reyelt was a model of such selfless love, a physician and a devoted servant of God who lay down her life not with pomp and circumstance, but with grace, humility and humor.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we realize that, like Jeremiah, we too are called by God to be “prophets to the nations” and that the grace of his loving presence is with us to carry out that mission?
Do we experience, like Jesus, the resistance and hostility to one who is a “prophet to the nations” as well as God’s ever abiding love and protection?
Do we try to delve into the meaning of Paul’s “Hymn of Love”? Do we endeavor to respond fully to the sacrificial love of Christ and embrace that love excelling – the love that endures?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for our vocation to be prophets to the nations.
We thank you for your ever abiding presence and protection.
Thank you, Father, for your gift of your love,
supremely manifested in the sacrifice
of your Son Jesus Christ on the cross.
Help us to embrace that love excelling,
the love that endures.
May our love never fail.
May we remain in your love
and in the love of Christ and the Holy Spirit,
forever and ever.
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.
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Cor 13:13)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Spend some quiet time to savor the beauty and wisdom of Paul’s “Hymn of Love”. By your acts of kindness and charity to those in need, let the people of today’s world experience the reality of a love that endures.
ACTION PLAN: That we may imbibe the wisdom and discipline of the love of Christ; 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 C, vol. 6, # 10).
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