A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 12)
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – February 14, 2010 *
“Blessed Resurrection”
BIBLE READINGS
Jer 17:5-8 // I Cor 15:12, 16-20 // Lk 6:17, 20-26
(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
Last Sunday’s bible readings helped us to consider the profound religious experience of Isaiah, Simon Peter and Paul, the conversion-transformation it brought about and the vocation to divine service it entailed. Today’s liturgy of the Word deals with the beatitudes we experience when we put our trust in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, whose rising from the dead is the foundation of our own resurrection.
The Old Testament reading (Jer 17:5-8) is a beautiful two-stanza poem that underlines, through a pair of neatly matched metaphors, the difference between trust in God and trust in mere human means and resources. Aelred Rosser remarks: “The metaphor of the barren bush is vivid. It merits contemplation. Consider the image of a desert shrub, struggling to stay alive in a wasteland where sustenance is scarce and no rains come to nourish it. The soil from which it tries to draw life is itself lifeless, made sterile by salt. Yet the shrub hangs on to a meager existence, unable to alter its arid environment … The tree planted beside the waters is a vivid contrast. The source of its nourishment is abundant and unfailing. It undergoes the same vicissitudes of harsh weather and periods of drought, but flourishes in spite of these things – for its roots have stored up strength for trials … No happy accidents are involved in our free choice to place our trust in God. The vivid images in this reading prompt us to make that choice.”
In the Gospel passage (Lk 6:17, 20-26), Luke depicts Jesus as giving a sermon on the plain where, addressing a crowd of disciples and the materially poor and physically hungry, the message to rely on God alone is dramatized. Those who realize their need for God are blessed while those who consider themselves self-sufficient are unfortunate. Jesus inaugurated the messianic kingdom and fulfilled it. In this light, material goods have merely a relative value. The kingdom of God is the absolute, ultimate good. Detachment from material things makes it easier to attach to the kingdom value and acquire a purer vision of all reality. Poverty thus leads to genuine liberation and makes us follow Christ uncompromisingly.
The contrasting image of the blessed and the unfortunate could also be gleaned from this Sunday’s Second Reading (I Cor 15:12, 16-20). Those who believe in the resurrection of Christ are blessed. Pitiable instead are those who deny the resurrection of the dead for they ultimately negate the Lord’s resurrection and our very own redemption.
The biblical scholar Harold Buetow comments: “Our true existence is beyond both space and time. The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee of our own resurrection and is what puts sense into choosing Christ’s way. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead proves that truth is stranger than fiction, that love is stronger than hatred, that good is stronger than evil and that life is stronger than death. Paul calls Jesus’ resurrection from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (v. 20). Every Jew in Paul’s audience would understand that the first fruits referred to that part of the harvest which was the first and the best to ripen, a sign of the harvest to come. Jesus’ resurrection, too, was a sign of the harvest of resurrection of all believers to come. The resurrection is so fundamental to Christian belief that it, along with the cross, stands at the center of our teaching.”
Faith in the Risen Lord Jesus and belief in the resurrection of the dead go hand in hand. Trust in God enables us to feel tremendous comfort in the death of our loved ones. The loving God fills the weeping hearts of bereaved family members and friends with the beatitude of consolation. This was my experience when I attended last January 26 the Annual Memorial Mass at St. Christopher’s Parish in San Jose, California where we gathered together to pray for our loved ones who died in the year 2009. I especially prayed for my younger brother Gisbert who passed on to eternal life on May 20, 2009 in Brampton, Canada. Hope in the blessed resurrection was likewise strengthened by the following text so kindly prepared by St. Christopher Grief Ministry.
To My Dearest Family
Some things I’d like to say, but first of all to let you know that I arrived okay. I’m writing this from heaven where I dwell with God above where there are no more tears or sadness. There is just eternal love. Please do not be unhappy just because I’m out of sight. Remember that I’m with you every morning, noon and night. That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was through, God picked me up and hugged me and he said, “I welcome you. It’s good to have you back again. You were missed while you were gone. As for your dearest family, they’ll be here later on.” When you are walking down the street and have me on your mind, I’m walking in your footsteps only half a step behind. When you feel that gentle breeze or the wind upon your face, it is me giving you a great big hug or just a soft embrace. And when it’s time for you to go from that body to be free, remember you’re not going alone. You are coming here to me. And I will always love you from that land way up above. We’ll be in touch again soon.
P.S. God sends his love.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we trust totally in the Lord that we may become the object of divine benediction; or do we rely on human means and resources?
Are we recipients of God’s beatitudes or do we resist his offer of grace?
Are we grace-filled on account of our faith in the blessed resurrection?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
help us to put our absolute trust in you
that like a tree planted beside the waters,
we may be rooted in your life-giving word
and bear abundant fruits.
Give us the grace
to embrace the beatitudes of the poor
and those who mourn.
Above all, strengthen our faith in the Risen Lord Jesus
and fill us with intense hope in the blessed resurrection
that we may live in union with you,
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.
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (I Cor 15:20)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: By your works of charity and compassion, while trusting unconditionally in the grace of God, enable the poor, the suffering and the marginalized to experience the divine beatitudes.
ACTION PLAN: That we may become more and more instruments of the divine beatitudes and the blessed resurrection; 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, # 12).
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