A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 29)
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – June 13, 2010 *
“I Live by Faith”
BIBLE READINGS
II Sm 12:7-10, 13 // Gal 2:16, 19-21 // Lk 7:36-8:3
(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
We are now in the second part of Ordinary Time - a long peaceful season of contemplation of the different aspects of Christ’s teaching and saving deeds. Sunday after Sunday, in an orderly sequence, we delve into the meaning and implications of God’s redemptive plan centered on Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As God’s privileged flock we are led into the green meadows of quiet repose, nourished by the bread of the Word and vivified by the Eucharist.
The Old Testament passage (II Sm 12:7-10, 13) and the Gospel reading (Lk 7:36-8:3) hearten us with the beautiful message of a merciful, loving and forgiving God. To the repentant David and to the adulterous woman who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed them with precious oil, the grace of divine mercy was bestowed. God’s forgiveness is always present to the contrite. Moreover, the overwhelming divine mercy enables the forgiven one to love greatly in return. Divine forgiveness generates abounding love.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, remark: “God uproots the source of evil through the forgiveness of sins … Since the Exodus, God defined himself as the one who forgives sinners who acknowledge their faults and accept the commensurate punishment by throwing themselves on the divine mercy … Christians assembled today read this story in light of later revelation. They know whence the love and mercy of God comes. So the confession of their sins is one with the confession of the mercy of God and thanksgiving for his forgiveness.”
This Sunday’s Second Reading (Gal 2:16, 19-21) underlines the stance of those who are recipients of God’s loving, merciful and benevolent action. Saved from sin and death by Christ’s paschal sacrifice and not by mere legal observance, they are to live for God in faith. “Faith” is a personal committed response to God, whose utmost revelation of forgiving love is made through his Son Jesus Christ. It is a movement of the heart and the total being towards God. The presence of Jesus transforms the person from within. In loving service, the Christian disciples thus continue to live by faith in the Son of God who offered his life out of love for us.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, assert: “Faith acknowledges that we are concerned with what has come in Christ; that his death on the cross is good news – gospel – because having erased the past, it allows new life, a life completely in God through Jesus Christ, which leads St. Paul to say: I have been crucified with Christ … Christ is living in me … I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. To know oneself, to be loved by Christ, loved gratuitously with no merit, this is without doubt what contributes most to Paul’s dynamism, to his passionate attachment to the Lord, to the enthusiasm of his zeal for preaching the gratuity of salvation. But is it not, for each of us, the major discovery that can raise us up and restore our dignity? (…) We are not justified as by a verdict of acquittal, still less through any consideration of personal merit, but by the gift of grace acquired by the death of Christ and by the faith that makes us enter with him into the new world. We can read here in fine print the whole mystery of the merciful love of God and charity.”
The following excerpt is from a testimony by a remarkable 37-year old mom of four who has MS (multiple sclerosis). She affirms how important faith is to her journey. This courageous woman is a sterling example of what it means to “live by faith” (cf. Susan Hines-Brigger, “My Life with Multiple Sclerosis” in SAINT ANTHONY MESSENGER, May 2010, p. 13-15).
Last October, I woke up and performed my usual morning routine, but this time I knew something was different. My entire leg had no feeling in it. I rationalized that I must have slept on it wrong and it fell asleep. But deep down I knew that wasn’t the case. I got up and tried to go about my daily routine. I called my primary-care physician for an appointment, remembering that the day before I had twisted in the car to help buckle Riley’s car seat. That must have been what caused this, I thought.
No such luck. Within a week I was on a high dose of steroids and back in my neurologist’s office. Before he left the room following my appointment, I asked him, “Do I have MS? Because I’ve never been sure if I do since it didn’t show up in my spinal tap.” “Yes, you do”, he told me. So there it was. For the past seven years I had been in a kind of limbo with this whole MS thing. Well, now I knew, and it was a kind of a relief and a heartbreaker because now there was no talking my way out of it.
One of the unsettling things about this disease is uncertainty. No one knows how it will play out. There is not a day, an hour, a minute when I don’t sit and think about it. It’s the first thing I think of every morning, the last thing I think of before falling asleep and too many times to count in between. You can imagine what havoc that wreaks on your spirit and mind – especially one that already has lesions on it.
I have tried really hard to keep a positive attitude throughout this journey and realize things could be so much worse. Really, I have. But I’m finding it’s a day-by-day process. One day I feel as if I can conquer the world and take on anything this disease throws at me. The next day I get mad because it’s not fair, scared that I won’t be able to chase my kids around, worried that I’ll have to move one day because I live in a two story house and totally bummed because I see the way my kids look at me now and I know they’re worried.
Last year my oldest daughter, Maddie, was experiencing frequent severe headaches. I took her to the pediatrician, who ran down a list of questions for Maddie, one of which was “Are you worried about anything?” I could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t want to answer for some reason, so I assured her that it was O.K. She looked straight at me and said, “My mom because she has MS.” It broke my heart.
On days like that, the only thing that gets me through is faith. It’s had to. I don’t know what tomorrow holds. Neither do my doctors. Researchers are still hunting down that elusive cure. So that leaves me with faith: faith that there is a reason I am on this journey, and faith that I will be given the strength and surrounded with the right people to help me through.
I’ve read my share of articles – including in this magazine – where people have spoken of the blessings their MS has brought to them. I’m not there. In fact, if I were to chart how I’ve dealt with my disease following Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s grief process, I suspect I haven’t made it yet to acceptance. I envy those who see their diagnosis as a blessing. I don’t. I’m a mom of three – soon to be four – who gets angry when I have to tell my kids I can’t play because I’m too tired, or the heat is getting to me. And as a very independent person, I hate asking for help.
But those moments when I feel my lowest are always when I am reminded – in some way – of Christ’s presence. Sometimes it’s a kind word from a friend, an unexpected visit or just a momentary sense of calm. Faith is my security blanket. It gives me something to hold on to when I’m angry, frustrated and sad. My faith tells me, “Don’t give up. Hang in there. There is hope.”
Following my last flare-up, Mark and I spent a lot of time talking and praying about where to go next. At the time we were planning to try to have our fourth child. Should we go ahead, or consider our family complete and start the steroid shots? It was a decision I had wrestled with on and off. But I felt something was still missing in our family. We finally decided to go ahead with our family plans. The moment I found out I was pregnant; I suddenly knew we had made the right decision. I experienced a peace I hadn’t known in years. Our fourth child is due in August. That’s not to say I’m not very aware of the fact that there is a higher chance of a relapse after I have the baby. But as with this entire journey, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. All I know for sure is that tomorrow morning I will wake up and go through the same routine I have for the past seven and a half years. The rest I have to leave up to faith.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we turn to the Lord God with repentant heart, ready to acknowledge our sins and open to receive his divine mercy and forgiveness?
Does the experience of divine forgiveness move us to treat people and creation with tenderness, respect, compassion and care?
Do we live by faith in the Son of God who loves us and gave himself for us all?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O Lord our God,
you are kind and merciful.
Great is your love!
You are ready to forgive.
You embrace us tenderly when we turn to you
and repent of the wrong we have done.
We regret our sinfulness.
Through your Son’s paschal sacrifice,
you give us the gift of salvation.
In Christ Jesus we are “justified”.
Help us to realize the immensity of your love for us.
Let us live for you.
In our life of daily discipleship,
grant us the grace to be totally crucified with your Son Jesus Christ
and be united in his victory over sin and death.
Grant that we may be able to proclaim with Saint Paul, the mystic-apostle:
“I have been crucified with Christ …
Christ is living in me …
I still live my human life,
but it is a life of faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me.”
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.
“I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that those who are burdened with trials and difficulties may be able to live by faith and persevere in faith. Enable such people to be strengthened in faith through your acts of kindness, compassion and charity.
ACTION PLAN: That we may be strengthened in our faith, 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, # 29).
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