A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 41)
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – September 5, 2010 *
“A Prisoner for Christ Jesus”
BIBLE READINGS
Wis 9:13-18b // Phlm 9-10, 12-17 // Lk 14:25-33
(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
In our journey as a worshipping community centered on Jesus Christ, the liturgy of the Word this Sunday helps us to realize that radical commitment to him is a basic characteristic of discipleship. Absolute priority is given to Christ. All others are secondary. This message is underlined in the Gospel reading (Lk 14:25-33).
The biblical scholar Eugene Maly remarks: “Basically what defines a New Testament disciple, as our Gospel reading makes evident, is total self-giving to the Master … Can you say yes completely to Jesus Christ? (…) A follower must turn his back on his family and his very self … Surely, no more radical way can be found for expressing total self-surrender … It means putting Christ first … All other relationships are to be seen and evaluated in the light of that one fundamental relationship.”
The fundamental choice for Christ demands the strength and wisdom of the holy spirit from on high (cf. Wis 9:13-18b). To sift through the complex demands of radical discipleship, we need the light of divine wisdom. Commitment to God, whose plans are beyond our understanding, manifests the presence and activity of true wisdom.
The liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent comments: “Wisdom enables us to understand God’s will … Only wisdom and the Spirit can reveal God’s will to us. Without their intervention man must live in uncertainty and walk hopelessly in the darkness … If we are to know and follow God’s will, we must abandon the earthly tent of our body and our self-will. The lesson of this Sunday is an important one, for it presents the charter of Christian life and shows the radical demands that Christianity makes. One may not live the Christian life unthinkingly; the life of a disciple is something that must be taken seriously.”
In the Second Reading (Phlm 9-10, 12-17), we hear the apostle Paul – now an old man and a prisoner for Christ Jesus – appealing to the Christian slave owner, Philemon to welcome back the fugitive and newly baptized, Onesimus and treat him as a brother in Christ. The biblical scholar, Joseph Fitzmyer gives an interesting background: “The slave Onesimus had run away, after having stolen something or having caused his master considerable damage. In his flight he came to Rome, the magnet of fugitives and the lawless … In effect, Paul asks Philemon not to inflict the severe penalties permitted by law. But he also promises to restore the damage that Onesimus has cause Philemon and suggests quite frankly that he would like to have Onesimus come back to work with him. It is impossible to determine whether Paul meant by this that Philemon should manumit the slave. Paul sent Onesimus back with Tychicus, the bearer of (letter to the) Colossians (4:7-9). Col 4:9 suggests that Onesimus was a Colossian. According to J. Knox, he was eventually returned to Paul and became in time the bishop of Ephesus (ca. AD 107-117) … As such, he played a major part in the collection of Paul’s letters into a corpus.”
In his loving letter to Philemon, Saint Paul, an exemplary Christian disciple, illustrates that absolute preference for Christ and immersion into his paschal destiny lead to transformation and new relationships. Onesimus’ new birth in Christ through baptism establishes a new kinship with the saving Lord and with other Christians. The biblical scholar Ivan Havener comments: “Paul’s concern is simply that conversion to Christianity places Christians in a new relationship to one another. They are brothers and sisters in Christ or partners, as it were, in the Lord, and this relationship transcends all other relationships, such as master and slave.”
Though Saint Paul did not directly challenge the institution of slavery, he exhibits a humane attitude that would eventually guide Christianity to abhor that system. Harold Buetow concludes: “Considering Philemon’s high social status, this tender and compassionate appeal may have been hard for him to recognize – but then he, and all good Christians, are expected to be open to new vistas. Although it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the human race showed that it realized that slavery is the evil thing that it is, slavery’s death knell had been sounded when a slave-owner was requested to treat his slave as a brother on the grounds of religious love.”
Considering the historical background, it seems that Philemon had responded to Paul’s revolutionary challenge to freely love Onesimus and respect him with dignity and respect as a “brother” in Christ. Philemon freely renounced his legal right to his slave Onesimus, who was eventually returned to Paul to be the latter’s co-worker in the Gospel. The former slave Onesimus became in time a bishop of a vibrant Christian community in Ephesus. Following the inspiration of Saint Paul, Philemon had wonderfully embraced the liberating new vistas of Christian discipleship that enabled him to embrace an escaped slave, to give opportunity to a forgiven slave and a “brother” in Christ to realize his full possibility, and to transcend personally the flawed structure of a civil society based on slave ownership.
The following article illustrates a modern day example of radical discipleship and an unmitigated commitment that made Bishop John Baptist Wang a “prisoner for Christ Jesus” (cf. Fr. Kevin O’Neill, “A Bishop’s Story” in L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO, July 28, 2010, p. 3).
The first time I saw 86 year old Bishop John Baptist Wang was during the Easter Vigil Mass in the cathedral of his diocese. It was a moving Easter ceremony. There was a large fire outside the church followed by a procession into the church with lighted candles. Primary school children read the readings with gusto. Just before the Gloria was sung a huge banner of the risen Jesus was unveiled over the main altar accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets followed by fireworks outside the church.
The symbol of water was in the form of a waterfall set up on the right side of the sanctuary. The congregation shouted aloud in one voice their renewal of faith while holding high their lighted candles. This was very powerful. Just before the liturgy of the Eucharist, Bishop Wang was ushered to the altar with assistance. He sat in a chair beside me so I assisted him with his standing and sitting during the Eucharistic prayer. In 2008 he had a number of minor strokes that affected the feeling in his hands and his ability to walk unaided. A few days later I had the opportunity to talk with him. He was still quite frail then, lying in bed with a drip, nevertheless he graciously met with me.
He was ordained a priest in 1951 at the age of 28. In 1999, at the age of 76 (normally Bishops resign at 75 years of age), he was ordained Bishop by the former Bishop of his neighboring home diocese. He pointed out the needs of his diocese as the formation of priests, sisters, seminarians and catechists. The sisters work in parishes, clinics and an orphanage. The priority of the diocese is mission outreach. The diocese is one of the poorer dioceses in China that gets some financial assistance from Rome.
A few months later I had the opportunity to return to his diocese. This time the Bishop was in better health but still unable to walk unassisted. He shared with me a little of his experience in detention and prison.
In 1965, at the age of 42, he spent 11 years in detention and nine years in prison. It took the officials 11 years to charge him with being an “anti-liberationist”. He said life in detention was tougher than life in prison though life in prison was also difficult. While in prison he shared a small room with seven other men. There was one bed for them to share. If they all slept on their side they could manage to fit onto the bed. If anyone needed to use the toilet at night his space on the bed would be gone. The toilet was in the corner of the room.
They were allowed to leave their room for 20 minutes once per week. Food was passed into the room through a small hole in the door. Meals consisted of soup and a little vegetable. They had a change of clothes once a week. He did not wash his body for the 20 years he was incarcerated! He said the smell in the prison cell was terrible. He was released from prison in 1985 and for political reasons had to leave his home diocese and work in the neighboring diocese where he is now a Bishop. When he was in prison his family sent him a dictionary and the book Tale of Two Cities. He used these to study English. He added a few sentences of English when he spoke to me saying, “Can I now practice my English with you?” A good grasp of Latin helped him in learning English.
It was hard for me to fathom how an old man who had experienced so much suffering could be so serene. He didn’t even have a bad word to say about those who kept him captive all those years. I think deep down he has forgiven them though of course I imagine he could never forget what they did to him and others. Serenity is so obvious in his face, his gestures and speech … Though old and frail; he is strong in mind and spirit.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we commit ourselves totally to the Lord though his ways are beyond our understanding? Do we invoke the Lord to send forth among us the wisdom of the “holy spirit from on high”?
Are we resolved to follow Christ radically and intimately? How do we live out in daily life our fundamental option for Christ?
How did Saint Paul promote the cause of Onesimus, an escaped, converted slave, as well as the new intimate relationship that we have with Christ as his brothers and sisters? Does our absolute option for Christ lead us to deepen our bond and develop new, meaningful relationships with our fellow Christians?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O gracious Father,
fill us the light of your wisdom.
Bestow upon us “the spirit from on high”
to guide our Christian discipleship.
Bless our unmitigated option to serve Jesus.
Help us to renounce what displeases you
and oppose what militates against your saving will.
Let us serve you in the spirit of Saint Paul
who was a “prisoner for Christ Jesus”.
O loving God,
make us channels of your peace
and instruments of your divine mercy.
Teach us to heal the wounds of injustice and false division.
Give us the strength to rectify flawed social structures
that cripple and impoverish the humble and the “anawim”.
May we truly experience that we are no longer “slaves”
but fully liberated and sanctified “brothers and sisters”
in the Lord Jesus.
We give you praise and glory.
We love you and adore you,
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.
“I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus, urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus …” (Phlm 9)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that our fundamental option for Christ may be translated into concrete service for the poor and needy. By your deep compassion and active charity, enable people who are enslaved or shackled in one way or another to experience Christ’s redeeming love and liberating power.
ACTION PLAN: That we may grasp more deeply the implications of our radical choice for 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, # 41).
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