A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 42)
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – September 12, 2010 *
“Christ Came to Save Sinners”
BIBLE READINGS
Ex 32:7-11, 13-14 // I Tm 1:12-17 // Lk 15:1-32
(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 last Sunday’s liturgy of the Word, as a liturgical community we came to grips with the cost of Christian discipleship. Jesus, who calls us to radical commitment, is depicted in today’s liturgy as merciful savior. Christ came into the world to save sinners.
The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “Lost and found. Strayed and returned. Sinned and forgiven. Estranged and reconciled. In one way or another, the idea of separation from God and ultimate reunion with him is the theme of all three of our readings … The Church wants, ultimately, to proclaim salvation. Sin is real and cannot be denied. It is why there is salvation. But found, returned, forgiven, reconciled – this is the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Our loving God the Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, resolutely searches for the sinful and straying. How God delights and rejoices in finding them! We are precious – of infinite value! - for we are the cherished objects of God’s forgiving love and compassionate care.
This Sunday’s Second Reading (I Tm 1:12-17) delineates the picture of Saint Paul as model and limpid example of “a sinner saved by grace”. Paul’s personal experience of the Risen Lord that transformed him from a persecutor into a zealous apostle solidifies the faith statement that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
The liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent explicates: “Saint Paul lets us know here his own personal experience: he had been a sinner, and yet God chose him as a minister. God chose to trust him. Paul’s case interested the entire Church. The other apostles had been chosen by the earthly Jesus and had lived with him; now Paul, who persecuted the others, saw himself overwhelmed by grace and chosen to be Christ’s servant no less than the other apostles. (…) Paul reminds us that conversion in Christ Jesus is always possible through faith and love. More than that, he believes that his sins and his conversion are part of a providential plan: he, a sinner, was chosen for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. Paul thus regards himself as the first of sinners but also as the foremost witness to the long-suffering patience of God … The readings of this Sunday are of great value, for they undercut all forms of rigorism. They do this, not by encouraging indulgence or an easygoing attitude toward human sin, but by exalting the forgiveness God shows to those who believe and to whom, despite their sins, he sometimes gives very special graces.”
This Sunday’s liturgy of the Word invites us to imitate Christ who came to save sinners. We must mirror the benevolent effort of our loving God to seek the lost and to welcome those yearning to come home. Finding something we have lost gives us fresh joy. We too must seek out the lost and the straying. We too must celebrate with joy and relish God’s delight in finding them
The following story dramatizes the miracle of the “lost and found … strayed and returned … sinned and forgiven … estranged and reconciled” (cf. Stephen Covey, “I Found My Son Again” in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings, ed. Jack Canfield, et. al. Cos Cob: CSS, 2009, p. 295-298). May this awesome miracle come to life again and again!
I have a dear friend who once shared with me his deep concern over a son he described as being “rebellious”, “disturbing”, and “an ingrate”. “Stephen, I don’t know what to do”, he said. “It’s gotten to the point where if I come into the room to watch television with my son, he turns it off and walks out. I’ve tried my best to reach him, but it’s just beyond me.
At the time I was teaching some university classes around the 7 habits. I said, “Why don’t you come with me to my class right now? We’re going to be talking about Habit 5 – how to listen emphatically to another person before you attempt to explain yourself. My guess is that your son may not feel understood.” “I already understand him”, he replied. “And I can see problems he’s going to have if he doesn’t listen to me.” “Let me suggest that you assume you know nothing about your son. Just start with a clean slate. Listen to him without any moral evaluation or judgment. Come to class and learn how to do this and how to listen within his frame of reference.”
So he came. Thinking he understood after just one class, he went to his son and said, “I need to listen to you. I probably don’t understand you, and I want to. His son replied, “You have never understood me – ever!” And with that, he walked out. The following day my friend said, “Stephen, it didn’t work. I made such an effort, and this is how he treated me! I felt like saying; ‘You idiot! Aren’t you grateful for what I’ve done and what I’m trying to do now?’ I really don’t know if there’s any hope.” I said, “He’s testing your sincerity. And what did he find out? He found out you don’t really want to understand him. You want him to shape up.” “He should, the little whippersnapper!” he replied. “He knows full well what he’s doing to mess things up.”
I replied, “Look at the spirit inside you now. You’re angry and frustrated and full of judgments. Do you think you can use some surface-level listening technique with your son and get him to open up? Do you think it’s possible for you to talk to him or even look at him without somehow communicating all those negative things you’re feeling deep inside? You’ve got to do much more private work inside your own mind and heart. You’ll eventually learn to appreciate him and to love him unconditionally just the way he is rather that withholding your love until he shapes us. On the way, you’ll learn to listen within his frame of reference and, if necessary, apologize for your judgments and past mistakes or do whatever it takes.”
My friend caught the message. He could see that he had been trying to practice the technique at the surface but was not dealing with what would produce the power to practice it sincerely and consistently, regardless of the outcome. So he returned to class for more learning and began to work on his feelings and motives, particularly the need to appreciate, respect and empathize. He soon started to sense a new attitude within himself. His feelings about his son turned more tender and sensitive and open. He became profoundly grateful for his son, simply because he sincerely wanted to understand and appreciate his son.
He finally said, “I’m ready. I’m going to try it again.” I said, “He’ll test your sincerity again.” “It’s all right, Stephen”, he replied. “At this point I feel as if he could reject every overture I make, and it would be all right. I would just keep making them because it’s the right thing to do, and he’s worth it. I feel so grateful for him and for the hard learning.”
That night he sat down with his son and said, “I know you feel as though I haven’t tried to understand and appreciate you, but I want you to know that I am trying and will continue to try.” Again, the boy coldly replied, “you have never understood me”. He stood up and started to walk out, but just as he reached the door, my friend said to his son, “Before you leave, I want to say that I’m really sorry for the way I embarrassed you in front of your friends the other night.” His son whipped around and said, “You have no idea how much that embarrassed me!” His eyes began to fill with tears.
“Stephen”, he said to me later, “all the training and encouragement you gave me did not even begin to have the impact of that moment when I saw my son begin to tear up. I had no idea that he even cared, that he was that vulnerable. For the first time I really wanted to listen. My gratitude grew immensely.” And listen he did. The boy gradually began to open up. They talked until midnight, and when his wife came in and said, “It’s time for bed”, his son quickly replied, “We want to talk, don’t we, Dad?” They continued to talk into the early morning hours.
The next day in the hallway of my office building, my friend with tears in his eyes, said, “Stephen, I found my son again.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we respond with respect and gratitude to our loving God and Father who treats us with great mercy and benevolence? Do we believe in the power of human intercession? Like Moses, do we exercise the ministry of intercession on behalf of a sinful world that rejects the divine love again and again?
Do we participate and delight in the awesome miracle of the “lost and found … strayed and returned … sinned and forgiven … estranged and reconciled”? How do we contribute to this miracle?
Like Saint Paul, do we avow the reality that “Christ came to save sinners”? How do we celebrate and proclaim this saving truth in today’s world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O Father,
you are loving and forgiving.
You sent your Son Jesus to seek the lost sheep.
Christ came into the world to save sinners.
When his body was raised on the cross,
he found the lost sheep.
He placed it on his own shoulders by his passion.
Then in the intense joy of the resurrection,
he brought it to his heavenly home.
Gracious Father,
you have treated us mercifully.
In Christ your Son, you have saved us.
With the community of the redeemed,
we cry out with festive joy:
“To the king of ages,
incorruptible, invisible, the only God,
honor and glory,
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.
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (I Tm 1:15b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that divine mercy and forgiveness may overcome the violence and hatred reigning in the modern world. By your life of charity, service and peacefulness, let the world know that “Christ came into the world to save sinners”.
ACTION PLAN: That we may experience the redeeming action of Christ more intensely and efficaciously, 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, # 42).
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