A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 5, n. 45)
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – October 7, 2007
“Lord, Increase Our Faith!”
BIBLE READINGS
Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4 // II Tm 1:6-8, 13-14 // Lk 17:5-10
N.B. Series 5 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 First Reading. For another set of reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 2.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
When I was reading Frank Maurovich’s article, “Celebrating and Remembering” (cf. MARYKNOLL, July/August 2007, p. 18-19) about the persecuted Church and the Maryknoll mission in North Korea, I felt a great admiration for the Maryknoll missioners and the Church in Korea who, in the past and present, have been and continue to be animated by a steadfast and enduring faith that does not succumb to defeat and suffering. Frank Maurovich writes:
Many of the faithful who filled the Catholic cathedral in Seoul, South Korea, on March 18, were among the thousands who fled their homes when the communist government in the North began severe persecution of Christians in the late 1940s. Those older refugees were very much in the mind of Maryknoll Superior General John Sivalon when he spoke at the Mass of “Celebration and Remembrance”. The Archdiocese of Seoul, under Cardinal Nicholas Cheong, was celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Pyongyang in 1927, at that time a Maryknoll mission in the North, and remembering the tragic suffering. “This is really a celebration of the Korean people, and the Korean Church, and of your deep faith and history of suffering and martyrdom,” Sivalon said. Many of those refugees had been taught and baptized by Maryknoll missioners, who had served in northwest Korea until they were forced out by World War II and blocked from re-entering afterwards by the new communist regime in the North. Two Maryknollers, Bishop Patrick J. Byrne and Sister Agneta Chang, were among the estimated 10,000 who died at the hands of their oppressors. Korean Bishop Francis Hong of Pyongyang died in prison. Although the communists had effectively shut down the Church in North Korea, the Vatican honored it in 1962 by raising the vicariate of Pyongyang to a diocese, making it a full-pledged local church. The Holy See placed the diocese temporarily under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Seoul. “We especially look forward to the day when we might join you in returning and taking up where we left off.”
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4) is about a faith that is tested and God’s gracious help to make that faith endure. With a vision of hope, Yahweh tried to reinforce the faith of the prophet Habakkuk, deeply distressed at the misery, destruction and violence all around him. Bewildered by God’s seeming indifference to the anguish of a deeply persecuted and tortured nation, he was demanding an explanation for God’s silence and inaction.
Harold Buetow comments: “Habakkuk’s times were as internally wicked and internationally threatening as any before or since. It looked as though nothing would stand in the Assyrians’ way to conquer more of the world, including the Jews’ southern kingdom of Judah, where Habakkuk lived. Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies became the new mighty world power to contend with. Unfortunately, Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had backed the Assyrians, the losing side. Habakkuk was a deep thinker and, according to the picturesque phrase of St. Jerome, a wrestler with God. A faithful man, Habakkuk is all the more real to us because he knew what it is to experience temptations to faithlessness. Daringly but respectfully in today’s dialogue with God, he wanted to know some of the same things we would like to know. Why, for example, is God so silent while the faithless conquers and the wicked devours the good? Why does not God intervene in the world – especially when suffering and evil seem to be triumphing? Why does God tolerate the wicked? The Judeans had sinned, to be sure, but why should God choose to punish them by means of a monstrous people who were more wicked than themselves?”
God did not disdain, but rather looked kindly upon the question and complaints of Habakkuk for the prophet’s intense cries were not expressions of lack of loyalty and trust, but an agonized plea for divine intervention. The cries of Habakkuk were actually a form of prayer emanating from an enfeebled heart that seeks courage in the face of the triumphant appearance of evil. God’s magnificent response was both an affirmation of his loving faithfulness and a call to patience and greater trust on the part of the threatened “believer”.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, remark: “The Lord responds, not by addressing the question that was put to him, but by a solemn declaration of faithfulness to the covenant, confirmed in writing. This is nothing more than a simple declaration: the Word of God accomplishes what it says; the vow written by God already begins to be fulfilled. There is no room for impatience, and even less for doubt; the vision still has its time, the fulfillment will surely come; to wait for it in hope is to prepare oneself to receive it; the just will live because of faith solidly based on God’s own faithfulness … Whatever happens and whatever the present situation may be – painful and distressing – he is the faithful God, on whom his people can and always will rely.”
Like the prophet Habakkuk, the apostles of Jesus needed to be strengthened in faith in order to embrace fully the radical demands of discipleship. Earlier the Divine Master had challenged them to be totally forgiving: “If your brother sins rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in one day, and each time he comes to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (Lk 17:3). Confronted with such a rigorous demand of charity, the apostles could only cry out, “Lord, increase our faith” (v. 5). Jesus Master assured the deeply challenged disciples that the “faith” founded on total adherence to his person is deeply efficacious and leads to personal dedication and selfless, generous service. Indeed, the faith that relies on the power of Jesus makes possible a full response to the task of discipleship and produces “wonders” and life-giving “miracles”.
Aelred Rosser explicates on this Sunday’s Gospel reading: “The disciples ask for an increase of faith and Jesus responds by saying in effect, Don’t worry about how much faith you have. It is such a powerful thing that even a tiny bit of it makes you potential miracle workers. You have plenty of faith. Now nourish it and make it grow … We need to trust the faith we have. The miracles that result from exercised faith are far greater than exaggerated signs and wonders Jesus uses as examples here … The second half of the gospel text is also about the gift of faith, though the connection may not be immediately obvious. Faithful service is precisely the kind of service that can work miracles. And the faithful servant knows that whatever is accomplished for the Master is because of the relationship of trust between them. When we have done all that faith in us can achieve, we are delighted to say: This was the understanding from the beginning; we have merely done what was expected of us.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
What were the historical, social and moral situations that provoked the anguished cries of Habakkuk? How do we relate to the feelings voiced with vehemence by the prophet to Yahweh? Are there times when we complain to God: “I cry for help but you do not listen”? What is God’s response to Habakkuk? How does God respond to our cries of distress?
2 Do we ever turn to Jesus and cry out to him, “Lord, increase my faith”? Are we sometimes overwhelmed by the intense challenge of Christian discipleship? Do we endeavor to make our faith and adherence to the person of Jesus efficacious and “living and active”?
3 Am I capable of faithful and selfless service? Do I believe that my faith in Christ and total adherence to his person would make possible the miracle of “the trees in the sea”? Do we trust that our faith can work wonders? How do I allow myself to be shaped by this realization?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father, you are a faithful God and your eternal love for us is an undeserved gift. But at times, we are overwhelmed and bewildered by the violence and misery in today’s world. We are frightened by our lack of trust in your great love and our faith in your omnipotent power is enfeebled by specters of doom and wickedness. Almighty Father, fill us with the vision of hope that you have given to the prophet Habakkuk: the vision that presses on to fulfillment … the vision that will not disappoint. Renew our trust in your fidelity and integrity. Help us to believe: “The just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
Jesus, Divine Master, the challenge of discipleship is intense and the cost of following you is dear. Lord, increase our faith! Help us to adhere totally to your person. Make us serve you and our needy neighbors with love and devotion. Help us to believe that our faith in you, though tiny as a mustard seed, is efficacious and increasingly fruitful and powerful. Trusting in your power at work in us, may we be able to accomplish the miracle of “the trees in the sea”. You are our faithful Lord, 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.
“Lord, increase our faith” (Lk 17:5)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Implore God to strengthen our Christian faith. Endeavor to translate this faith into action by selfless and devoted service to the needy and the poor in our world today.
ACTION PLAN: To help us develop a stronger faith in Jesus, 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 (Vol. 3, n. 45): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
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