A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 51)
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – November 14, 2010 *
“In Toil and Labor”
BIBLE READINGS
Mal 3:19-20a // II Thes 3:7-12 // Lk 21: 5-19
(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 in the second to the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Characteristically in these last Sundays of the liturgical year, the worshipping community continues to hear “apocalyptic literature” dealing with the meaning and implications of the end time and the Lord’s second coming. The three readings of this Sunday help us realize that God is in absolute control and that we have a heroic duty to stand by him and persevere “in toil and labor”.
The biblical scholar Eugene Maly comments: “The underlying conviction of the apocalyptic authors was not that the end was coming now, but that the end would witness God’s victory … Words that may have suggested imminence were intended primarily to convey certainty. There is a great difference between the end that is certainly coming and the end that is coming soon … It is the absolute assurance of the Lord’s control of history and of his ultimate victory at the end that is at the heart of apocalyptic literature. Despite all the evil that can be imagined he will emerge victorious … We look forward to the second coming of the Lord. The certainty of that coming is a prominent part of the Christian faith. The assurance of it is to brighten our lives and encourage us to labor mightily for the Kingdom of God.”
In the early Christian community of Thessalonica, however, there was a perverted notion and an unfortunate reaction concerning the Lord’s second coming (cf. II Thes 3:7-12). Some members believed that the Lord’s final advent was imminent. Instead of responding positively and constructively to the ad interim situation, they simply stopped working and waited idly for the unfolding of the parousia. Convinced they were already “saved”, they felt no need to work. They did not apply themselves to tasks and neglected the obligations of daily living. They ended up as freeloaders, busybodies and a burden to the Christian community.
The shepherd-sage Saint Paul condemned this irresponsibility and parasitism. He asserted the necessity and dignity of labor: “If anyone is unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.” Presenting himself as a model of human labor, he enjoined the freeloaders to work and procure their own food. Paul contended that the expectation of the “Day of the Lord” does not cancel the responsibilities of daily living. Indeed, in this ad interim situation, we must labor and toil mightily for the advent of God’s kingdom.
Harold Buetow remarks: “So what do we do now about our thoughts on the last things? For one thing, within ourselves we ought to develop a deeper spirit of responsibility so that we seek to become dependable rather than dependent, givers rather than takers, generous rather than addicted to self- interest … Outside ourselves, we are to be busy with the calamities around us; not just deplore the world’s trouble spots, but to help their victims.”
The following story is very heartening and encouraging (cf. Tom Price, “The Other Haiti” in AMERICA, October 18, 2010, p. 23-25). It is a modern day example of a responsible and creative stance in a cataclysmic situation. It inspires hope and teaches us how to promote the advent of the kingdom of God in the here and now … with toil and labor!
Try to imagine Haiti, ravaged by a massive earthquake last January, and images of rubble, masonry at crazy angles and huge homeless camps come to mind. Port-au-Prince, the capital, is still dotted with the camps that people spontaneously formed after the quake and white Land Cruisers of the United Nations and other relief agencies. While cleanup is underway, collapsed buildings and debris overwhelm the landscape. In Leogane, west of the capital and close to the center of the quake, barely a building is left standing. To see how the nation is changing and to glimpse its future, you have to take a road out of Port-au-Prince.
I recently traveled to Haiti for Catholic Relief Services to document the plight of rural Haitians. There I observed a number of projects fully or partially funded by C.R.S. that provide short-term jobs, grant micro-loans to small businesses, subsidize daily meals for Catholic schoolchildren and help local communities plant trees and grow food. A small agricultural school teaches men and women farming techniques to enrich the soil, increase crop yields and channel runoff. I also saw how the Haitian countryside has been affected by the quake.
In the southern and western departments (or provinces) island life is beginning to look more normal. The people here are poor, but the buildings are intact. Yet the quake has brought enormous pressures: Some 110,000 internally displaced people live in the Sud Department – more than the 80,000 of whom live in the two largest camps in Port-au-Prince to which the prominent visitors and film crews come. Many of the displaced people now in Sud lost their homes in the capital during the quake and have returned to their rural roots in these provincial towns to stay with family. The two neighboring departments of Grand Anse and Nippes also “host” displaced Haitians from the capital, almost 200,000 of them. With their arrival, household sizes in Sud have swelled by an average of five people. In rural areas like the small coastal town of Carrefour, I met many families who had left Port-au-Prince.
Meprilant Desire is philosophical when he talks about making ends meet with extra mouths to feed. “God gave them to us, so we make do. Some days we get enough, some days we don’t,” he smiles. Desire now supports nine children, four of his own and five who fled the quake. Recently widowed, he is caring for them alone. Straight across the dirt road that runs through the town, his neighbor Frisca Saint Juste, 23, has a similar story. He is sheltering his cousin and his cousin’s three children, plus his mother and father.
Both Desire and Saint Juste have planted seeds they received as part of a church distribution at a seed fair. They are both tending strips of peas and corn. The peas provide vital nitrogen to the soil for the next crop. Saint Juste depends on the crops he grows behind his small house. His cousin helps out, but it is backbreaking work, especially with no nearby water source to irrigate the crops. Saint Juste explains to me how bringing water close to the field, with a community water pump, for instance, would greatly help him and his neighbors.
Desire is a man with a heavy weight on his shoulders. He is nevertheless optimistic about the future. He attributes his optimism to the new agricultural venture. “I got seeds at a seed fair, and I know enough not to eat them but to plant them”, he laughs. “I am stronger now, I have more energy, and I have the energy to plant more.” He has ambitions to plant peanuts next.
For decades, sloping hillsides bare of trees have been the defining feature of rural Haiti. Massive deforestation had led to soil erosion and frequent, damaging flooding. It is one of the biggest problems facing Haitian agriculture in one of the poorest country in Western Hemisphere. Since most people live from hand to mouth, few worry about cutting down the last tree for charcoal if it meets their needs for that day. The road around the southwest coastline detours often through fords and along the beach, where bridges and road surfaces have been washed away. The lower slopes have long been used for crops and grazing livestock. Higher up, the trees have been felled for fuel, principally to make charcoal for cooking.
Along the coast in Bon pas, at a little agricultural school run as a partnership by C.R.S., the U.S. Agency for International Development and Caritas Haiti, a dozen men and women are planting cassia tree seedlings. Hundreds of plastic pots dot the hillside. The cassia seedlings are destined to return some life to denuded hillsides and to protect the earth from erosion. The trees will give nitrogen to the soil and grow back well after they have been trimmed for charcoal wood. It will take many years for the cassia seedlings to mature, but the work to stop soil erosion and flooding has already started.
On the hillsides that rise behind the coastal strip of agricultural land, drainage channels have been dug to divert rainwater away from crops and houses and safely into natural water courses. Local villagers who work for Catholic Relief Services as part of a cash-for-work program provide most of the labor. The program aims to provide vital infrastructure work and local employment, while it also injects badly needed cash into the local economy. (In Port-au-Prince I saw how well the drainage channels work during a storm. When the rainy season started in April, the drainage channels built on the hilly Petionville camp prevented flooding and directed the water down to the municipal drains.)
At the agricultural school, smallholder farmers like Desire and Saint Juste can also learn about new crops and techniques to increase their yields. Rows of leeks, tomatoes and eggplant run across the narrow strip of land at the school. A woman named Jeanne Ornelie Desire (no relation to Meprilant) tells me she has planted eggplant, tomatoes, leeks and carrots. Some, she explains, are for her family, but she is also planning on a large enough harvest to sell produce at the market. She and her husband support a family of 18; six of their own and 12 quake émigrés. “The program has helped a lot”, she says. “Now we can have beautiful gardens with vegetables we can eat. And we are planting trees to rebuild the land.” Desire shares plant care tips with her friend Elisme Amanta, who is busy among the tomato plants. Amanta has three extra mouths to feed at home since the quake. (…)
As I traveled back toward Port-au-Prince, I began to see more quake damage and an increase in traffic. Although international attention has focused on this devastated, choked, dusty wreck of a city, the key to a better life for Haitians lies back down the road, in the provinces.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we believe that if we stand firm in the ways of the Lord, we will be consoled and blessed by his healing rays? Do we reverence faithfully the name of the Lord God?
Do we endeavor to persevere in the love and service of our Lord Jesus? Do we trust that though we will be hated by all because of his name, “not a hair on our head will be destroyed”?
Do we dedicate ourselves, in toil and labor, to promote the advent of the kingdom of God?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O loving God, victorious over all,
we reverence your name.
You are the sun of justice that shines your healing rays upon us.
Teach us to love and serve you faithfully
and to trust in your protection.
Help us to act responsibly and compassionately.
Let us be creatively involved
in helping our brothers and sisters
overcome the pain and distress
of various natural and man-made calamities.
In toil and labor,
we promote your kingdom of justice, peace and love.
We eagerly await
the glorious advent of your Son Jesus Christ
at the end time.
We give you thanks and praise.
We adore and glorify 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.
“In toil and drudgery, night and day we worked …” (cf. II Thes 3:8b)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Pray that the Christian disciples may continue to promote God’s kingdom in toil and labor. Assist the victims of natural and man-made calamities to cope with the pain and hardships of their situations.
ACTION PLAN: That we may have greater strength to toil and labor for the advent of God’s kingdom, 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, # 51).
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