A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 9)
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – January 24, 2010 *
“Baptized Into One Body”
BIBLE READINGS
Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 // I Cor 12:12-30 // Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
(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
The three readings of this Sunday put the liturgical assembly in contact with the Word of God that challenges to a fuller, richer life. In the Old Testament reading (Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10), Ezra’s liturgy of the Word helps the Chosen People - fresh from the purging experience of the Babylonian exile - to experience both the beauty of the law and a deep remorse over their failure to interiorize it. The law of the Lord is not meant to oppress, but to heal and restore. In order to become truly the holy nation that God destines them to be, the people of Israel need to embrace the law and the spiritual discipline it entails.
The evangelist Luke, in today’s Gospel reading (Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21), explains why he is writing an “orderly account” of the Christ events: so that Theophilus – who represents any and all who are “lovers of God” – may come to know the full truth about what has been taught. Moreover, Luke delineates that Jesus is the fulfillment of the divine promise and that the messianic mission is directed to all peoples, and not just to Israel. Jesus of Nazareth is anointed by the Spirit to proclaim good news to the poor, liberation for the oppressed, healing to the blind and the jubilee for all peoples in its fullness. His mission is to fulfill the Father’s gracious plan to unite all peoples and restore all creation. Through his public ministry totally animated by the Holy Spirit and by his paschal journey through the cross to eternal glory, Jesus Christ ushers in the kingdom of God and unfolds the radical newness of the messianic age.
In the Second Reading (I Cor 12:12-30), we glean that the messianic task of restoration continues to challenge the Church through all ages. Paul himself has to come to grips with various divisive issues that confront the early Christian community in Corinth. Writing to the contentious Corinthians in 70 A.D., Paul asserts that in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body and given to drink of one Spirit. He avows that we are the body of Christ and individually parts of it.
Indeed, Christ is one, just as the human body is one, in spite of the diversity and number of its members. By the sacrament of baptism we are incorporated into the risen, glorified body of Christ. The Church, the assembly of Christian believers, is the manifestation and extension of the Lord’s body in this world. The Church is the body of Christ – head and members. We are all significant and important members of this “mystical body” because we all share in the life of the Risen Lord, our head.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, comment: “Christ is, through the Spirit, the principal unifier of this “body-person” … The Church is in his image, a reflection of what he is in himself … We have here a diversity in forms of service in a living organism that embraces them in its unity. Their anarchic development, the atrophying of such and such member can damage the vitality of the whole body.”
In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25), we renew our endeavor to promote the unity of the members of Christ’s body and to overcome the divisions that diminish its vitality. In this Year for Priests, it is greatly opportune to consider Blessed John XXIII and his effort to restore Christian unity (cf. Jeanne Kun, “’They Are Our Brethren’: John XXIII and Christian Unity” in THE WORD AMONG US, January 2008, p. 66-68).
Not long after his election as pope in 1959, Blessed John XXIII surprised the whole world when he announced his intention to convene the Second Vatican Council. Nobody expected this affable son of peasant farmers to take such a bold move. He was supposed to be a “caretaker pope”, spending his remaining years preparing for the next pope. But Angelo Roncalli had other plans.
Pope John XXIII caused an even greater stir when he stated that one of his primary intentions for the council was Christian unity. Having served as a papal representative in Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece, John XXIII experienced firsthand the divisions between Eastern and Western Christians. In addition, during his time as papal nuncio in France, he was appointed as the first permanent observer of the Holy See at UNESCO. This international perspective made the new pope keenly aware of the scandal of a divided church. He wanted Vatican II to put the church on a new path toward reconciliation with all believers.
It was for this reason that John XXIII took the extraordinary step of inviting to the Council representatives from every major Christian denomination. These “observers” were treated with great respect, and were given the opportunity to comment on the Council Fathers’ discussion throughout Vatican II’s four sections.
Most significantly, the Council released its Decree on Ecumenism, which expressed deep regard for Christians of all denominations. Among other things, it stated that in the long history of divisions of the church, “men on both sides were to blame”, not just those who separated from Rome and founded other churches or denominations. This is why all believers must undergo conversion of sorts, a “change of heart and holiness of life” that will bring us all together.
Throughout his pontificate, John XXIII instituted a number of innovations to help foster unity and reconciliation among churches and cultures. For one, he broadened the College of Cardinals, naming the first Indian and African cardinals. He created a new Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and appointed the first-ever Catholic representative to the Assembly of the World Council of Churches.
Pope John also welcomed the heads of any churches to the Vatican. For instance, not since the fourteenth century had an archbishop of Canterbury set foot inside the Vatican – until Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher’s visit in 1960. The pope reminded those separated from the Catholic Church of the words of St. Augustine: “Whether they wish it or not, they are our brethren. They cease to be our brethren only when they stop saying ‘Our Father’.”
When once asked about the possibility of Christian unity, Pope John replied, “I realize that it will take a long time. Neither you nor I will be there to celebrate the great feast of reconciliation. Neither will my immediate successors. But someone must begin to clear away the obstacles that stand in the way.” And that’s just what John XXIII did. It is also what his successors have continued to do. In December, 1965, Pope Paul VI joined Patriarch Athenagoras I in lifting the mutual excommunications between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches that had been in place since 1054. In 1995, Pope John Paul II dedicated an entire encyclical to ecumenism (That They May Be One), and throughout his pontificate went out of his way to meet with the leaders of other Christian denominations. And Pope Benedict XVI has continued along this path, urging Catholics to pray and work for unity, and is himself making contacts and moving forward dialogue with a host of different Christian leaders.
As we observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from January 18-25, let’s dedicate ourselves to unity. Even if we feel inadequate, we can take on Pope John’s attitude: “Whenever I see a wall between Christians, I try to pull out a brick.” Each in our own way, let’s pray and work for the day when the followers of Jesus “may all be one” (John 17:21). We may not live to see full unity within the body of Christ, but it is possible that we will see hopeful signs of the reconciliation and healing God longs for!
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we consider the law of the Lord as perfect and refreshing the soul? Do we believe that it is a means of healing, an instrument of liberation and an agent of divine restoration?
Do we look on Jesus Christ as the true unifier of his body – the Church? Are we receptive to the unfolding of the radical newness of the messianic age? Do we truly believe that in Jesus is the fulfillment of the divine promise?
Do we cherish the various charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church? Are we grateful for the body of Christ with its inherent “unity in diversity”? How does the reality of being “all baptized into one body” affect us personally? What do we do to promote Christian unity in today’s world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we believe that we are the body of Christ
and individually parts of it.
In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.
Whatever our racial, cultural, economic differences,
we belong to Christ our head
for we were all given to drink of his Spirit.
Help us to overcome
the scandals of division within the mystical body.
Give us the grace to promote Christian unity.
Let our Risen Lord Jesus Christ,
the principal unifier of his body, the Church,
assist us to remove – brick by brick – the divisive wall.
Through the power of his Spirit,
enable us to commit ourselves more fully
to be a sacrament of unity in today’s world.
Teach us to embrace the law of love
which binds in perfect unity the members of his body.
For your gracious love and compassionate saving plan,
we thank you and give you praise,
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.
“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” (I Cor 12:13a)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Offer special prayers and sacrifices for Christian unity. In view of this, imitate Blessed John XXIII’s positive attitude: “Whenever I see a wall between Christians, I try to pull out a brick.”
ACTION PLAN: That we may truly experience the beauty of divine glory; 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, # 9).
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