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Ordinary Time is a time of grace, an opportunity to reflect on all the aspects of the mystery of Christ, rather than intensely focusing on a certain aspect, as we do in the other liturgical seasons. Let the Daughters of St. Paul lead you in lectio divina on the daily Gospel readings of Ordinary Time.
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ORDINARY GRACEWEEKS 1–17
ORDINARY GRACE
WEEKS 1–17
Daily Gospel Reflections
By the Daughters of St. Paul
Edited by Maria Grace Dateno, FSP and Marianne Lorraine Trouvé, FSP
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ordinary grace weeks 1–17: daily Gospel reflections / by the Daughters of St. Paul; edited by Maria Grace Dateno and Marianne Lorraine Trouvé.
p. cm.
ISBN-10: 0-8198-5447-6 (Epub)
ISBN-13: 971-0-8198-5447-6 (Epub)
ISBN-10: 0-8198-5446-8 (Kindle)
ISBN-13: 971-0-8198-5446-9 (Kindle)
1. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Meditations. 2. Church year meditations. 3. Catholic Church—Prayers and devotions. 4. Catholic Church. Lectionary for Mass (U.S.). 5. Common lectionary (1992) I. Dateno, Maria Grace. II. Trouvé, Marianne Lorraine. III. Daughters of St. Paul.
BS2555.54.O73 2011
242’.3—dc22
2010026125
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Cover design by Rosana Usselmann
Cover photo Mary Emmanuel Alves, FSP
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
“P” and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.
Copyright © 2011, Daughters of St. Paul
Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491
www.pauline.org
Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.
Contents
How to Use This Book
Liturgical Calendars
First Week of Ordinary Time
Second Week of Ordinary Time
Third Week of Ordinary Time
Fourth Week of Ordinary Time
Fifth Week of Ordinary Time
Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
Eighth Week of Ordinary Time
Ninth Week of Ordinary Time
Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time
Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time
Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time
Trinity Sunday
Corpus Christi
Solemnities and Feasts of the Lord and the Saints
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Presentation of the Lord
Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary
Annunciation
Birth of John the Baptist
Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
List of Contributors
How to Use This Book
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:7).
Every day, God’s grace is available through his word. There is, of course, nothing “ordinary” about grace, which is the amazing reality of God’s life in us. There is nothing “ordinary” about Ordinary Time, either. In fact, the term “Ordinary Time” does not mean time that is average or mundane. It comes from the way the weeks are “ordered” using numbers in the form of ordinals (first, second, third, etc.).
Ordinary Time is a time of grace, an opportunity to reflect on all the aspects of the mystery of Christ, rather than intensely focusing on a certain aspect, as we do in the other liturgical seasons. You are invited to share with the Daughters of St. Paul their meditations on the Gospel readings of Ordinary Time.
These pages are based on Lectio Divina (holy reading), which is a way of praying with Scripture. Our founder, Blessed James Alberione, urged us to nourish ourselves with the Scriptures. He said that when we do this, we “experience interiorly the kindling of a divine fire.” Many methods of Lectio Divina have developed since the time of early monasticism. Here, the sisters use a simple framework that allows the word of God to make room in our minds and hearts.
The first step, Lectio (reading), is to read the day’s Gospel passage from a missal or Bible. Read it a few times slowly, perhaps especially noticing the phrase or verse that is listed under the Meditatio section.
Next, the Meditatio (meditation) expands the meaning of this phrase and explores what it is saying to us today—what God is asking of us, or challenging us to, or offering to us. After reading the meditation, take as much time as you wish to reflect on it.
The Oratio (prayer) can help you talk to God about what has arisen in your heart, so that the time of prayer becomes a conversation, not just a time to think. God has spoken in the Scripture. We hear the invitation in our meditation, but now a response is called for. Our response is not just to say, “Yes, I want to do as you are asking me,” but also to say, “Help me do it, Lord!”
The short line under Contemplatio (contemplation) is a way of extending this time of prayer into life. You can silently repeat it throughout the day to help deepen the intimacy with the Lord that you experienced in prayer.
Thanks be to God!
Liturgical Calendars
Note to the reader: Each liturgical year the Church celebrates thirty-four weeks of Ordinary Time in two sections. The seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter take up the other weeks of the year. The liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent.
The First Week of Ordinary Time begins on the Monday after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which concludes the Christmas season. The weeks of Ordinary Time continue in order until Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.
The Easter season runs from Easter Sunday until Pentecost, and Ordinary Time resumes on the Monday after Pentecost. The numbered weeks usually then pick up from the point where they left off, but sometimes a few weeks are skipped.
The two Sundays after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, replace the numbered Sundays of Ordinary Time that would otherwise fall on those days.
The following chart indicates the dates for the beginning of each section of Ordinary Time:
YEARORDINARY TIME BEGINS AFTER THE BAPTISM OF THE LORDORDINARY TIME RESUMES AFTER PENTECOST2011January 10 (Monday of First Week)June 13 (Eleventh week)2012January 10 (Tuesday of First Week)May 28 (Eighth week)2013January 14 (Monday of First Week)May 20 (Seventh week)2014January 13 (Monday of First Week)June 9 (Tenth week)2015January 12 (Monday of First Week)May 25 (Eighth week)2016January 11 (Monday of First Week)May 16 (Seventh week)2017January 10 (Tuesday of First Week)June 5 (Ninth week)2018January 9 (Tuesday of First Week)May 21 (Seventh week)2019January 14 (Monday of First Week)June 10 (Tenth week)2020January 13 (Monday of First Week)June 1 (Ninth week)2021January 11 (Monday of First Week)May 24 (Eighth week)2022January 10 (Monday of First Week)June 6 (Tenth week)The Sunday readings follow a three-year cycle (A, B, or C) as indicated in the following chart:
YEARCYCLE2011Cycle A2012Cycle B2013Cycle C2014Cycle A2015Cycle B2016Cycle C2017Cycle A2018Cycle B2019Cycle C2020Cycle A2021Cycle B2022Cycle CMonday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 1:14–20
Meditatio
“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”
Now is the time. Mark uses the Greek word kairos, which means the appointed time or the favored time. The reading for today, the first day of Ordinary Time, reminds me of a professor who walks into the first class of the year and immediately launches into an overview of the course. The first twenty minutes of the lecture telegraph that this semester will move along at a good clip. Looking for a blow-off course? Here’s your cue to look elsewhere. Resolve to keep up with the readings and assignments, and you’ll learn something worthwhile.
Today’s Gospel has a sense of urgency. Today, in this moment, the kingdom of God draws near. God’s Good News—the Gospel—demands a response, and it will not leave us uneffected. God’s call is magnetic. Simon, Andrew, James, and John drop everything to follow Jesus. Matthew’s parallel account of this scene (4:18–22) gives us a sense that more was involved in the call of the first disciples, but Mark stresses that the kingdom of God is at hand now. Do something about it now.
The endless stream of ordinary “now” moments is the setting for the kingdom of God in our real world. This present moment is the place of God’s gift to us, and our gift to God. Neither the past with its mistakes or triumphs, nor the future with all its variables, concerns us now. We can play the game of should-have-been and could-have-done, but it doesn’t change reality. We can imagine ourselves in wonderfully ideal circumstances or cringe at foreseeable calamities, but the future is never as rosy or bleak in the way that we’ve imagined it. All we have is today. God calls us today. Jesus passes by this morning, and he proclaims the Good News: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”
Oratio
Lord, the spotlight of holiday festivities is over, and now it is back to the day-to-day routine. Welcome to the “ordinary time” of my life. This present moment is where we meet. You are fully here. Am I fully here too? Lord, you know how much time and energy I spend rehashing past events as well as dreaming of or dreading the future. Help me to live this moment to the full. I want to be here with you—now. May your kingdom come in the midst of my daily routine.
Contemplatio
May your kingdom come in the midst of my daily routine.
Tuesday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 1:21–28
Meditatio
“The people were astonished at his teaching…”
Interesting words: the people were astonished. They don’t clap. They aren’t taken aback. They don’t have an animated discussion after his proclamation. Rather they are stunned into silence. The people are excited that they have finally found a teaching that answers the deepest questions and hungers of their heart.
We want to be taught. We look for a master at living. No matter how smart we may feel ourselves to be, we still are gratefully amazed when we encounter preaching that reveals a dimension of life or truth beyond the commonplace. We long to know there is something more to our lives, a deeper, ultimate meaning to the daily grind, something that makes it all worthwhile.
The astonishment of the crowds listening to Jesus is all the more intriguing when we recall that Jesus preaches values that turn the conventional wisdom of the world upside down, often uncomfortably so. The world’s values don’t astonish. For all their glitter, they tire and bore us, exhaust, confuse, and defeat us.
The values taught by Jesus, on the other hand, even today bring light, hope, and the welcome element of surprise. They almost always point out an unexpected path, one that is inexplicable and incomprehensible, one that reduces us to reverent tears and quiet homage when we encounter it.
Jesus teaches you and me personally. His classrooms are myriad because he understands his students well and knows just how to get a word or light through the slightest crack we sometimes leave open. We find him teaching us in homilies and movies, in the teachings of the Church and the suggestions of a neighbor, in a magazine article or in the innocent prayer of a child. The movie theater becomes a “sanctuary,” and the place where we read a document becomes a chapel. We meet Jesus, personally, like the men in the synagogue or the man with the unclean spirit in today’s reading.
Oratio
Jesus, speak to me a word that will bring water to my parched spirit. A word that will point out an unexpected direction for me in some difficulty I am experiencing.
Contemplatio
Master, I am waiting on your word.
Wednesday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 1:29–39
Meditatio
“Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”
In this passage, Mark recounts a whirlwind of activity on the part of Jesus in Capernaum. Having taught in the synagogue the previous morning and expelled a demon, Jesus then subdues the fever of Peter’s mother-in-law. At sunset—once the Sabbath is over—Jesus responds to the needs of the crowds swarming around the door of the house where he is staying. Before sunrise, he is on the move again—but in a different way. He is going to a lonely spot to commune with his Father before departing for other towns to teach and heal there also.
In these lines, Mark shows us Jesus’ compassion, dedication, prayerfulness, and zeal. He also shows us another quality—Jesus’ balance. Jesus slept and prayed before resuming his work.
It’s good to consider Jesus’ balance, because sometimes we can get out of kilter. Our lives can become so busy that our rest and our prayer life often suffer. As a result, our whole being suffers.
Admittedly, balance is hard to achieve in our society, especially for breadwinners. Yet without balance, life grows frustrating, and burnout becomes a real possibility. Homo sapiens are supposed to be wise. Each of us should be able to schedule short breaks for rest and/or prayer. Even a five-minute break can be refreshing. A fifteen-minute break is even better.
Once, while I was visiting a friend in a coastal town, she gave me a tour of the area and then pulled up to an overlook that offered a breathtaking view of the sea at sunset, with the surf breaking on the shining rocks. We stayed there for a while, silently contemplating the scene. “Every evening after work, I spend a few minutes here,” she told me. “You’d be surprised how many others do the same.”
Perhaps each of us can find our own “overlook,” even if it’s within us.
Oratio
Jesus, teach me how to live my life. Help me to delight in a vista; savor a meal; enjoy the company of family and friends; relax during break time; walk, jog, or run; and hold brief conversations with you as I go about my daily routine. Don’t let me become (or remain) a workaholic. Your gift of life is too precious to be lived only partially.
Contemplatio
Lord, teach me to live!
Thursday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 1:40–45
Meditatio
“He spread the report abroad…”
Today’s Gospel starts out dramatically: a man with leprosy approaches Jesus, falls to his knees, and makes a striking act of faith: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus does will it. With a word and a touch, Jesus heals the man and then gives him the impossible command: “See that you tell no one anything…”
Not only was the healed man totally incapable of obeying that command, but he was also amazingly effective in proclaiming what Jesus did for him. A real networker, he “began to publicize the whole matter”; “he spread the report abroad so that…people kept coming to [Jesus] from everywhere.”
A similar thing happened in the 1950s with a Franciscan community in the Midwest. One of the elderly priests, Solanus Casy, was being transferred back to the friary in Detroit for health care. The problem was that Father Solanus was renowned in the area because of the astounding healings that came about through his prayers. If the people of Detroit learned that their beloved Father Solanus was back, the community would be mobbed. The brothers managed to keep quiet, but the superiors hadn’t taken the media into account. A newspaper report of the Capuchin community’s one-hundredth anniversary put Father Solanus on the front page, and the doorbell began ringing. When he died (within the year), some 10,000 people came to pay their respects to the man who taught them to “thank God ahead of time.”
And still now, the whole world is waiting for a word about Jesus.
Oratio
Lord, you have not called me to be silent. Quite the contrary! “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). Yet sometimes I am hard put to find in myself the faith that the man with leprosy had, a faith that moved you so deeply. Today, help me to be extra alert to notice the subtle signs of your presence, your love, your grace. Then, with the man healed of leprosy, with Father Solanus, with your apostles after the resurrection, I would say “it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
Contemplatio
“Give thanks to the LORD who is good, whose love endures forever” (Ps 118:1).
Friday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 2:1–12
Meditatio
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to [the paralytic], ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.’”
Today’s Gospel account is one of the few occasions when Jesus cures someone because of the faith of others. Because of the faith of the people who lower the paralyzed man through the roof, Jesus forgives his sins and heals him. What a gift those faith-filled people gave to the crippled man!
The text does not indicate why the paralytic had no faith. People lose their faith for many reasons. Perhaps the paralytic did believe but could not communicate it. Perhaps the fact that he was paralyzed caused him to doubt.
The key may be in the way that Jesus tenderly addresses the paralytic with the term “Child.” Perhaps Jesus is touching the heart of what had been ruptured in the paralytic due to his physical infirmity—his relationship with God as his father who is taking care of him.
This passage, then, speaks volumes to me. It indicates to me that God wants to relate to me as my Father as well. At times, my own faith has been paralyzed. When my heart has ached because of grief, when my faith has been shattered because I could not understand the illness of a loved one, I too have doubted that God is my Father. At those times when my faith lay helpless, someone else’s faith may have been carrying me. It is comforting to know that at those times in my life, others carried me in their faith.
When we are in the presence of another whose faith is paralyzed, it is often so difficult to know what to do, what words of encouragement we can offer to strengthen another’s faith. This passage, then, is a consoling one. It tells us that in those moments we can believe for others—we can carry them in our faith. And Jesus will somehow allow them to hear him speak the word, “Child,” and restore them.
Oratio
Father! Thank you for revealing yourself to us as a Father. Help me to see the many ways that you are taking care of me, providing for me, watching over me with fatherly love and concern. So many ways that you do this are hidden to me, especially the ones that are so ordinary—the sun’s warm touch, the wind’s cool breath, the water’s comforting embrace. May these tangible elements that you have created remind me again and again of your love for me as my creator—my Father. Amen.
Contemplatio
Child, you are precious in my eyes and I love you (see Is 43:4).
Saturday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 2:13–17
Meditatio
“I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
This passage of Mark shows us once again how comfortable Jesus was with people from every stratum of society. Levi, the tax collector, is not regarded as fit company by the religious leaders of his times. Yet Jesus is pleased to include him in his circle of friends, even to sit at his table and dine with him. This is not only a sign of friendship or fellowship but also a gesture of real intimacy.
Certainly Levi knows his sinfulness. His own people, who avoid him, hurl bitter words at him, and look down on him, remind him of it every day. But Jesus pays no attention to these judgmental gestures. When he sees Levi sitting at his post, Jesus looks deeper than others and sees something in Levi that others do not. Then Jesus calls him to be one of his followers.
Jesus’ acceptance of Levi’s invitation to eat in his home must have been such a surprise, such a consolation! This is the wonder and beauty of our God, for he calls us in our “sickness,” in our “sinfulness,” and surprises us with his love and forgiveness.
Saint Paul reminds us that God shows his love for us because Christ died for us while we were still sinners (see Rom 5:8). So, like Levi, we all need a Savior, a divine Physician to heal us. This Physician will reveal to us our weaknesses, will speak to us words of comfort and hope, and will finally heal us so that we can be healthy bearers of his name.
The call for each of us is to accept our condition as sinners, to relax, wipe away the fear and pray: “Come, Lord, into our houses, into our lives. Heal us and enfold us in your embrace of love!”
Oratio
Lord, Eternal Physician, I would like to consider myself among the healthy and virtuous. It feels more comfortable, more prestigious. Yet that is not the kind of person you call. You call those who know they are sinners. And in all honesty, when I look within myself, I see my weak and unhealthy state. Help me, like Levi, to acknowledge my sinfulness, my weaknesses. Isn’t this the first step toward change? Lord, take me by the hand and lead me one step at a time toward what you consider to be true virtue, true health!
Contemplatio
Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year A
Lectio
John 1:29–34
Meditatio
“…I came baptizing with water…that he might be made known to Israel.”
John speaks these words the day after his limpid testimony to the representatives of the religious authorities in Jerusalem, “I am not the Messiah” (Jn 1:20).
How John’s heart must be swelling with recognition as he sees the humble Jesus approaching! How the mysterious moment of Jesus’ baptism must be flooding back into his consciousness, the moment when the one who sent him made John realize that this praying Jesus was the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. How much awe and gratitude John must feel as he sees the pieces falling into place! John’s response of generous love will be forever the model for a disciple to imitate, as he testifies that Jesus “is the Son of God.”
John’s followers stand transfixed—is this really what they are hearing? Is John saying that there is another to whom they would turn for leadership?
To stand back and present another requires great strength of character, great humility. But John has always lived with all his soul in the realm of the truth, and for him, this is the moment he has been waiting for. John is so much a part of the advent of the Messiah that the word “detachment” is not enough to describe the greatness of John’s generous response to Jesus’ coming. Jesus is the bridegroom, and John is the “best man” who “rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice” (Jn 3:29).
May Jesus lead us, too, into that world of love and joy that humble souls inhabit, souls who, like John, know and make known to all who will listen, that “this is the Son of God.”
Oratio
Jesus, help me remember that those who follow you must pass through the valley of uncertainty, with few signs to help them see their way. John is my model, who hung on to the fire within, dark though the way may have been. Teach me to be aware of the signs that are sewn into the fabric of everyday life, signs that will lead me to the moment of recognition and love, when you will fully reveal yourself to me as “the Son of God,” whom I seek to follow forever.
Contemplatio
“That he might be made known…”
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year B
Lectio
John 1:35–42
Meditatio
“Behold, the Lamb of God…”
Breathing deeply, I place myself into this scene of the Gospel. I listen and watch, knowing that it is good for me to be here. The word is alive, vibrant, and I want this life-giving word to be part of my life. So I take my life to the word and with the Teacher’s help, place myself into this scene.
I see John as he stands with two of his disciples. I don’t need to go and stand with them. Rather, I watch and see what is going to happen. He has just told them, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” It calls for a response. It’s quite a statement, quite an invitation. It calls for even more excitement and gratitude than if someone told me, “I’m going to give you two free tickets to the New York City Ballet…or to the Super Bowl.” Yes, I would respond and be grateful! But here is John, offering something entirely more wondrous, saying, “Look, there goes the Lamb of God. Don’t miss this. Look alive, pay attention.”
I’m glad to see that the disciples are attentive; they leave John and follow Jesus. Not only are their eyes and ears open, but also their hearts. They speak to the Teacher, they follow him, they stay with him. We know too, through the various stories of the New Testament, that they continued to listen and to follow him, even amid confusion and misunderstanding. They continued to respond to the invitation that I am witnessing today: “Behold…” They continued to be attentive and to appreciate the gift offered to them, the unimaginable gift of following Christ closely.
Ordinary Time may be “ordered” (as in numbered and organized), but it is certainly not “ordinary.” I am being called to follow the Lamb of God, to throw my lot in with his, to walk in his blessed steps.
Oratio
Jesus, just being alive means I have been called into life by the Father. Your word and your invitation seek to make that life even richer by binding me to yourself. Make me attentive to life and its circumstances, so as to see you hiding there. Help me listen to the many calls you place in my path this day. I trust you to nudge me in the right direction, to give me the right words of compassion, to ask the right questions to show caring. You have blessed me. Give me the attentiveness and care I need today to be a blessing to others.
Contemplatio
Holy Lamb of God, I am so grateful for your invitations.
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year C
Lectio
John 2:1–11
Meditatio
“…you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus and his mother are attending a neighbor’s wedding in Cana with many other people, including his disciples. The couple is celebrating the first day of their new shared life, blessed by the presence of family and friends. But then the unthinkable happens. The waiters, who had been generously serving wine to the guests, noticed that the supply is running low. Now the headwaiter discreetly approaches the bridegroom to inform him of the problem.
Mary, ever attentive, notices and brings the problem to her Son. He feigns unconcern. “How does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” But Mary knows him and tells the waiters to do whatever her Son suggests. Jesus realizes that his Mother has provided the occasion, and he decides that this is the hour he has awaited. He scans the scene and chooses the large stone jars used to hold water for ceremonial washing. He tells the waiters: “Fill the jars with water.” Each jar holds twenty to thirty gallons of water, and the waiters fill them to the brim. Jesus appears satisfied with this and does nothing further. We can imagine the waiters looking at one another and shrugging their shoulders as if let down. Quietly observing their reaction, Jesus then tells them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” They are stunned when the headwaiter approaches the bridegroom and gently chides him for saving such good wine until the end of the celebration.
This is the miracle of beginnings. Not only is it the first of Jesus’ miraculous signs, but it is also the first glimpse of his glory. The disciples are beginning to sense that their new friend is a very special individual. And we, from our present perspective, can see reflected in this miracle the continual transformation of water and wine into the Lord’s sacred Blood in our celebrations of the Eucharist. Are we still amazed by this miracle in our midst?
Oratio
Dear Jesus, Mary’s Son, we are always amazed and most grateful for the signs you work before our eyes and within our hearts. You are attentive to our needs and ready to step in with the gift of your grace. You show us your care through your sacramental presence and through those with whom you have graced our lives. Keep us aware, so that we never miss these miracles of love. Amen.
Contemplatio
Jesus and his Mother were invited.
Monday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 2:18–22
Meditatio
“New wine…fresh wineskins.”
The Gospel selections this week describe the newness both of the message Jesus announced and of the response that his message calls for. This is most explicit in today’s reading. Jesus is not contrasting works of the Law with faith. Judaism always focused on faith in God, not on the Law for its own sake. The prophets of Israel insisted on this and on wholehearted devotion to God. Then what’s so new about this “good news”?
Paul would later develop the important point Jesus makes today: Jesus himself, not the ascetic practices of religion, is the Way to this wholehearted response to God. Mercy is now the path to justice (God’s restoration of the human person), a mercy incarnated in the person of Jesus, God’s self-revelation. Jesus is Israel’s bridegroom, a title the prophets ascribed only to God. This bold, radical claim is essential to legitimize Jesus’ call to that change of heart needed for grasping and accepting his message.
Moreover, in today’s passage, Jesus hints at the paschal mystery and beyond: even future ascetic practices—prayer, virtue, working for justice—will assume a new dimension when the bridegroom is taken away. Mark implies that these will reach their full evangelical potential in light of that “day” when Christ will return in glory to claim forever the bride the Father has chosen for him.
Jesus’ message moves discipleship to a new plane. He is saying it’s time for a paradigm shift. Sometimes we tend to enshrine as untouchable “tradition” those things that are little more than the familiar. We may then impose our tradition on others, indicating perhaps where we invest our identity or security. Instead, what would it take for us, for me, to accept the Spirit’s action in my life? What would I have to relinquish and what would I have to take up? What would change look like? Do I want to pay the price for a new wineskin?
Oratio
Lord Jesus, some of the old wine I’ve been storing has soured. Some is good in itself, but doesn’t mix well with what you want to do in me. Where are you leading me? To embrace a new approach to prayer? To forgive someone, or ask forgiveness? What new attitude do I need toward people in our world or in my personal relationships? Make of me a new garment and a new vessel, that I might honor and warm others by the way I live your word.
Contemplatio
I trust you and entrust myself to your re-creation.
Tuesday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 2:23–28
Meditatio
“Look.”
Isn’t it amazing how several people can look at the same event but see something entirely different? The Gospel recounts a day in the life of Jesus. “Jesus was passing through a field of grain” and “his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.” Mark’s Gospel places this scene after a series of encounters Jesus has had with sinners and tax collectors. It seems that some of the Pharisees have grown exasperated with Jesus’ “undisciplined behavior” and they let him know it.
So the Pharisees speak up again and confront Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
Is that all they can see—that the law of the Sabbath is being broken? Is there more to the situation than immediately meets the eye?
Can they see that the disciples are accompanied by the Messiah, the Son of God? Can they see the compassion and providence of God who is Father and chooses to provide for his children’s needs through the nature he created? Can they be awed by a God who actually cares for and gets involved in the lives of his creatures? These are all “revolutionary” visions, hard to believe, yet those who have eyes to see can see it.
As we go through our day, what do we point out to ourselves, to God, to others? What are we seeing when we say, “Look!”? Is our vision dominated by a narrow, self-righteous perspective at times? Do we think we’ve got a handle on a situation that we just walked in on? Do we ever even stop to ask ourselves: “What is happening here beyond what I catch at first sight?” Am I willing to let God show me something different from what immediately meets my eye?
Oratio
Lord, my vision can be so narrow. I tend to see what I want to see, without leaving you space to show me what really is. Could it be that if I let you show me something different, something deeper, something new, that I would have to change? It’s easy to get used to seeing life as I have always seen it, to use experiences and events around me to confirm my ideas and prejudices. Forgive me, Lord, for making myself the measure of truth, of reality. Today, let me let you say to me, “Look!” And may I see what you see.
Contemplatio
“Master, I want to see” (Mk 10:51).
Wednesday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 3:1–6
Meditatio
“They watched Jesus closely.”
People who tried to trip Jesus up through questions or challenges were bound to fail. He brought such an unusual perspective to any verbal test, cutting straight to the heart of it, that those who posed the questions ended up as befuddled as they had hoped Jesus would be. So they couldn’t trick Jesus intellectually. But they knew that the one sure way to get him was to bring him face to face with suffering. And we find several places in the Gospel where sick or crippled people are used as decoys to lure Jesus into “inappropriate” or “illegal” healing on the Sabbath.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus walks into just such a trap. His adversaries, hoping to catch him in the act of violating the Sabbath, position a helpless man in Jesus’ path. The man’s hand is weak and probably paralyzed. Jesus would never just smile and nod at the poor man and then go pray as usual, and everyone in the synagogue knows it. We can only imagine how charged the atmosphere must be. But Jesus turns the tables on them all with a setup of his own: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath?” In response to their silence, Jesus turns toward the crippled man and tells him, “Stretch out your hand.”
Like David, who literally risked his life on God’s faithfulness when he went against Goliath, Jesus puts his own life on the line in order to restore the health of that unfortunate in the synagogue. Mark says, “The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.”
Oratio
Jesus, you went to the synagogue that Sabbath to pray and ended up in a showdown, but the gauntlet thrown down was a suffering human being. Your adversaries watched your every move, but you gazed elsewhere. When you looked at that man’s useless, withered hand, the words of Psalm 137 must have come to mind immediately: “If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither!” (v. 5). What was Jerusalem if not “the Lord’s footstool” (see Is 66:1), the place where God’s glory dwells (see Ps 26:8)? And where does God’s glory dwell more than in “the human person fully alive,” as Saint Irenaeus would later say? Bringing that man back to fullness of life, you made it clear that you were doing God’s work, and that it was and is the power of God, the power of a life that cannot be destroyed (see Heb 7:16), at work in you.
Contemplatio
“Your right hand saves me” (Ps 138:7).
Thursday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time
Lectio
Mark 3:7–12
Meditatio
“He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him…”
I don’t usually think of Jesus as needing my help. Jesus can manage a storm, or feed a multitude. Yet, in today’s passage Jesus doesn’t seem to have everything under control. He seems concerned that the crowd might crush him. So he tells his disciples to get a boat ready for him so he can slip away.
When Jesus says, “have a boat ready for me,” what does that mean for me today? He is both asking for my help and inviting himself into my space. Jesus may invite himself into my boat in many ways and through many people. Will I have my boat ready for him?
My first reaction to this question is “No, I don’t have my boat ready for you.” Today’s Gospel reminds me of a similar passage from Luke’s Gospel, where Jesus steps into Peter’s boat—empty of fish and full of messy, tangled nets.
We often invite God in when we “have things in order” and feel a sense of accomplishment. When areas of our life are out of order we tell God, “I’ll get back to you tonight when I have a few quiet minutes, then we can talk.” But God does not want to wait until the evening to hear about the problems of my day. God, in Jesus, literally wants to step right into the middle of my problems and discouragement to meet me there. God wants to be with me every moment of the day to help me face challenges, difficulties, and discouragements. God doesn’t want to wait on the sidelines.
When I allow Jesus to step into my life to help and serve others or to heal areas of my life, or when I let Jesus step into the emptiness, messiness, or discouragement in my life, then I give him the freedom to overwhelm me in ways that I would never expect.
Oratio
Jesus, I see you on the shore looking toward me, to see if I have a boat ready for you to jump into if the crowd overwhelms you. I feel unsure at times as you call me to share in your mission. Yet as soon as you set foot in my boat I sense your power and peace flooding my being. A spontaneous “Yes!” escapes my lips. My boat is ready for you!
Contemplatio
“Jesus, come into my boat.”