Lectio Divina

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

LECTIO DIVINA : Holy Reading

Sunday, September 5 th, 2010, is the 23 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.

The readings are:

Wisdom 9:13-18

Philemon 9-10 and 12-17

Luke 14:25-33.

For the praying of the Divine Office, the Psalter takes Week 3

In the Liturgy this week :

September 8: Birthday of the Mother of God.

In the Australian Church :

September 5: Diocese of Bunbury – Episcopal Ordination of the Most Rev. Gerard Holohan in 2001.

September 7: Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes – Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral in 1960.

September 8: Diocese of Broome – Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral in 1963.

Our Social Justice Calendar:

September 5: Death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1997.

September 5: Fathers’ Day

September 7: National Threatened Species Day.

September 8: International Literacy Day.

September 11: Terrorist Attack on New York and Washington DC in 2001.

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Lectio : Read the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom. Read it in a reverent way. The Word of God is Sacred. Let us give ourselves to the Sacred Text, and open our hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit calling us forth to respond.

Meditatio : An informed understanding of the text so that we can listen to the response we are called to make. If we don’t have an informed understanding, we interpret Scripture subjectively, or become fundamentalist in our response.

Again, we are with the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. This text forms part of Solomon’s prayer for wisdom, chapter 9, verses 1-18. This text is the third of three strophes. Here “Solomon reflects that no human person knows God’s counsel because our understanding is feeble. We are subject to physical weakness.. With difficulty we understand what is on earth, let alone what is in heaven. Unless God gives Wisdom, we will not know God’s counsel, as history shows.” (cf. NJBC 33:29).

I share my response in Evangelizatio No. 1.

Responsorial Psalm : The response: IN EVERY AGE O LORD, YOU HAVE BEEN OUR REFUGE.

Psalm 89 speaks of “the intentions of God, the Divine will of the Lord” as stated in the First Reading, and in this way, the Responsorial Psalm is a direct response to the reading.

Psalm 89 is also summed up as a Psalm which ponders on the brevity of life. Let us pray the words of the Psalm as real prayer throughout this week.

What line of the Psalm speaks to you? Stay with it.

I share my response in Evangelizatio No. 2.

Lectio : Read the Second Reading, from the Letter to Philemon, verses 9-10 and 12-17.

PAUSE. Read it again.

Meditatio : What is the text about? All Commentaries will tell us that Philemon was a respected young Christian of the Lycus Valley of Asia Minor. (The JBC notes that he could be from Colossae). I don’t think it matters to our prayer where he is from!

In verses 9-10, Paul (an old man) pleads with Philemon to accept Onesimus back again, only this time differently.

Who is Onesiumus? Onesimus was a slave of Philemon’s and ran away. Not just that – he robbed Philemon and ran away! Then he has a conversion and is baptized by Paul, and so becomes a child of God, and a type of adopted son of Paul because Paul baptized him, and Paul’s life and ministry is carried out in the name of Jesus Christ. The name Onesimus means “profitable one”. And so, even without reading the New Testament Greek and seeing the play on names, we can see another play on names in English. Onesimus wins out all round. And even to the end, Paul pleads with Philemon to take Onesimus back, not as a former slave, or even a slave, but as one who is equal to Philemon by baptism. How hard is that? Very hard indeed.

Read the text again, if you feel called to do so.

I share my response in Evangelizatio No. 3.

The Gospel Verse: LET YOUR FACE SHINE ON YOUR SERVANT AND TEACH ME YOUR LAWS. This verse is taken from Psalm 118:135, the longest Psalm in the psalter. “Laws” equals wisdom. It is a beautiful and powerful prayer we can pray each day when we go to Lectio Divina.

Lectio : Read the Gospel from Luke 14:25-33.

Meditatio : What is the meaning of this text?

This is a hard gospel and one which is easily misunderstood. It is the use of the word “hate” which irks us. It is about not recoiling from any demands which the Gospel of Jesus makes on us. It is about making a choice and staying with it. God’s call and God’s election of his disciples demands total commitment. A lot of Liturgical commentaries on this reading concentrate on those who are called to the Religious life, the Priesthood or the Monastic life. This is only part of the story. Jesus is talking to his disciples yes, but to all of us who will become followers of Jesus down through the ages. Carlo Carretto writes: “Jesus at Nazareth taught us to live every hour of the day as saints. Every hour of the day is useful and may lead to divine inspiration, the will of the Father, the prayer of contemplation – holiness. Every hour of the day is holy. What matters is to live it as Jesus taught us. And for this one does not have to shut oneself in a monastery or fix strange and inhumane regimes for one’s life. It is enough to accept the realities of life. Work is one of these realities: motherhood, the rearing of children, family life with all its obligations are others.” Writing further on the commitment of real discipleship, he adds, “we must not think that a person is holy just because he has made vows. One with this outlook thinks of the hour of spiritual reading or prayer as the only time for the spiritual life and ignores the longer time dedicated to work and everyday living. The result is at best an anaemic and unreliable religious personality. The whole person must be transformed by the Gospel message. All one’s actions must be determined by the Gospel.” And that is what Jesus is trying to teach His disciples in this weekend’s text from Luke: no compromise, total and unwavering commitment, every hour of every day.

I share my response in Evangelizatio No. 4

EVANGELIZATIO . LET US TAKE TIME TO RESPOND TO THE Sacred texts. THE WORD OF GOD IS IN MY HANDS TO DO IT. BE DOERS OF THE WORD, NOT HEARERS ONLY. (Deuteronomy and James) – Evangelizatio is about theevangelization of the self – if this part of the overall prayer is omitted then the texts remain on the page in our Bibles. The Scriptures are given to us to call us forth!

• I have no trouble with this reading. The Holy Spirit has poured unction on the words: “The reasonings of mortals are unsure and our intentions are unstable.” I am reminded of the truth of these words. The reasonings of other human beings and my own reasonings are far too often based on personal prejudices. The intentions of other human beings and my intentions are too often lacking in purity of heart. What is the best for me gets in the way. This reading is a call to awareness of this reality in my life.
• I hear the message that God is timeless, and not confined to my life-span, whatever that may be. I also believe that life is short and I pray for wisdom of heart in the short lipe span I’ve been given
• If only this reading could penetrate our hearts, my heart, and change me into an accepting, welcoming person. How do I act towards those who have been converted and want to come into the Church? Do I continue to call them “converts”? Or, do I act towards them as my brothers and sisters in Christ? And what of those who have taken from me, taken and taken and taken, and finally are wanting to respond to Christ by becoming “givers”? Am I open to them? I’d have to say “No, not always.” If I put some space between them and me, I am more able to respond to God’s call to accept them into my heart and forget that all they have done is taken from me, sapped life out of me and put nothing back. Those of us who are parents surely know this “reality”. Those of us in ministry know it too.
• In responding to this Gospel text and to the words of Carlo Carretto in his “Letters From the Desert”, I came across the words of Mahatma Ghandi on page 95 of the same book. He writes for all people: “If when we plunge our hand into a bowl of water, or stir up the fire with the bellows, or tabulate interminable columns of figures on our book-keeping table, or, burnt by the sun, we are plunged in the mud of the rice-field, or standing by the smelter’s furnace, we do not fulfil the same religious life as if in prayer in a monastery, the world will never be saved.” COMMITMENT UNWAVERING.

Lectio Divina is Holy Reading, that is, reading of the Sacred Scriptures. It is a way of life, not a method of prayer. It is about reading (and listening), reflecting, praying in tune with the Holy Spirit within me, resting in God, responding in the way I live, and continually pondering on the Scriptures.Lectio/meditatio/

oratio/contemplatio/

evangelizatio/ruminatio

(round and round and round – there is no end to it – IT IS THE WAY WE LIVE.