Context for Prayer: Week Five:
A New Vision of the Kingdom
Sharing God's Abundance
Jesus' principle audio-visual aid during his ministry seems to have been meals at which he ate with everyone, including "sinners" and outcasts. Sharing a meal in first-century Palestine signified acceptance of one's table companions, and eating with these people would have been understood as an acceptance of them. His status as a "rabbi" and prophet would have been perceived as a claim that God too accepted them. Implicit in these "open table fellowship" meals then, was an understanding of God as a God who embraces even the socially excluded, those whose mode of life placed them outside the boundaries of respectability and honor.
For a charismatic person like Jesus to suggest such an image of God was difficult for many of his contemporaries because it challenged a whole understanding of what it meant to be God's People. The central ordering principle of the Jewish social world at the time was the division between purity and impurity, the holy and the unholy, the righteous and the wicked. What was at stake for Jesus' opponents was the survival of the Jewish people. "Sinners" were those whose non-observance of the law threatened the cohesiveness of the group. Tax collectors were even worse because they collaborated with the Gentile oppressors. In contrast, Jesus saw God's People as an inclusive community reflecting the compassion of God. To eat with men and women regardless of rank, gender, or social standing was a radical critique of existing social relationships. Through such open table fellowship Jesus was conveying the kind of society that would exist in a world under God's direct reign.
May They All Be One:
Our ritualized liturgy of the Eucharist which has its origins in Jesus' ministry of table fellowship, struggles to convey the joy and liberation that must have been palpable as Jesus went about inviting people to eat together. We get a sense of just how burning a passion Jesus felt for this unity in John's gospel as he prayed to the Father before entering into his Passion:
"May they all be one just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me… may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognize that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you loved me (John. 17: 21b-23).
Anthropologists see the way people eat as a mirror of how society is organized. Jesus' willingness to welcome all at his table was a challenge to the exclusionary elements in the Jewish world of his day. (See Peter Farb and George Armelagos, Consuming Passions: The Anthropology of Eating) "In all societies, both simple and complex, eating is the primary way of initiating and maintaining human relationships…Once the anthropologist finds out where, when, and with whom the food is eaten, just about everything else can be inferred about the relations among the society's members… To know what, where, how, when, and with whom people eat is to know the character of their society."
One way we might touch into our own experience of this is to remember festive meals that we have known: a family wedding, a New Year's celebration, or an anniversary that filled you with joy and gratitude for one another. Think of gatherings with friends where you laughed and told stories and shared life on a deep level. Were there meals at which hidden resentments sometimes found reconciliation, not with words or gestures but through a sharing of food? Or perhaps your participation in a religious service, a demonstration or even a sporting event gave you a taste of the power of people joining together in wholesome purpose. None of these exhaust the meaning of the unity embodied in the Eucharist, but they point to those moments of communion with one another that reflect the dance of love between Jesus and his Father. They reflect the love at the heart of the Trinity.
Rising To A New Consciousness:
As we begin this 21st century, our human need for community is being eroded by the two mutually reinforcing trends of globalization and individualization. The more the global market economy structures itself the less interest it demonstrates in the social and ecological webs in which humans live, and the more it requires the individual to be without any relationships whatsoever. This is the individual fit for business who is willing to move anywhere, shows no interest in the antipersonnel mines produced by his car manufacturer, no interest in the quality of water his grandchildren will consume, and no interest in God.
The Bible offers an alternative to this way of viewing reality. The Hebrew people saw themselves as a "corporate personality" which understood individuals as intimately bound together in one relational web. This notion underlines Paul's experience of the Christian community as the Body of Christ in which believers are united to one another through their union with the Risen Jesus (Romans 12: 5). The Church will build on Paul's insight, affirming that what will come to be known as the "Mystical Body," is not just a metaphor but physically present in the world. It is a social system in which Christ is the defining factor and the source of meaning and passion. How we are (or are not) "Body" with one another before we get to church has everything to do with the essential rightness or wrongness of celebrating the Eucharist.
Implicit in this notion of the Body of Christ is a call to rediscover our connectedness with the earth and all its creatures, and widen our understanding of salvation to include the entire cosmos (Romans 8: 18‐25). People of all nations have begun to show a deeper appreciation for the intimate way in which human beings are related to one another and to all things. There is a growing consciousness of our biosphere as a community of living beings bound one to the other. In an age when the environment is increasingly despoiled and weapons of mass destruction proliferate, this deepening of a global consciousness is not simply a passing trend but points to the only way to assure the survival of the planet.
Daily Exercises: Week Five
Preparation for Daily Prayer
Find a comfortable posture, relax, and breathe slowly and deeply.
Recall that you are in the presence of God, and consciously offer yourself to God.
Ask for the grace:
"Jesus I want to know you more intimately, love you more ardently, so that I might be formed into your likeness.
Read:
Soul of Christ
Jesus, may all that is you flow into me.
May your body and blood
Be my food and drink.
May your passion and death
Be my strength and life.
Jesus, with you by my side
Enough has been given.
May the shelter I seek
Be the shadow of your cross.
Let me not run from the love
Which you offer,
But hold me safe from the forces of evil.
On each of my dyings
Shed your life and your love.
Keep calling me until that day comes when,
With your saints,
I may praise you forever.
Amen.
Read through the material for the day and follow the prayer pattern for Lectio Divina
Conclusion of Daily Prayer
Thank God for this time of prayer.
Ask for the grace to come to the next prayer period with an open heart, ready to receive whatever God wants to give to you.
Say the Lord's Prayer.
Review your prayer and make any appropriate notes in your journal
Our God is a God of surprises who gives life in abundance. In this story of the wedding feast at Cana, Mary calls attention to an interruption in the flow of life ("they have no wine"), and Jesus steps in to re-establish that flow. God is always giving abundant life, and yet we often adopt an attitude of scarcity that creates "interruptions" to life's flow. It is our hoarding, our sense of entitlement that leads to hunger and resentment. It is our unwillingness to embrace the whole of reality in all its interconnectedness that keeps us trapped in the false self and leads to so much pain. God is continually giving life in abundance (John 1:16), and we are called to recognize and share that abundance in the ordinary flow of our daily lives (Luke 12: 22-31).
Prayerfully Read: John 2: 1-12
2:1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. 3And they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the feast had all been used, and the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine.' 4Jesus said, "Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not come yet." 5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." [Gn 41:55] 6There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water,' and they filled them to the brim. 8Then he said to them, ‘Draw some out now and take it to the president of the feast.'9They did this; the president tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from‐though the servants who had drawn the water knew‐the president of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said, ‘Everyone serves good wine first and the worse wine when the guests are well wined; but you have kept the best wine till now.' 11This was the first of Jesus' igns: it was at Cana in Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. 12After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, but they stayed there only a few days.
Suggested Reflections:
♦ When were those moments in my life when sharing ordinary things like a hot cup of tea, a joke with friends, or a day off, gave me a sense of life's extraordinary abundance?
♦ The famous Jewish writer and mystic, Elie Wiesel, once said of affluence and the young: "after a while it is too much, and then too much is not enough." Have I found a life of relative abundance in America that rarely seems to satisfy me?
Consider Jesus' parable about the host whose guests all excused themselves from attending the wedding banquet. The host then sends out his servants to bring in whomever they can find. Now if one actually brought in anyone off the streets one could, in such a situation, have classes, sexes, and ranks all mixed up together. Anyone could be sitting next to anyone else: female next to male, Protestant next to Catholic, socially high next to socially low, and friend next to enemy. It is no wonder that they called Jesus a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Mt. 11: 19). The point is that God welcomes everyone, and has little use for the social distinctions with which we would cut one another off.
Prayerfully Read: Luke 14: 15-24
14:15 On hearing this, one of those gathered round the table said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is anyone who will share the meal in the kingdom of God!'16But Jesus said to him, ‘There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he invited a large number of people.17When the time for the banquet came, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come along: everything is ready now.'18But all alike started to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it. Please accept my apologies.'19Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.'20Yet another said, ‘I have just got married and so am unable to come.'21The servant returned and reported this to his master. Then the householder, in a rage, said to his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame."22"Sir," said the servant, "your orders have been carried out and there is still room."23Then the master said to his servant, ‘Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and press people to come in, to make sure my house is full;24because, I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet.' "
Suggested Reflections:
♦ How do the pressures of my culture, my religious affiliation, my social standing and race, separate me from others?
♦ How has my experience of straddling two cultures and languages helped me to see beyond the constraints of both?
Out of a smile or a gesture of kindness a life is seasoned, a world is leavened. Small things can have big consequences, though we may have no inkling of this at the time. The seed dies and the yeast disappears into the dough. Often it is only in looking back that we see the effects of grace. Perhaps it was only years later in the joy of your children that you saw the grace that came from being faithful to your marriage. We may feel our faith to be non‐existent, and yet find time and again that God works through even the smallest effort at self‐giving. Conversely, anything that we do that is damaging has to be undone. Once we have taken a wrong turn we need to stop, retrace our steps, and reconcile as best we can before moving on. Small things can have big consequences.
Prayerfully Read: Luke 13: 18-21
13:18Jesus went on to say, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? 19It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches." 20Again he said, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? 21It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through."
Suggested Reflections:
♦ Looking back at my life, when have I experienced a decision to be kind or faithful that had a great impact on the course of my life or that of someone else?
♦ How does my awareness of God's presence and action during ordinary activities alter my judgment about their importance?
The themes of light and darkness, seeing and not seeing, pervade John's account of the healing of the man born blind. It is, in fact, the story of this man's gradually coming to "see" who Jesus is from the affirmation of his own experience. The religious elders challenge that experience with the conventional view that blindness originates in the sin of the parents, and that anyone who would engage in work on the Sabbath could not possibly be from God. The man stays true to what he knows, and his integrity exposes the shallowness of their presuppositions. John is telling us that baptism is not just a washing in water but something that is transformative of our whole lives. You don't fully "see" when you are baptized. It is the pilgrimage of faith, with all its challenges, that matures us as disciples and equips us with a sight that apprehends God's presence.
Prayerfully Read: John 9
9:1 As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should have been born blind?" 3"Neither he nor his parents sinned," Jesus answered, "he was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4" As long as day lasts we must carry out the work of the one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world." 6Having said this, he spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, 7and said to him, "Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam" (the name means ‘one who has been sent'). So he went off and washed and came back able to see. 8His neighbors and the people who used to see him before (for he was a beggar) said, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some said, "Yes, it is the same one." Others said, "No, but he looks just like him." The man himself said, "Yes, I am the one." 10So they said to him, ‘Then how is it that your eyes were opened?" 11He answered, "The man called Jesus made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, ‘Go off and wash at Siloam'; so I went, and when I washed I gained my sight." 12They asked, "Where is he?" He answered, "I don't know." 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14It had been a Sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, 15so when the Pharisees asked him how he had gained his sight, he said, "He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see." 16Then some of the Pharisees said, "That man cannot be from God: he does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a sinner produce signs like this?" And there was division among them. 17So they spoke to the blind man again, "What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?" The man answered, "He is a prophet." 18However, the Jews would not believe that the man had been blind without first sending for the parents of the man who had gained his sight and 19asking them, "Is this man really the son of yours who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he is now able to see?" 20His parents answered, "We know he is our son and we know he was born blind, 21but how he can see, we don't know, nor who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough: let him speak for himself." 22His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to ban from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. 23This was why his parents said, "He is old enough; ask him." 24So the Jews sent for the man again and said to him, "Give glory to God! We are satisfied that this man is a sinner." 25The man answered, "Whether he is a sinner I don't know; all I know is that I was blind and now I can see." 26They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27He replied, "I have told you once and you wouldnʹt listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become his disciples yourselves?" 28At this they hurled abuse at him, "It is you who are his disciple, we are disciples of Moses: 29we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he comes from."30The man replied, "That is just what is so amazing! You don't know where he comes from and he has opened my eyes! 31We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but God does listen to people who are devout and do his will. 32Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of someone born blind; 33if this man were not from God, he wouldn't have been able to do anything." 34They retorted, "Are you trying to teach us, and you a sinner through and through ever since you were born!" And they ejected him. 35Jesus heard they had ejected him, and when he found him he said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" 36"Sir," the man replied, "tell me who he is so that I may believe in him." 37Jesus said, "You have seen him; he is speaking to you." 38The man said, "Lord, I believe," and worshipped him. 39Jesus said: It is for judgment that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see and those with sight may become blind. 40Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, "So we are blind, are we?" 41Jesus replied: If you were blind, you would not be guilty, but since you say, "We can see", your guilt remains.
Suggested Reflections:
♦ How is my faith today different than it was when I was first baptized?
♦ Has the experience of this retreat helped me ground my faith further in experience? In what way?
For Jesus and his disciples, the Last Supper was one of many meals they shared together. This last one, however, was a Passover seder33 and would have been particularly poignant given the imminent danger they all faced. In his request that they repeat this breaking of bread and sharing of cup, Jesus is saying to his companions that he will be really present when they do so. He will be their food, the transforming love that shapes them as bread broken and wine poured out for the world. It is an act we repeat with every Eucharist. Enfolded in the love of Christ shown in this meal, we are given the grace to transcend our own fears and self-centeredness and offer our lives with Christ to the Father and to one another. It is an offering that brings us through all of our dyings to a life that is both now and forever.
Prayerfully Read: 1 Corinthians 11: 23-34
11:23 For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you is that on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, 24and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25And in the same way, with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me." 26Whenever you eat this bread, then, and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. 27Therefore anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28Everyone is to examine himself and only then eat of the bread or drink from the cup; 29because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body is eating and drinking his own condemnation. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill and a good number have died. 31If we were critical of ourselves we would not be condemned, 32but when we are judged by the Lord, we are corrected by the Lord to save us from being condemned along with the world. 33So then, my brothers, when you meet for the Meal, wait for each other; 34anyone who is hungry should eat at home. Then your meeting will not bring your condemnation. The other matters I shall arrange when I come."
Suggested Reflections:
♦ In what ways am I bread broken and wine poured out for others?
♦ How does being part of my parish community help me to live life in the pattern of Jesus?
The Lord's Prayer is a direct prayer of Jesus to the Father. When we pray it, we are caught up in the intimate exchange of Father and Son. This is a Hesed prayer of unconditional love that, in its praise and petition, sums up the entire teaching of Jesus. Throughout the course of your life different portions of this prayer may have had special meaning for you. We suggest that you use Lectio Divina to pray it through, stopping to spend more time on a word or sentence that seems especially relevant or alive to you now. We encourage you also to make this prayer your own, remembering that the Mystery to whom we pray transcends all of our images, preconceptions, and cultural assumptions. The material below provides an alternative to the actual text, highlighting major points in the prayer.
Prayerfully Read: Matthew 6: 7-15
6:7 "In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. 8Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9So you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, 10your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. 13And do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One. 14"Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; 15but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.
Use Lectio Divina or prayerfully consider:
♦ "Father": You parent me now at this very moment, giving me life, breath, and vitality, always calling me through those most genuine desires of my heart.
♦ "Our": God of the universe and creator of us all. My deepest identity is that of a son or daughter, and member of the Body of Christ.
♦ "Hallowed be Your Name: I praise you, I bless you, I give you thanks. May gratitude and praise characterize my stance as a Christian in the world.
♦ Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done: I rejoice that I already live, in some measure, under your reign, and long to live in ever greater fidelity to the Spirit's work in the world. Come God of surprises and, as you did for Mary, turn my impossibilities into possibilities.
♦ Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread: Free me from all anxiety with a deep faith in the abundant life you give. Grant that I might receive a just wage, safe lodging, loving relationships, and rest from all that would keep me bound. Grace me too with the wisdom, equanimity, and graciousness of heart to be an instrument of your love.
♦ Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us: Help me to understand that, as St. Francis of Assisi said, "It is in forgiving that we are forgiven." Forgiveness is the form love must take in a broken world. Help me to be a reconciler not a retaliator, a peacemaker and not a divider, that I might play my part in your plan to draw all things to Christ.
♦ Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Help me let go of those illusions and predispositions that mask my core identity and keep me from loving You and my brothers and sisters. Strengthen me when I am tested like Jesus was in the desert, that I might not listen to the voice that tempts me to go my own way and remain blind to the loving relationship that is my inheritance.
♦ But Deliver Us From the Evil One: Protect me Father from the evil in this world which seeks to destroy all that is good. Help me to recognize, and have the courage to follow those movements of my mind and heart that guide me back to You.
Review your journal entries for this week's prayer.
Keeping Quiet
Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still
For once on the face of the earth.
Let's not speak in any language;
Let's stop for a second,
And not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines;
We would all be together in a sudden strangeness.
Fisherman in the cold sea would not harm whales
And the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
Wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors,
Would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about…
If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving,
And for once could do nothing,
Perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness
Of never understanding ourselves
And of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
As when everything seems dead in winter
And later proves to be alive.
Now I'll count up to twelve
And you keep quiet
And I will go.
Pablo Neruda, The Essential Neruda (City Lights Books, 2004).
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