Home  Inspiration Lent Lent: Week Seven
Context for Prayer: Week 7
"They Recognized Him in the Breaking of the Bread."
How the early church came to understand the mystery of the Risen Jesus is beautifully told in the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35). The story begins with Cleopas and his companion leaving Jerusalem traumatized by the crucifixion of Jesus and what seemed like the end of all their hopes. Like the other disciples, they were unable to hear the testimony of the two women who told of the angels' message that he had risen. This story seemed so outside the frame of their understanding that it appeared to be "pure nonsense and they did not believe them." (Luke 24: 8).
As they make their way to the village of Emmaus the Risen Jesus joins them and enters into their conversation. Still living inside their own interpretation, the "shape" of their listening and seeing does not allow them to recognize Jesus' presence just as they were unable to make room for what the women had reported. Their minds are not, however, completely closed as they question and struggle to understand all that has happened. With irony, humor, and challenge, Jesus, in the guise of a stranger offering companionship, helps them weave together the strands of the biblical tradition that spoke of God's plan. Slowly, they begin to understand that the Messiah had to suffer in order to show humankind the nature of God's love and the way to human fulfillment.
As night draws near, they ask Jesus to stay with them and offer food and lodging. In extending hospitality to a stranger these two disciples re‐enact the same kind of "open table fellowship" that Jesus had taught them and find him alive – risen in their midst. With hearts burning with affection and ardor, they return to Jerusalem to share their experience of the Risen Lord with the rest of the community. Jesus is no longer someone who stands apart. Having revealed himself, Jesus disappears into them – making them participants in his very life (Galatians 2: 20).
The Risen Life
The journey taken to Emmaus by these two disciples was the same journey the young Christian community walked after Jesus' death and resurrection. It was a process of gradually coming to understand that Jesus did indeed have to suffer and die, and that the manner in which he did so constituted his rising to new life. In his self-emptying, his unconditional forgiving, and his obedience to the mission of the Father, the Risen Jesus was alive with the fullness of divine love. Radiant with the life of the Trinity, Jesus shattered the bonds of death.
For these two disciples and for us today Jesus' rising signifies the in-breaking of divine love in the world and for us. It is also the revelation of our path to union with God. The resurrection signifies the divine approval of all that Jesus said and did during his earthly life. What God does in raising Jesus is to vindicate his whole ministry and show us clearly that the way Jesus lived his humanity is one with the divine life - a life not subject to death. A resurrection faith, therefore, is one of deep hope and commitment to transforming the world in the image of God's reign. Every Christian and Christian community is called to discern how God's fidelity to Jesus empowers them to live as the Body of Christ by a fidelity to the abandoned, the damaged, the poor, the outcast, and those deprived of justice and human dignity. The resurrection allows the Christian community to trust in God to lead it through the inevitable experiences of suffering and dying that are part of the call to Kingdom living.
Mysticism for Today:
Central to maintaining a prayerful stance in our world today must be an effort to remain open to reality as it presents itself to us. We are speaking of an ability to "hold" something or someone in our souls, especially in anxious and difficult times, without immediately making a judgment or engaging in avoidance. Apart, perhaps, from our pre‐occupation with our careers and our health and well-being, almost everything in our consumerist culture invites us to avoid tension and to resolve it whenever possible. From minor frustrations like waiting in line at the bank to interpersonal conflicts and our unresolved sexual needs, we find it difficult to remain present to that which is unpleasant without acting out aggressively or fleeing into avoidance or denial. Accepting to carry tension in our lives for the sake of God, of love, of what we hold most noble and true, is the mysticism we suggest is vital in our day. 56
Like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane or Mary at the foot of the cross, we must learn to stay with our moments of boredom or pain until we gain clarity on what these moments have to teach and where God might be calling. Tibetan Buddhism instructs all beginning students in a practice called "Making Difficulties into the Path." This involves consciously taking our unwanted sufferings, the sorrows of our life, our interior struggles and those in the world outside, and using them as a way to nourish our patience and compassion.
We are not suggesting clinging to the role of victim or failing to act in situations of injustice, but of attending to what is most loving in the face of emotions and patterns of thought and behavior that would have us make less loving choices. We are asked to stay present to our angers long enough to allow God to soften our hearts. We are asked to face our fears long enough for God to give us the courage we need to overcome them. Experiences of radical fidelity to the depths of our conscience, even when we appear like a fool before others; faithfulness, hope, and love even when there are no apparent reasons for so acting; the bitter experience of the wide gulf between what we truly desire and what life actually gives; a silent hope in the face of death – these are experiences of this mysticism in daily life. It is in holding such tensions long enough to become aligned with our deepest God given desires that we become images of the Holy, usable "instruments" in God's hands.
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 experience the joy and power of your resurrection in the ordinary circumstances of my life."
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
Prayer Exercises
For psychologist Carl Jung, a house represented a person's soul. In this gospel passage the disciples have locked themselves indoors. They are terrified, frozen in fear; ready to cut and run when the coast is clear. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus the "shape" of their listening is one of "We had hoped" (Luke 24: 21). Here Jesus appears in their midst and says, "Peace be with you." He has broken into their house; he has invaded their souls. Breathing on them, he transfers his very life and commissions them to forgive as they have been forgiven. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they become one body, one Spirit in Christ.
Prayerfully Read: John 20: 19-23
20:19In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,' 20and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, 21and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' 22After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained.
Suggested Reflections:
♦ How have I experienced the Risen Jesus invading the house of my soul?
♦ Most people don't even know they live behind locked doors. Can I acknowledge the fears that keep me from opening my heart?
In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius [219], we are asked to pray the scene in which the Risen
Jesus goes to his mother. Though this is not mentioned explicitly in the scriptures, we can easily
imagine the excitement of Jesus in wanting to share the joy of his resurrection with his mother
who had stood by him throughout the Passion. Here we see the filial piety of Our Lord. In this
prayer period, let the delight and the love of this encounter fill your mind and heart.
Suggested Reflections: Imaginative Prayer
Imagine Jesus coming to his mother.
Set the scene.
Where do they meet? What time of day is it?
Stay and see what they do, hear what they say to one another.
Consider how Jesus consoled His mother after her sufferings.
Consider her joy in seeing her son risen.
Speak with Jesus or His mother.
Speak with them about your own family.
Let them enfold you with their love.
Close with a Hail Mary.
Like a New Year's Lion Dance that never ends, Pentecost is an eruption of the Spirit, full of vibrant energy and movement that gives expression to the abundance of God's power to nourish and renew. At Pentecost the walls of fear and doubt crumble, and the disciples experience enormous joy and confidence. The descending Spirit set their hearts on fire and breathed new life into them. Together they now formed a new creation, a community bound by the heart and mind of Jesus. As such, it was a community that valued each person in his or her uniqueness, putting an end to distinctions based on language or race or gender (Galatians 3:28). This Spirit that affirms and draws together at Pentecost is the same Spirit moving our world towards that moment when Christ will gather all creation and present it to the Father (Colossians 1: 15-20).
Prayerfully Read: Acts 2: 1-13
2:1When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, 2when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; 3and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. 4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. 5Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, 6and at this sound they all assembled, and each one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. 7They were amazed and astonished. "Surely," they said, "all these men speaking are Galileans? 8How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; residents of Rome, 11Jews and proselytes alike,Cretans
and Arabs, we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God." 12Everyone was amazed and perplexed; they asked one another what it all meant. 13Some, however, laughed it off. "They have been drinking too much new wine," they said.
Suggested Reflections: Imaginative Prayer3
I place myself in the upper room with the disciples.
Forming an image of the room in great detail, I consider the kind of day it is, my immediate surroundings, and so on.
I note who is present in the room, their facial expressions, their conversations. I note particularly the feeling tone of the room and become aware of my own feelings and anticipation.
I imagine a sound like a powerful wind filling the room.
I am aware of people's responses to this sound. I note any feelings that surface within me as the sound reverberates around me.
I envision what appear to be tongues of fire separating and coming to rest on the head of each person.
Resting in the experience of this coming of the Spirit,
I allow the presence to fill my being.
I am aware of the feelings and insights that surface within me.
I see and share in the disciples' joy and energy of the Spirit.
In closing, I ask that the Spirit of the Risen Jesus illuminate me with wisdom, renew me in energy and hope, unite me in love, and release me in freedom.
I beg that my life, all my decisions and plans, would be under the firm direction of Christ's Spirit.
I give thanks for the fire of the Spirit coming into our world.
I pray the Our Father.
Peter stands bare-assed before Jesus, wearing nothing but an apron. Clothes differentiate us while naked we are all essentially the same. Here Peter represents the human condition stripped of externals. No props, no masks, no excuses. This Jesus is no ghost either. It is truly the same Jesus eating with his disciples and essentially asking Peter once again the question, "Do you want to go away too?" (John 6: 67). This time Peter does not speak for the Twelve but for himself. Reduced to nakedness, striped of all illusions of privilege or entitlement, he finds total forgiveness and can respond, "Lord you know everything, you know I love you." It is necessary that Peter break out of the old "false self" way of seeing himself and the world. Like him, we must discover that life is not about us. We are about life: the Christ life! Each of us incarnates, in a moment in time, the ongoing creative work of God, trusting that we are totally accepted in our nakedness and allowing the power of God's Spirit to flow in us as we wash the feet of one another.
Prayerfully Read: John 21: 1-15
21:1Later on, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: 2Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. 3Simon Peter said, "I'm going fishing." They replied, "We'll come with you." They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night. 4When it was already light, there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. 5Jesus called out, "Haven't you caught anything, friends?" And when they answered, "No," 6he said, "Throw the net out to starboard and you'll find something." So they threw the net out and could not haul it in because of the quantity of fish. 7The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." At these words, ‘It is the Lord,' Simon Peter tied his outer garment round him (for he had nothing on) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net with the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land. 9As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. 10Jesus said, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." 11Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. 12Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, "Who are you?". They knew quite well it was the Lord. 13Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. 14This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead. 15When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."
Suggested Reflections:
♦ God streams into us no matter what the condition of our lives and with a love that is forever. How would I respond to the questions Jesus asks Peter?
♦ What would "feed my lambs" mean in the concrete circumstances of my life?
Without forgiveness we just keep repeating the same old patterns of revenge or avoidance, the same old scenarios of death and half-truths in our relationships with others. Without forgiving, the evil we have suffered begins to act like a poison inside of us; turning us bitter and closed to everything until the only things that we pay any attention to are those which affirm our growing coldness of heart. Without forgiveness no growth takes place and nothing new happens in our families, in our own lives, or in our world. But forgiveness is not something we do on our own. It is a process and an invitation to honor the truth that our relationships are patterned on the Paschal Mystery. It begins by acknowledging what has happened with all its feelings and ramifications. From there we move to holding the tension and pain long enough to allow faith to interrupt our misery. Can I stay in that difficult space when my life as a child makes havoc of my adult life? Can I let go of my feeling of victimization when it begins to center everything on me? What does this person, who is my enemy; have to teach me about mercy and compassion? Can I go deep enough to let God widen my perspective to see another possibility, another context for what has happened?
Prayerfully Read: Matthew 18: 21-22
18:21Then Peter went up to Jesus and said, "Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.
Suggested Reflections:
♦ Where do I find it particularly difficult to "hold the tension" just long enough to
allow God to make possible my impossibilities?
♦ What is the most striking example in my life of forgiving and being forgiven?
Soren Kierkergaard once said, "Purity of heart lies in willing the one thing." Our conditioning as members of a consumer society makes it so hard for us to relinquish the hope that, with sufficient planning, we might be able to see and do everything. The pace of our lives increases as we find it difficult to let go, in any given moment, of all but one of the infinite possibilities offered us by our culture. The result is that our attention remains diffused, and we give ourselves over to many things lightly. In saying, "yes" to so much we attend to nothing in depth. But one can only love that to which one is attentive. In the passage that follows, Paul exults in giving his whole heart to God, and begs that we too might find in Christ that one thing worth giving everything for.
Prayerfully Read: Ephesians 3: 14-21
3:14This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, 15from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name. 16In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self, 17so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, 18with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; 19so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God. 20Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; 21glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen
.
Suggested Reflections:
♦ To what extent can I make Paul's prayer my own?
♦ What do I need to ask God for so that my "hidden self", that true core of my
identity, might grow stronger in the months and years to come?
Review your journal entries for this week's prayer before today's group meeting.
Nothing is more practical
than finding God,
that is,
than falling in love in a quite final and absolute way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you will do with your evenings,
how you will spend your weekends,
what you will read,
who you will know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love.
Stay in love.
And it will decide everything.
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ
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Inspiration
'Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore'
(from Sonnet 60 by William Shakespeare)
So did his dying come in gentle waves,
Arriving unnoticed and then receding.
No one noticed the lifting
And the diminishing of the waves,
Too much sea breaking
To notice subtle failures of the pebbled sand
Being sucked into the sea.
It had come at last,
In sorrow almost hoped for,
This dreaded moment,
The grand cancellation of Time.
Expectations of healing had bounded
and had fallen back,
As hope for the shore glimmered and dimmed,
Like the running down of a giant clock,
Noiselessly, back into the sea.
'Salve Regina,' the priest intoned.
And the gathered room followed:
Verse followed verse
Of this ancient chant,
'Arces and theses,'
The swelling and the restraint,
The rising and the falling away.
Wave pushes on after wave
The clock of his heart keeping steady pace
O Clemens,
O Pia,
O dulcis virgo, Maria.
Amen.
The monitor, satisfied and silent,
Had finished its task.
The grand silence had spoken at last.
We caught our breath as his breathing stopped,
The wave took the shore
Like a roused dragon firing from its den,
O the beauty and the symmetry
The tired old sea made new again!
O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new!
Awe wept its faithful Angelus,
Lulled by the rhythm of the chiming of the sea.
In Memory of Anthony Cho, July 31, 2008
Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola
(Anthony died aspiring to be a Jesuit)
Written by Edward G. Zogby, S.J.
3 August 2008 |
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