Once again we
turn to the Preparatory Document for the Synod of Bishops:
“A fervent listening to
the Word is fundamental to a
personal encounter with God. Living according to the Spirit results from making
room for the Word and allowing it to be born in one’s heart. No one can fathom
the depths of the Word of God. However, only in the previously mentioned manner
can the Word take hold of and convert a person, making him discover its riches
and secrets, widening his horizons and promising freedom and full human
development (cf. Eph 4:13). Knowing
Sacred Scripture is one of the charisms of the Church; she transmits this
knowledge to believers who are open to the Spirit.” (# 33)
Pope
John Paul II also reminds us: “The Word of God is the first source of all
Christian spirituality. It gives rise to
a personal relationship with the living God and with his saving and sanctifying
will.” (quoted in # 26 of the Preparatory Document)
It
is clear from all this that we are called to be “People of the Word” and to
witness to the Word in our lives.
Spirituality
In
this reflection I would like to invite you to consider a particular way of
witnessing to that Word…through a particular spirituality. A Sufi Story as told by Anthony De Mello, The Song of the Bird, p. 11)
The
master was asked, “What is spirituality?”
He
said, “Spirituality is that which succeeds in bringing one to inner
transformation.”
“But
if I apply the traditional methods handed down by the masters, is that not
spirituality?”
“It
is not spirituality if it does not perform its function for you. A blanket is no longer a blanket if it does
not keep you warm.”
“So
spirituality does change?”
“People
change and needs change. So what was
spirituality once is spirituality no more.
What generally goes under the name of spirituality is merely the record
of past methods.”
Don’t cut the person
to fit the coat.
If
you go into a bookstore and look in the section on religions, spiritualities,
you will find the shelves bursting with books claiming to address our human
need for something transcending the material universe. There is an abundance of superficial and
unfounded “spiritualities.” Television
and the Internet are saturated with both subtle and blatant appeals to the
missions who are pursuing the “transcendent more” where it cannot be found.
As
the term spirituality is used today,
it often refers vaguely to the nonmaterial aspects of human life and especially
to hopes and aspirations, sometimes with little or no moral implications of
right or wrong. (New Age, Animism in
Africa, etc.) The need for the
transcendent, the divine, can be satisfied only by the solid, historical and
public revelation found in the Old and New Testaments, and most of all in the
person and teaching of the Word made flesh, Jesus himself.
The
word spirituality in the Catholic
community refers to how the gospel is to
be lived in a particular state of life. This
usage is extended to religious orders and congregations and to the various
emphases they bring to highlight the endless richness found in Jesus and in his
message. (Benedictine, liturgy; Franciscan, poverty and joy; the Dominicans,
proclaiming the contemplated Word, etc.)
We, as peoples marked by the Blood of Christ, also highlight certain
aspects of Christian life in our following of Jesus. But JESUS is always the central figure
towering above all others. Our Founder
and Foundress were consumed with fashioning their lives and those of their
communities on his life and drinking of his teaching. A Catholic spirituality must embrace all of
Scripture and every spirituality must place the passion, death and resurrection
of Jesus at its center and see his cross “as God’s power to save” (I
Corinthians 1:18).
Spiritualities,
as well as charisms, are to be shared and are meant for all of God’s
people. They provide us with pictures of
the endless riches of Jesus and his revelation.
They are emphases but not competition.
Truth is one magnificent, harmonious and beautiful whole.
So,
as we journey this week and reflect upon the word of God as expressed and lived
in Jesus of Nazareth, we will be seeing the following of Christ through the
lens of Precious Blood Spirituality. We
will try to discover certain aspects of our Christian belief and profession,
through the mystery of the Blood of Christ, which breaks open the Seal to
discover the Mystery of God’s Word.
“I saw a scroll
in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed
with seven seals. Then I saw a mighty
angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the
earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. I shed many tears because no one was found
worthy to open the scroll or to examine it.
One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.
“Then I saw
standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the
elders a Lamb that seemed to have been slain.
He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the seven spirits of God
sent out into the whole world. He came
and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the
throne. When he took it, the four living
creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls
filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. They sang a new hymn:
“Worthy
are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals,
For
you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God
Those
from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.
You
made them a kingdom and priests for our God
And
they will reign on earth.” (Revelations
5: 1-10)
Looking through the
Precious Blood lens
The
sharing together of the Word of God is also a privileged moment for discovering
the Gospel of the Blood which we are
sent to announce.
Our
specific contribution to the Church is the spirituality of the Blood of
Christ. Just as St. Gaspar who “used to
see blood everywhere” so too we should discover the red thread running through
history and Sacred Scriptures. We live
our spirituality not because we cite the word “Blood” in every homily, but
because it comes to us naturally because we are particularly sensitive to the
cry of the blood in today’s society and because our mission to apply the
sources of our spirituality to the concrete realities we face each day.
“Preaching”
the Word
Preaching and
witnessing to the Word of God in our lives touches the heart of all baptized
people regardless of our state in life.
One of the
greatest challenge for a priest is the preaching each week at Sunday Mass in
order to help God’s People encounter God in their daily life. It is truly a special moment which we should
care for, since for the great majority of the people it is the only moment in
the week when they hear God’s Word. They
come looking for a Word of life, a Word which orientates their daily affairs, a
Word of hope and encouragement in the difficulties they face. In other words, they come yearning for “Good
News” for their lives.
This recalls an incident
I experience two or three years ago in Rome while concelebrating Mass at our
local parish Church of Santa Marcella:
Sitting next to me in the sanctuary during a very boring sermon, the
altar boy looked up at me and asked:
“Are you from the
States?”
Then later,
“Did you ever make a
film?” (Do I look like a movie
star?) J
“I thought you were an
actor!”
Then, after a long
pause, his thoughts turned more serious, and he asked me:
“Should we go to war?”
“Did I see the twin
towers fall?”
“Why did Bin Laden do
that?”
As the sermon grinded
on, he asked more questions…
“Is most of the world
Christian?”
“Why not?”
And afterwards, as if
embarrassed at asking me so many questions, he said:
“Do you ask questions
too?”
“Why did God create
the world?”
All
this, while the priest spoke forever about some obscure aspect of life which
really didn’t make a difference to anyone.
Nevertheless, this little ten year old boy’s mind was churning out
questions by the dozens, but not getting any answers from that sermon!
The boy was asking all kids of good
questions, pertinent ones…But the priest in his homily was speaking to a
different set of questions…perhaps questions only he was asking! People are hungry and come looking for
enlightenment. What do we give
them? Stones instead of bread?
Being “a living Word” for others
We are
confronted with the challenge of announcing life to a young drug addict or a
person sick with AIDS, an abandoned mother; or forgiveness to the one who
cannot forgive himself. It is the
mission of helping the person to find the seeds of God’s presence and of the
Gospel in this world, so often dark and filled with fear and uncertainty. This is the challenge the missionary of the
word faces each day in our ministry. It
is a challenge which can only be met after a deep meditation on the Word of God
and also a good knowledge of the people we are preaching to. “The pastor
knows his sheep…and they know his voice” (Jn 10).
St. Agustine once
wrote: “The Bible, the second book of
God, was written to help us to decipher the world, in order to give us back the
eyes of faith and of contemplation, and to transform all of reality into a
great revelation of God.”The Book of Life is the FIRST book of
God. The Bible is the SECOND book of God
which helps us to discern, in the Book of Life, what God is like and what His
Word is for us. The Bible capacitates us
spiritually so that with our eyes and ears all cosmic and historic reality is
transformed into a great revelation of God.
The Bible is the Revealed Word of God, but it also reveals to us where
God reveals Himself in our reality today.
We must listen to the Word of God with one eye on the Bible and the
other on the reality in which we live!
Coherence of Life
I
am always struck by the words the Bishop pronounces during the diaconate
ordination ceremony when presenting the book of the Gospels to the new
deacon. He says: “Receive the Gospel
of Christ which you are called to announce: always believe what you proclaim,
teach what you have gained in the faith,
live what you teach”. This same idea is also expressed in the
exhortation read during the conferring of the ministry of Lector: “It
is therefore necessary that, while you announce to others the word of God, you
know how to receive it yourself with full docility to the Holy Spirit; meditate
the word of God everyday so as to acquire a deeper and more penetrating
awareness of it, but above all give
witness with your own life to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Only
in this way, God’s Plan/Design becomes my life’s project. I build my life upon the Word of God, the
only foundation which will never collapse.
And then I can make mine the words of the Psalm: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for
my path.” (119:105) that is, a
light which helps me to find my way in my own life’s journey.
We are first books on which Mission is written. We are
called to make the Gospel we preach visible, written as it were on our own
flesh!
The Gospel of Charity
Charity
is at the heart of evangelization. One
can speak of The Gospel of charity as
the center of our efforts of evangelization.
But we also must take note that we are not among the powerful who can
give gold and silver. “I do not have Silver or gold, but that
which I have, I give: in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, get up and
walk” (Acts 3:6). This much we can
give and share. But that little we do
have at our disposition we should also use in favor of our brothers and
sisters, particularly for those who are little and defenseless. There exists this need to encounter Jesus,
to let oneself be quenched by his word, to be taken by the arm, to give comfort
in their discouragement. There is a need for words of hope, especially for the
poor.
It
is our task to live in solidarity with them.
To speak with the language of good words, as the Letter of James reminds
us. When one lives charity, he is
announcing the Gospel. Everyone can
understand the language of signs: a handshake, sharing, helping a poor person.
(Tell the Story
of Fr. Bill Frantz, the candy man!)
Spirituality
is about what we do with the FIRE inside of us, about how we channel our
passion! The fire in the belly of St.
Gaspar, was the Blood of Jesus! Spirituality puts fire in our veins, keeps us
energized, vibrant, living with zest, and full of hope. It gives us a sense of who we are, where we
are going, and what sense there is in all of this!
To live as prophets of the Word demands a
great deal of interior freedom. We will
need the humility of Mary so as to be challenged by the Gospel which will often
turn upside down our own ideas, our prejudices, our priorities, calling us to
conversion on many levels. To live as prophets also demands that we be free
before the powers of this world in order to be able to announce and denounce,
no matter what the consequences. How
many times, under the pretense of prudence, the Word of the Gospel is silenced
or neutralized. Under the pretense of
maintaining peace in the community, we risk betraying our ministry of being
prophets announcing the Word of God “at all times”.
A passion which impels: communicating an experience
From
the meditation and appropriation of the Word, a passion is born! We are able to say together with the Prophet
Jeremiah: “When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and
the happiness of my heart, because I bore your name, O Lord, God of hosts” (Jer
15:16).
The
people await a Gospel spoken with passion and fire born of our personal
experience. “Woe to me, if I do not
preach the Gospel” exclaimed St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:16). The preaching of the Gospel becomes our
passion.
We
are called to fall in love again with the Lord.
No one can think, speak, or act with passion and ardor, if he has not
been touched deeply by love. This
falling in love is consolidated in contemplation, mediation, and in dialogue
between the Word of God and ourselves.
It is precisely there, in the personal and vital encounter with Jesus,
our Lord and Master, where the passion for preaching is born! It is He Himself who sparks this apostolic
fire within us. It is Jesus who calls us
“to be with him in order to be sent to preach the Gospel”.
Without this
personal experience of the Word, without that passion which burns within, our instructions
and homilies will be merely intellectual teachings, moral discourses,
catechesis, a theological class, empty words, and not Good News for the
people! It will certainly not be the apostle who shares the Word because he
himself has been obsessed by it, by the gift received which he cannot keep for
himself. The Missionary, speaking from
the abundance of his heart, is driven to communicate the Gospel with simple,
creative, vibrant words, bound to the everyday life of those who hear the Word
proclaimed.
The ministry of the Word means telling people about Jesus! The apostles were not simply committed to
studying the Scriptures and talking about them with people. The primary “word” they proclaimed was their
personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. The
apostles had been FRIENDS OF JESUS! The missionary is sent…there must be a
vital relationship with the Lord! The
experience of God is a condition for proclaiming God! We can proclaim only what we have known,
touched and experienced, as John affirmed in his first Letter (cf. 1 Jn 1:1-4).
The ministry of
the word was a commitment to tell others about their relationship with Jesus
and about the new life that everyone can experience through a similar
relationship with the Lord.They did not just know about Jesus; they knew
him. His love filled their hearts and
his wisdom illuminated their minds.
Wherever they went, Jesus became the “word” that they ministered.
Communities centered on the Word of God
We are called to
form communities built upon the rock of His Word, as true faith
communities. In our communities there should
be a special time allotted to meditate together the Word, the share our faith
and that which the Word says to me and suggests to me!
But
how difficult it is for us many times to create that safe space in which we
feel free and comfortable to open our hearts to one another and to share our
faith, sharing what God is doing in us. (The example of Mary visiting
Elizabeth!) Nevertheless, without the
centrality of God’s word as the light and guide of our community, we will soon
lose direction and even fall into counter-testimony.
Union
with God takes time, as day by day, month by month, year by year we slowly and
deliberately let go of more stuff cluttering our tiny hearts in order to make
room for the infinite source of love and life.
The
deepest and most essential longing we have, no matter how hidden or
misunderstood, is a longing for God. It
is woven into the fabric of our existence.
Each day, I need to affirm my dependence on God alone.
“Oh
God, help me stop my restless searching for empty pleasures, which, even when
satisfied, leave me feeling unsatisfied, leave me with a void that can only be
filled by You.”
Our
spiritual lives are threatened by countless weapons of mass distraction (WMD), such as: mass media, cell
phones, the internet, near-constant noise, and obsessive consumerism. So much of modern life drives us from what is
most true and essential. The way to
disarm these deadly weapons is simple: prayer, fasting, and concern for those
in need. (Gerard Straub, Blind Beggars,
p. 115)
Surrender is
never easy. When Jesus was called to his
final surrender on the cross, he sweatblood.Our
“stuff” walls us off from others, preventing us from becoming sister and
brother to all of creation, including the poor souls living on the margins of
society.
“Receive the Gospel of
Christ which you are called to announce: always believe what you proclaim,
teach what you have gained in the faith, live what you teach”.
(from the rite of diaconate ordination)
We are first books on which Mission is written.We are called to make
the Gospel we preach visible, written as it were on our own flesh!
For Reflection:
1. How
would you describe your personal relationship with Jesus? How has He touched your life?
2. What
WORD are you announcing with your life?What is the GOSPEL NEWS that people read
when they observe you or come into contact with you?
No comments:
Post a Comment