Tag: lectio divina

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.’ ”

The crowd came looking for Jesus after he had fed them in the Multiplication of the Loaves. They expended energy to find him, believing they would again be filled with food he gave them. Like them, I am daily subject to the hunger-satiety-hunger cycle and am satisfied for a short time before the cycle repeats.

God, help me understand what it means to work not for food that perishes but to accomplish your works through belief in your Son. This is your work, God, believing in the one you sent in order to gain the food that endures for eternal life. Through the sacraments, this is participation in the Eucharist; in daily life, it is not looking for signs but participating in the love between the Father and the Son and seeking the Son.

Even in the quietest moments of the day, I feel the intrusion of anxiety and begin to line up all of the tasks I hope to accomplish. Anticipation and fear pull me in different directions. How will I remember to put myself in God’s presence? How do I stop the billiard balls once they scatter on the table? God, be near me and make clear when you present me with an opportunity to acknowledge you and remember.

The people in the crowd ask a question worth considering throughout the day: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus makes clear in his response that the works of God are belief in him, on whom the Father has set his seal. Today I want to stop amid the sometimes mindless expense of energy and recognize something I can’t see, taste, touch, hear, or sense; unlike the taking of earthly food that satisfies only for a while, only something invisible and out of grasp will last. The Son of God is present here today, and to gain eternal life, he asks only that I believe in him.

Third Sunday of Easter

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Jesus said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time,
“Do you love me?” and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Having heard this so many times, if I didn’t know this passage almost by heart, I’d say the conversation between Jesus and Peter sounds like a married couple renewing their vows after many years together. To read this is to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation, leaving me feeling a little uncomfortable, both because of the intimacy and because of the repeated question—three times—and with each time a different charge.

God, help me understand that what you ask Peter to do, you also ask of us: we are our brothers’ keepers. Thank you for calling me to intimacy with you in a way that sometimes challenges me and even makes me uncomfortable. You call me to a higher standard—the care of others close to me—whether they behave more like lambs or sheep.

At the end of the Gospel, Jesus simply says, “Follow me.” Easier to say than agree to than to actually do. However, whatever my relationship to others, if I accompany them without first following Christ, where will the relationship tend? I am a sheep among sheep unless I hear his voice and take to heart that penetrating question, “Do you love me more than these?”

Today I want to recognize you throughout the day as the risen Christ. Your disciples had trouble recognizing you even after you had appeared to them several times. I ask you, God, make clear to me when you approach so that I understand fully what it means to be at peace, to be able to say, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Saturday of the Second Week of Easter

USCCB Readings

“When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.”

Today’s reading takes place in John’s Gospel immediately after the Multiplication of the Loaves, after which Jesus withdraws again to the mountain. It’s no surprise, then, that the disciples are afraid when they see him walking toward them on the water since they probably believe Jesus to be away from them. A strong wind was blowing; fear was in the air. This is one of many times when Jesus appears to the disciples and says, “Do not be afraid.” A quick Internet search reveals that this is said in the Bible 365 times—once for every day of the year.

God, help me understand that you are present even in the ordinary moments of the day when fear and anxiety pervade; you are present in every trial. In the midst of persecution, your words, Jesus, penetrate the depths of our being: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” At first, the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus, perhaps thinking he was a ghost. Since they had rowed out about three or four miles, they wanted to take Jesus into the boat but found the boat arrived immediately to shore.

Let me rest in knowing God is with me and that he can quiet whatever the storm that elicits fear. Let me know that God has his hand on my head, guiding me, showing me which way to go to arrive seemingly right away.

Today, a Saturday, will not produce the usual workaday trials, but there will be tasks to complete and timeframes to accommodate. Places to get to and the anxiety of getting there. God willing, today will bring, at worst, light stress. I want to remember, like Brother Lawrence, that God is with me even during mundane tasks like peeling potatoes. I want to recall throughout the day that the very Son of God will be beside me, saying, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

USCCB Readings

“ ‘Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.’ So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.”

Jesus asks Philip where they could buy enough food for the crowd that followed Jesus up the mountain. He does this to test Philip, who gives Jesus a matter-of-fact reply: “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” But it is Andrew, Peter’s brother, who suggests something that Jesus follows up on: a boy in the crowd has five barley loaves and two fish. “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted.” How many times throughout the Gospel Jesus does this! He takes the little given to him, blesses it, and returns it to us in superabundance.

This miracle, which takes place near the time of Passover, is a kind of Last Supper before the Last Supper. Because of that, in it is a prefiguring of the Mass and the Eucharist, a sharing in life-sustaining food that fully satisfies, a dwelling in the house of the Lord. God, help me understand what it means to seek you as the crowd that followed you were hungry for food but also for so much more. Help me know what it means to be satisfied, as today’s Psalm says, to gaze on your loveliness and contemplate your temple.

To contemplate the Lord, to dwell in his house, I can imagine the risen Jesus asking Thomas to put his hand into his side, putting his finger into the nailmarks. That also, as grotesque as it seems, is to gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and to share in the Paschal meal; it is to take the broken bread and have more than I could eat.

Today when I am caught up in the flow of the day and the tasks I am given, I want to remember it’s not about measuring how much productive labor will yield but instead a trusting in the little given to God to accomplish his work, not mine. I want to remember to be like the boy who gave what he had and found through God’s work more superabundant grace than I could possibly imagine.

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

“The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”

After reading today’s Gospel passage several times, I see John describing the relationship of the Holy Trinity. The one who comes from above is Jesus and is above all in the person of God. The one whom God sent, Jesus, speaks the words of God through the Holy Spirit and “does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”

God, help me understand relationship of the Trinity in light of the Holy Spirit as love between the Father and the Son. The last words of the Gospel are harsh, dealing with disobedience of the son and the consequences of that being the wrath of God. Yikes! Yet, I also have to consider Peter’s experience in the first reading of being brought before the Sanhedrin and accused of wanting to bring blood upon them. They acted out of fear, desolation, and vengeance. Peter’s reply, which is echoed in the Gospel: “We must obey God rather than men.”

I’m tired and distracted. Before I try to accomplish today what I know will only be a fraction of what I hope to do, let me rest my head on Jesus’ chest. In that rest, let me see what the Holy Spirit witnessed during Jesus’ life on earth and also what the Holy Spirit witnesses today as Jesus continues to live in those who believe in him and in the sacraments, where his presence remains.

Peter says in the first reading, “We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” To think that, like the disciples, the Holy Spirit witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus, “who does not ration his gift of the Spirit,” I have to pause to consider that today and every day, I can call on the Holy Spirit, witness of the life of Christ, to know and obey that same love between the Father and the Son.

Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

USCCB Readings

One of the lines that strikes me in today’s readings has been made famous by wherever large crowds appear, John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Also in today’s reading, what stands out for me is “so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”

Today’s reading is a continuation of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, who said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” At the end of today’s Gospel passage, John follows Nicodemus’s statement to its conclusion: “But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”

I love the imagery of light and darkness. But what’s hard to acknowledge is my participation in the latter: “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.” Evil is abominable, wickedness has been personified throughout history by names instilled in all of us by sixth grade. “That’s not me; I’m not them,” I might reassure myself. But evil is impartial, and every reasoning person of age succumbs at times to evil. No question, no exceptions. It is to will the harm of the other just as love (as Saint Thomas Aquinas describes) is to will the good of the other. God, help me understand always the way to avoid evil and live in the light.

Father in heaven, I have a full agenda today. Some of it is good and necessary; some, pie in the sky. Help me be remain in your light today and be responsive to the Holy Spirit. As Jesus says to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” God, help me stay in the light.

Today, among the many junctions I will come to, I have a moral choice set before me: avoid the light so that my actions might not be exposed; that is, live in darkness; or, live the truth and come toward the light to receive and act in God’s grace.

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

USCCB Readings

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Jesus refers to the Old Testament account that foreshadows his crucifixion and resurrection. Because the people complained against God and Moses, God sent seraph serpents among the people that bit them and caused them to die. Moses prayed to the Lord to take the serpents from them, so God told him to make a seraph serpent and mount it on a pole. Everyone who had been bitten would look upon it and recover.

“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” God, help me understand that you had to be lifted up so that you could bring eternal life to everyone who believes in you and who is born of the Spirit. You have heard the cry of your people and have given us eternal life through your crucifixion.

Jesus made clear the purpose of Moses lifting up the serpent and himself being lifted up: eternal life for all who believe in him. I ask God to make clear to me how I am to be a witness to the resurrection and to my faith.

I want to remember today that when Jesus says, “. . . so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life,” it means being a witness to my faith. From today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Luke says that among the community of believers there was no needy person among them because what they did have they distributed to each according to need. “With great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.” Today, let me see the needs of others around me, bearing witness to God in my works, joys, and sufferings, in communion with them through the risen Christ.

April 25, 2022—Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

USCCB Readings

“Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”

As I listen to the Gospel reading, I’m struck by the phrase “while the Lord worked with them.” Although Jesus had ascended into heaven, he continued to work with the disciples, confirming the word through signs that instilled faith in the lives of those the disciples touched. From there, recognizing that this is the risen Jesus working with them, it’s one short step to say that he works still with all of us today.

Thank you, God, for sending your Son, who remains with us and is at the same time seated at your right hand. Just as Jesus worked with the disciples, he works with us today to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. God, help me understand what it means to proclaim the Good News; what news there is today is not good, and the Gospel seems to have little effect in dispelling the darkness.

Jesus Christ, light of the world, be my light today as you work with me to proclaim you today to those you give me the Good News. From today’s psalm: “Blessed the people who know the joyful shout; in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.”

At the end of today, I’d like to think back and be certain that whatever I do, the Lord worked with me to proclaim the Gospel even in humble ways. In today’s first reading, Saint Peter says, “So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.” I’m sure today’s worries will abound; when today’s work is done, what certainty of faith will I claim that the Lord worked with me to share the Good News of his life, death, and resurrection?

April 24, 2022—Divine Mercy Sunday—2nd Sunday of Easter

USCCB Readings

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’ ”

This reminds me of the expression “Put my finger on it.” It is proof Thomas seeks (“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”) By saying “Put your finger here and see my hands, . . .” Jesus establishes facts to bring Thomas’s unbelieving into belief.

God, help me understand how the isolation of the disciples behind locked doors did not prevent Jesus from standing in their midst. Help me understand how to overcome the times that I doubt Jesus, when no amount of proof is enough. Thomas, though, does come to believe. He was not with the disciples when Jesus first appeared but sees Jesus when he appears a second time behind locked doors. Having seen the proof, Thomas comes to believe in the Risen Christ, exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?” Jesus give Thomas proof; it is proof Thomas wants. The Gospel reading says that Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples. Why? The evangelist Saint John says, “But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” Jesus, together with the first who believed in him want, for those who come to follow him, what Jesus had to die to produce: forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the Body, and life everlasting.

Today, Divine Mercy Sunday, I want to bring my unbelief to Jesus through my actions throughout the day, through prayer, and in receiving the Eucharist. I will forget myself and fall into unbelief, I will fall short, and I will fail to show mercy. No matter. When I return, Jesus is there, and his grace is enough to transform my unbelief: “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.”