Prayer and Peace

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer the Lord’s Prayer to begin our resolution, like Jonah, of the mercy and love of God that is offered to all people even those we experience as enemies of our life and liberty.

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In the reading from the Book of Jonah, he expresses anger and Jonah Is reproved.

* [4:1] He became angry: because of his narrow vindictiveness, Jonah did not wish the Lord to forgive the Ninevites.

* [4:2] Punishment: lit., “evil”; see 1:2, 7, 8; 3:8, 10; 4:1.

* [4:4] The Lord’s question is as unexpected as it is pithy. It is also a mysterious reply to Jonah’s wish to die; perhaps it serves to invite Jonah to think over his situation. However, it goes unanswered, and the request and reply will be repeated in vv. 8–9.

* [4:5] Waited: Jonah still hopes his threat of doom will be fulfilled.

* [4:6] Gourd plant: the Hebrew word, qiqayon, means here a wide-leafed plant of the cucumber or castor-bean variety.

* [4:10] Concerned: the meaning of the Hebrew verb suggests “pity, care for,” and this appears in the Lord’s attitude to Nineveh in v. 11. Jonah has shown only a selfish concern over the plant in contrast to the Lord’s true “concern” for his creatures.

* [4:11] A selfish Jonah bemoans his personal loss of a gourd plant for shade without any concern over the threat of loss of life to the Ninevites through the destruction of their city. If a solicitous God provided the plant for a prophet without the latter’s effort or merit, how much more is God disposed to show love and mercy toward all people, Jew and Gentile, when they repent of their sins and implore divine pardon. God’s care goes beyond human beings to all creation, as in Job 38. (Jonah, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 86 is a supplication for Help against Enemies

* [Psalm 86] An individual lament. The psalmist, “poor and oppressed” (Ps 86:1), “devoted” (Ps 86:2), “your servant” (Ps 86:2, 4, 16), “rescued…from the depths of Sheol” (Ps 86:13), attacked by the ruthless (Ps 86:14), desires only God’s protection (Ps 86:1–7, 11–17). (Psalms, PSALM 86 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus shares the Lord’s Prayer.

* [11:1–4] The Matthean form of the “Our Father” occurs in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 6:9–15); the shorter Lucan version is presented while Jesus is at prayer (see note on Lk 3:21) and his disciples ask him to teach them to pray just as John taught his disciples to pray. In answer to their question, Jesus presents them with an example of a Christian communal prayer that stresses the fatherhood of God and acknowledges him as the one to whom the Christian disciple owes daily sustenance (Lk 11:3), forgiveness (Lk 11:4), and deliverance from the final trial (Lk 11:4). See also notes on Mt 6:9–13.

* [11:2] Your kingdom come: in place of this petition, some early church Fathers record: “May your holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us,” a petition that may reflect the use of the “Our Father” in a baptismal liturgy.

* [11:3–4] Daily bread: see note on Mt 6:11. The final test: see note on Mt 6:13. (Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries for  October 11, 2023 had some technical difficulties at time of publication.

Don Schwager quotes “The privilege and responsibility of calling God Father,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"For the Savior said, 'When you pray, say, 'Our Father.' And another of the holy Evangelists adds, 'who art in heaven' (Matthew 6:9)... He gives his own glory to us. He raises slaves to the dignity of freedom. He crowns the human condition with such honor as surpasses the power of nature. He brings to pass what was spoken of old by the voice of the psalmist: 'I said, you are gods, and all of you children of the Most High' (Psalm 82:6). He rescues us from the measure of slavery, giving us by his grace what we did not possess by nature, and permits us to call God 'Father,' as being admitted to the rank of sons. We received this, together with all our other privileges, from him. One of these privileges is the dignity of freedom, a gift peculiarly befitting those who have been called to be sons. He commands us, therefore, to take boldness and say in our prayers, 'Our Father.'"(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 71) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Jonah 4:1-11 comments that Jonah plunges into despair. Once again, God tries to teach him the meaning of mercy. If the prophet grieves the loss of a simple plant, how much more would the Lord be concerned for an entire city of people who stood on the brink of destruction (Jonah 4:10-11)? The Lord is deeply invested in the lives of each person he created and wants nothing more than to bring them back to himself.

Jonah’s story ends before we find out how he responded to God’s mercy or whether he learned his lesson. But we can learn, even if he didn’t. Because even if he said it as a complaint, Jonah got one thing right: God is gracious and merciful. His mercy extends beyond our narrow parameters. It reaches out beyond us and the people we’re comfortable with. It forgives even our enemies, even those who have hurt us or a loved one. God wants every human being to be united with him in love. And he proves it to us by all the times he reaches out to us in mercy—even if we’re in the belly of a great big fish!

“Loving God, I praise you for your overwhelming mercy!” (Meditation on Jonah 4:1-11, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the anger of Jonah as he realizes that God will save the city of Nineveh, and the enemies of Israel. The “Lord’s Prayer” in Luke is likely very close to the original and in Matthew it is a fully developed liturgical prayer. Friar Jude reminds us of the connection of our forgiveness of others to our ability to accept forgiveness from God.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Margaret Swedish, an advocate for ecological wholeness, who believes our time of planetary crisis invites us to a deeper, more expansive faith.

Because all of this can appear daunting and terrifying, we also search for an experience of God, a relationship, that is both large enough—and intimate enough—to counter the disorientation, dizziness, and sense of displacement we feel…. We seek … a place for an experience of the Divine within it, a new sense of our true home, of our cherished place in the cosmos and on this planet, a spiritual space large enough to contain all of our fears and our hopes, our questions and our bewilderment….

We need a sense of God that does not invite us to grow smaller, to retreat into personal sins with the expectation of some salvation apart from and outside this larger drama of our earth and cosmos. We need a sense of God that embraces that drama fully, with urgency, with passion, with love, as did the God revealed in Jesus Christ. [1] (Rohr, 2023)

We struggle with the response we have to situations in the world that are truly terrible and horrific as we attend to the Wisdom of the Spirit that asserts the mercy and love of God for all people.

References

Jonah, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jonah/4?1 

Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?1 

Meditation on Jonah 4:1-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/10/11/802796/ 

Psalms, PSALM 86 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/86? 

Rohr, R. (2023, October 11). Expanding Our Faith — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/expanding-our-faith/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Lord, Teach Us to Pray. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=oct11 

Blessed with the Body of Christ

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, resonate with our experience of living as members of the Body of Christ.

In the passage from the Book of Genesis the action of Melchizedek is seen as a prefiguration of Christ.

* [14:18] Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem, cf. Ps 76:3), appears with majestic suddenness to recognize Abraham’s great victory, which the five local kings were unable to achieve. He prepares a feast in his honor and declares him blessed or made powerful by God Most High, evidently the highest God in the Canaanite pantheon. Abraham acknowledges the blessing by giving a tenth of the recaptured spoils as a tithe to Melchizedek. The episode is one of several allusions to David, king at Jerusalem, who also exercised priestly functions (2 Sm 6:17). Heb 7 interprets Melchizedek as a prefiguration of Christ.1 

Psalm 110 is a royal Psalm in which a court singer recites three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered.

* [Psalm 110] A royal Psalm in which a court singer recites three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered (Ps 110:1–2), makes the king “son” in traditional adoption language (Ps 110:3), gives priestly status to the king and promises to be with him in future military ventures (Ps 110:4–7).2 

The reading from 1 Corinthians shares the tradition of the Institution of the Eucharist.

* [11:23–25] This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The narrative emphasizes Jesus’ action of self-giving (expressed in the words over the bread and the cup) and his double command to repeat his own action.3 

The Gospel from Luke tells of the Feeding of the Five Thousand by Jesus.

* [9:16] Then taking…: the actions of Jesus recall the institution of the Eucharist in Lk 22:19; see also note on Mt 14:19.4 

Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that the Gospel for this wonderful celebration is about inconvenience. The Apostles enjoy the popularity Jesus has with the crowds by His healings and teachings. It is getting late and the crowds are a bother. The disciples hardly have enough to feed themselves so they wish to have Jesus get rid of them. “Give them some food yourselves.” They are inconvenienced by their experience of poverty. They couldn’t figure out how Jesus could ask this of them.

What is precious as well is the poverty of mind and spirit which opens us up to grateful receptivity, as did the crowd. I am not convinced that if we understood the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus, it would increase devotion nor the number of receivers. Knowing does not satisfy. What is hard to accept is not Christ’s Presence in the form or substance of bread and wine, but the inconvenient reality of forming me as well as you into His Body and Blood.5 

As a small group of pilgrims in June 2015, we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi in a liturgy at and between two of the great Basilica of Rome (San Giovanni in Laterano and Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore) in which Pope Francis was the Presider. The experience of the “Body of Christ” as people from all over the world gathered in worship and procession, joyfully honouring His Presence, is a body memory that makes real in memory and experience the Promise of Full Life in Christ.

Don Schwager quotes “Christ has yet to feed them with stronger food,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"The order of the mystery is preserved everywhere. The first healing is bestowed on wounds through the remission of sins. Then the nourishment of the heavenly table abounds, although this multitude is not yet refreshed with stronger foods, nor do hearts hungry for more solid faith feed on the body and blood of Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14). He says, 'I gave you milk to drink, not meat. For you then were not strong, nor are you yet' (1 Corinthians 3:2). The five loaves are like milk, but the more solid meat is the body of Christ, and the stronger drink is the blood of the Lord (Luke 22:19-20). Not immediately at first do we feast on all foods, nor do we drink all drinks. 'First drink this,' he says. Thus there is a first, then a second thing that you drink. There is also a first thing that you eat, then a second, and then a third. At first there are five loaves, then there are seven (Matthew 15:34). The third loaf is the true body of Christ. So, then, let us never abandon such a Lord. He agrees to bestow on us nourishment according to the strength of each, lest either too strong a food oppress the weak or too meager a nourishment not satisfy the strong." (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.71-72)6 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:11-17 comments that Jesus knew he would need to feed this crowd of people miraculously—and he was happy to do it. It was his way of giving them another sign of his love for them.

This is part of the wonder of the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus wants to spend time with us. He wants to spend time with you. He loves you for who you are, not just for what he can do for you. He just enjoys your company, and he wants to share his love with you.7 

Robert Saler draws the Body of Christ to consider Ecumenism as Ecological Lure.

The burden of a challenge toward “environmental ecumenism” would perhaps move us past the old saw that “doctrine divides but service unites” towards a more theologically robust sensibility of incarnation: that to enter into deeper modes of understanding the church Christologically allows us to engage what Sittler calls humanity’s “strong ache” in a world in which nature’s plasticity to human desires has, ironically, constituted nature itself as a new kind of threat—particularly to the poorest and most vulnerable humans on the planet. If ecumenical unity is a future reality to which the present is nonetheless continually “lured,” then Sittler’s speech invites us to think about how this present lure can be comprehended most fully by continually relating our ecclesiology to our Christology, and vice versa.8 

Friar Jude Winkler ties the priesthood Melchizedek to Jesus and bread and wine. The description in Acts of Institution of the Eucharist is softer in Greek as a cup of the Covenant but in Aramaic takes us to the foot of the Cross. Friar Jude finds the miracle of the Gospel today as foreshadowing of the Eucharist satisfying the deepest hunger of our hearts.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that true holiness and wholeness come when we allow God’s love and grace to unfold in the present moment and we respond to what is before us. Holiness is simply being connected to our Source. From such a place, our compassionate response to suffering and need is drawn naturally—without being contrived or forced—from who we are in love, not from egoic motivations or fears. That is why so many parents become such good and holy people, because that’s exactly what caring for children does for us.

It seems we must face unavoidable demands that require our response, even if we feel inadequate to meet the need right in front of us. We need these God-given reminders that we’re not always the central reference point. Giving of our physical, mental, and emotional resources in such a way isn’t usually ego-affirming, but it is a path toward holiness. It’s not what you do that makes you holy. It’s what you allow to be done to you that makes you holy.9 

The celebration of Corpus Christi is calling us to experiencing Love in the Body of Christ that extends to all Creation through service to those placed in our lives.

References

1	(n.d.). Genesis, chapter 14 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/14
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 110 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/110
3	(n.d.). 1 Corinthians, chapter 11 - United States Conference of Catholic .... Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians11:2
4	(n.d.). Luke, chapter 9 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/9
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
7	(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/06/23/
8	(n.d.). Lutherans Restoring Creation. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/
9	(2019, June 23). A School of Love — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://cac.org/a-school-of-love-2019-06-23/