Weekly Catholic Bible Study

Weeks 691-700

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 693: Finding God in Silence : A Reflection on the Gospel of Luke (Luke 6 : 12-19)

 

12 In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.

13 When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: 14  Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

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17 And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon 18 came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.

 

19 Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

 

In the opening verse of today’s Gospel, St Luke says that “Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God”. That shows us that even Jesus needed time to get away for a while, to gain separation from the noise and distractions of the world. That’s good to know, because it means that those who follow Jesus will also need time away to pray to God. And not only monks.

St Basil was following Jesus’ example when he wrote: “It was to avoid the perils which everywhere abound that I withdrew into the mountains, like a bird who escaped the fowler’s net; for this reason I live in the desert, as Jesus Christ lived in it. It was there the patriarch Jacob saw the mysterious ladder, whose top reached the heavens, and on which angels appeared ascending and descending. In solitude the people of God were purified, and received the law; through the desert they were led to the possession of the promised land.
There the redeemer of the world frequently retired to pray, in order to teach us how to perform that holy exercise; there he demonstrated how much he loved solitude”.

So many of us have a fear of solitude and silence. But silence pulls us back into the real. In No Man Is an Island, Thomas Merton wrote, “It is the silence of the world that is real. Our noise, our business, our purposes, and all our fatuous statements about our purposes, our business, and our noise: these are the illusion”. Silence also puts us in touch with our dignity as God’s beloved and the freedom to rejoice in the goodness and blessedness of the created world around us. Again, in the words of Merton, “There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fount of action and joy. It rises up in the wordless gentleness and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being, welcoming tenderly, saluting me with indescribable humility. This is at once my own being, my own nature, and the gift of my Creator’s thought and art within me” (The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton).

Silence is also the space in which God reveals himself. Into this silence, he speaks his word. Immersed in silence, we listen to God with “the ears of the heart”, as St Benedict put it. That’s just what Jesus did in this morning’s Gospel: he spent time in solitude and silent prayer to listen to the promptings of the Father and the Spirit. The time that our Lord dedicated to silence and solitude nourished his intimate relationship with the Father and gave birth to his words and actions that followed.

And yet silence is so undervalued and unsought in our culture. The silence of monks is not a burden but the space in which we can know ourselves more deeply and know God better. It’s meant to free us from distractions and noise, and lead us deeper into reality and all that is true. May our silent receiving of the Lord’s Body and Blood lead us deeper into the reality which is God.

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Fr. Justin Sheehan

 

Prayer: “Jesus, teaching the value of solitude, You reserved many moments to reflect. You often departed for solitary places, Withdrawing Yourself into the wilderness, Or going up into a mountain to pray. In loneliness, You spoke to the Father! Teach me how to pray in seclusion, To perceive the Father within myself. Teach me to welcome solitary moments, To enjoy the solitude within myself, While listening to Your inspirations. In solitude, Your mysteries are uncovered!”

 

Quote from a Saint: “It is better to be alone with God. His friendship will not fail me, nor His counsel, nor His love. In His strength I will dare and dare and dare until I die.”-- St. Joan of Arc

 

Questions for reflection:

1. Does silence and solitude make you uncomfortable? If so, why might that be the case? What could be some benefits of spending time in silence?

2. Reflect on the fact that even Jesus needed time away from everyone to pray. If Jesus needed that, what does that say about your need for solitude?

3. Have you had experiences where God revealed himself in the silence?

4. How can allowing for silence let you hear the promptings of God?

5. When was the last time you intentionally spent time in silence?

6. Do you find that you need constant background noise to feel comfortable, such as having the TV or radio on all the time? Why do you think that is? In light of the example of Jesus seeking silence do you think you might need to change?

7. What does your prayer life look like? Do you feel that you spend enough time in prayer or is this something that you need to work on? Do you incorporate silent prayer into your routine?

8. Reflect on this statement: “It is the silence of the world that is real. Our noise, our business, our purposes, and all our fatuous statements about our purposes, our business, and our noise: these are the illusion.”What do you think about Merton’s statement that silence is real and the noise of the world is illusion?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 692: Docility to the Lord and His Church’s Teachings (James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

 

[James]

17 all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. 18 He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

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21 Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. 22 Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

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27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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[Mark]

1 Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles [and beds].) 5 So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”

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6 He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’ 8 You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

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14 He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

21 From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. 23 All these evils come from within and they defile.”

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On the other side of the wall behind me is what we call our Zen garden. It is enclosed by buildings. Over the years it has undergone some pretty significant transformations and upgrades under its various guardians. I’m told Br. Louis cut the roof off our backhoe at the time so it would fit through the double doors on the north side. Fr. Isaac really left his mark during his term of being in charge of it. And now Fr. John Vianney continues to make it look very beautiful and soothing. It’s sort of a fishbowl as many of our windows, like our refectory, look out on it. In the last week or two the members of our novitiate have been spending time tidying it up, pulling weeds, putting down mulch, and other maintenance-type stuff. There’s an oval area at the highest spot where we removed two spruce trees that were sick and planted a magnolia. I was assigned to work with our three guys in formation as we dug out the stump of one of the spruce trees and put the magnolia in the same spot. It was fun as we all worked so well together.

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That same oval space mainly features Periwinkle as a groundcover but it also has some other things poking through, like Hosta plants and ferns. Along with the plants that are supposed to be there are other ones that aren’t supposed to be. The squirrels have planted acorns and black walnuts. Those little seedlings might be good somewhere else, but not here. There’s plenty of dandelions and Morning Glory and lawn grass making their presence felt. The Zen garden is high maintenance and as our community has shrunk, Fr. John Vianney has had much bigger fish to fry. So, getting rid of the plants that shouldn’t be there will most likely fall to one of our new guys. In case he doesn’t have a background in gardening, he’ll probably need some instructions on which plants stay and which ones go. And those instructions are the image I would like to use to demonstrate what I think is a main point in our readings today.

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Some people gripe about all the rules in the Catholic Church. They want to be able to pick and choose. They feel all the rules inhibit their freedom and keep them from becoming mature adults. They see rules and guidelines as something negative. Similarly, monastic life has many further rules and guidelines. For someone who is a free spirit it may feel somewhat smothering, but the rules are a helpful tool for what to leave in and what to leave out.

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Let’s change the image a little bit and say that our monastery had a vegetable garden. At the beginning of the season you plant good seeds. But after some time a lot of other plants appear besides those good seeds you planted. There are the ever-present weeds that do so well in garden soil. But there might also be some volunteer plants from previous years. We can’t have a pumpkin plant growing where we’ve laid out the carrots and Swiss chard. Now, say a novice was assigned to pull weeds in our vegetable garden and he wasn’t very experienced at differentiating one plant from another. He would have to be given some instructions about what was beneficial and what wasn’t. Even some of the good plants, like the beets, would need to be thinned in order to get decent sized produce. Those instructions given to the novice don’t hamper him – they help him. They’re not arbitrary; they come from experience and wisdom gained from making mistakes.

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Sometimes the novices are assigned to assemble furniture Fr. John Vianney ordered from Amazon. The instructions for assembling are there for our benefit. Reading them can save a lot of time. Similarly, others of us are called sometimes to fix an appliance or a piece of machinery or a vehicle. It’s great to have the schematic drawings and diagrams to see how things fit together and operate. When Br. Alberic and Br. James were running the farm, they had shop manuals for all the tractors and other equipment. Those instructions for doing a specific repair are very helpful for someone who doesn’t do it every day.

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I guess you could see our lives as a garden where we cultivate and nurture the virtues and progressively weed out the vices. It’s good to know which is which because sometimes something harmful will masquerade as something helpful. Or, it might be harmless enough in itself, but not a good idea in this particular situation. The Church has many centuries of experience to draw on in advising us what to do and what not to do. We believe, too, that she is being guided by the Holy Spirit when she makes her laws and decrees.

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Our gospel reading this morning had a list of weeds to pull out: “. . . evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” Like those garden weeds, they can grow so prolifically if we don’t nip them in the bud. Left unchecked, they can crowd out the virtues we were meant to exemplify. We’re reading in our refectory a recent book on generations. Baby Boomers, in general, threw out a lot of the mores of previous generations. There was the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s. We were anti-authority. Lots of drugs and alcohol were encouraged. All these things were seen as breaking free of repressive rules and developing our freedom. But, in many cases, those very things we saw as desirable ended up enslaving us. Is a life without discipline really free? The book goes on to point out that the rate of depression and suicide among Boomers is way higher than previous generations. Could there be a connection?

 

In [the book of Deuteronomy], Moses, when giving the law to the Israelites said,

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Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live . . . . In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations.

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And in a similar vein, our [other] reading continues the theme, even using the word “planted” like the image of our vegetable garden: “He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Humbly welcome the word that was planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.” Notice how St. James writes, “HUMBLY welcome the word.” And our gospel listed arrogance as one of the things to weed out. Isn’t it arrogant to think we know more than the Church’s rules and put ourselves above her wisdom? Similarly, aren’t our monastic rules and customs there to help us find the most conducive way to grow in the spiritual life? Who am I to think I’m wiser than St. Benedict or St. Basil or St. Pachomius or St. Bernard?

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Brothers and sisters, we all need instructions and guidelines in the decisions we make every day. May the Good Lord help us not to rely only on our own resources.

 

Fr. Stephen Muller

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Prayer: “Almighty, ever-living God, you inspired the Blessed Virgin Mary, when she was carrying your son, to visit Elizabeth. Grant that, always docile to the voice of the Spirit, we may, together with Our Lady, glorify your name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen”

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Quote from a Saint: “The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility.” – St. Francis de Sales

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Questions for reflection:

1. Do you see yourself as a free spirit or someone who is comforted by having rules to guide your life and spiritual development?

2. Have you ever felt that the rules of the Church are smothering? If so, were you able to overcome that feeling?

3. Have the Church’s rules helped your spiritual garden to flourish? If so, in what ways? If not, bring this to prayer and see what the Lord has to tell you.

4. Have you found anything growing in your garden that needed to be uprooted even though it was harmless? What helped you discover what was hindering your spiritual growth?

5. What weeds have you had to pull for your virtues to grow? During your next time of prayer thank the Lord and ask Him to show you if there are anymore weeds that need your attention.

6. Have you gone through a period of throwing off of the mores (or social conventions) of the previous generation? If so, why what were the fruits? If not, what encouraged you to keep up the previous conventions?

7. Is arrogance an issue that you deal with? Have you ever tried bringing it up in confession?

8. How humble are you regarding spiritual things? Are you open to listening to things that do not tickle your ears?

9. Do you carefully discern when you hear a teaching that does not seem to align with the Church’s teaching?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 691: Our Marriage with Christ : A Reflection on Ephesians and the Gospel of John (Ephesians 5 : 21-32 & John 6 : 60-69)

 

[Ephesians 5]

21 Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.

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22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. 24 As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

 

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, 27 that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

 

28 So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.

 

31 “For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

 

32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

 

[John 6]

60 Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” 61 Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?

62 What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

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66 As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

 

“For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church”. According to St Paul – and all the Church ever since – when someone leaves his parents and joins his/ her spouse, he/she becomes another person – a collective person, a joint person, a unity with the one he/ she loves. Love binds, generates and renovates all things. And this is a great mystery, and Paul – and all the Church – applies it to Christ and the Church as well.

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    That is to say, what happens between husband and wife in their individual, private lives reflects what happens between Christ and his Church – between Christ and each one of us. Christ, too, has left his Father (who art in heaven) and his mother (the Blessed Virgin Mary) and joined each one of our lives in order to found the Church.

 

    So, without rupture, without leaving something meaningful behind, without taking a new and risky step in our lives we cannot experience the newness of life which God has meant for us. Is it easy? No. Is it straightforward? Nope. Is it painless? Absolutely not. That is why Jesus’ disciples say in today’s Gospel: “This saying is hard: who can accept it?” Jesus had just multiplied the loaves of bread (a sign of the Eucharistic alliance that he was going to seal with his blood in his Passion) and he had just explained what it all meant: Jesus said quite plainly that the meaning of the multiplication of loaves was not to provide free meals to everybody. His bread was his God’s will, and his vocation was to unite the Church – each one of us – in this new alliance, bringing each one of us inside his mystery in order to make us share his mission, his life and his glory. Jesus wants to marry us, to get united to us – and not simply to solve our physical problems.

 

    But why? If Jesus is God, he could well do that, too. Yes, he could. But salvation is not magic. Salvation is a loving process that engages our responsibility, our will and all our human capacities. Is it a blessing? Yes, it is. Is it positive? Yes, it is? Is it a source of joy in our lives? Yes, it is. But is it easy? Again, not at all. Just as a marriage is not complete and perfect right after the ending of the marriage ceremony, but needs to be incarnated, day after day, in humble and perseverant love in order to grow and bear fruit, the same happens with our salvation and with our relationship with Christ and his Church. Even if the sacraments work on us ex opera operato – that is to say, its efficacy does not depend on our human work, but solely on God’s grace – our work is essential if we want to grow more and bear more fruit. If we do not cooperate with God’s amazing grace, we will certainly lose a considerable portion of the graces that God wants to grant us. So, we must do our part if we want our marriage and our family to grow, and we must do our part if we want our relationship with Christ to grow. Is it demanding? Yes, it is. But the meaning of life, the meaning of a marriage and the meaning of our relationship with God can never be discovered without such loving perseverance, despite any challenges and sufferings it may bring upon us. We should here say as we heard in the first reading. When asked if they wanted to leave the Lord, when faced with the Lord’s demands, the people said: “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who protected us along our entire journey. Therefore, we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God”.

 

    “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother”: to be one with his God. Our human calling is to mirror Jesus’ calling. Our life should imitate his. Because our destiny is to live through him, with him and in him. May this Eucharist seal our marriage with Christ and be a sign of salvation for all our Church.

 

Fr. Gabriel Vecchi

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Prayer: “Precious Blood and Word of God, You are my eternal salvation. Lost in sin, You liberated me. You lifted me from perdition. Treasuring my feeble soul, You excused my constant frailties. Forever, I am indebted to You. Your cost can never be repaid, For You bought my freedom with Blood. I will always seek You out my Lord, You are my beloved Deliverer! You are the Lamb of God!”

 

Quote from a Saint: “We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone.” – St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

 

Questions for reflection:

1. Do you know a marry couple who has become an image of how Christ is connected to the body of the His church?

2. What are you willing to go through to experience “the newness of life that God has meant for us.”? Is something holding you back from going all in?

3. Do you agree with Christ’s disciples that what He says is a hard saying? Why or why not?

4. How does the concept that Jesus wants to marry you make you feel? Does this make you uncomfortable? If it does, bring this concept to prayer with you.

5. Was there a point in your life when you thought of salvation as being magical in how it is accomplished?

6. We are expected to play a role in our salvation? Are you willing to?

7. Are you willing to put in the effort that you need to cultivate your relationship with Christ in order to experience salvation?

8. Have you ever thought that your unwillingness to participate in your salvation could cut off some or all of the graces that God is trying to give you?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP