Ordinary 29

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14–4:2; Luke 18:1-18

A pastor serving in Montréal visited a parishioner in the hospital who was in the final stages of a terrible disease and dying. She was agitated and uncomfortable. The pastor sat beside her parishioner, held her hand, and she began to read from the Bible, “The Lord is my light….”, but before she could finish the phrase, the patient did, “…and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?” The young minister began to read other passages of Scripture to offer the woman comfort, only to have the dying parishioner take over the passage – except that the patient was not reading. The sacred scripture was a part of her very being and as she breathed the Word of God in and out with her minister, the woman began to settle down and rest in the embrace of the Lord.

11 October was the 60th anniversary of the first session of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican in 1962. One of the most important teachings of the Council was the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation / Dei Verbum [The Word of God].

Jews and Christians believe that our God is a personal God who has spoken and continues to speak to humanity through a living Word that is transmitted within a living community of faith. Through the sacred Scripture, God speaks to us as friends and thus engages us in a dialogue in which we are invited to not only listen to God’s Word but to also engage with and respond to that Word.

We need to be aware of two aspects of the sacred scripture. First, the meaning of the Scriptures though is not always immediate and easily understood. Thus the need for biblical scholarship and easily accessible commentaries for people. And second, the Bible does not provide detailed instruction for every contemporary human situation. The Bible, for example, does not directly address today’s issues of the environment, nuclear war, bio-ethical issues, women and gender.

Thus not only are we invited to dialogue with God’s Word but at times to struggle with God’s Word as Jacob wrestled through the night with the divine being. For each generation of Christians must within their lived context listen afresh to the living Word of God. And through prayer, dialogue and listening [the hallmarks of Pope Francis’ pontificate] to ascertain with the guidance of the Spirit the living tradition. Thus we are to re–appropriate and re–express what God is saying to us so as to apply the Word to addressing new problems and human issues. We see this maturing development in the Church’s understanding and teaching on war and capital punishment. We see this in the present argumentation within the Church over the issues of gender and sexual orientation, liturgy, women and authority.

In the end, which is not always clear at the time to a particular generation of Christians, there is a certain clarity that arises within the community and a surrender that is given over to the Word of God.

This is what Paul was trying to convey to the young church leader, Timothy. But what is said to Timothy is meant for all Christians since the sacred Scripture is an essential component of the Christian’s life of faith. The Word of God is the support and energy of the Church, strengthens the faith, and is food for the soul. The Council therefore equates the veneration of the presence of Christ within the sacred Scriptures with the veneration of the Lord’s Body. Christ is equally present in both Word and Sacrament.

The most important aspect of the Council’s teaching is its urging of all Christians to enter into the frequent reading of the Scriptures. Why? The Council quotes, Saint Jerome: “For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”. Thus when reading, praying with, meditating on, struggling with, or pondering the Word of God; individually or within a gathering, this sacred act should be accompanied by prayer so that we may walk together with God.

Does your prayer life include reading and meditating on passages from the Bible?

If not or if it has been a while, I would strongly encourage all of us to have a bible by our bedside or favourite chair. Begin with the Psalms, those wonderful songs that seem to address so many human emotions and give us words to speak to God, this dialogue between friends. Choose a psalm and pray it for a few days or a week before moving on to another psalm. Pray the psalm slowly. Let its words soak into you like rain into the earth. Be attentive to what feelings, images, personal and family situations it raises within you.  Let the poetry, let these words of praise, frustration and anger, hope and joy speak within you and then listen.

As with the dying woman in Montréal, may we all come to a spiritual place where the sacred scripture is a living part of our very being, “The Lord is my light….”