St. Monica Liturgical Ministry Retreat (April 18, 2015)
- 1. 1 Kings 17 The center of narrative tension on this level is the struggle between the Lord and the Canaanite fertility god Baal for the loyalties of Israel. Thus is introduced the enigmatic figure of Elijah the Tishbite. His proclamation of a drought points forward to 18:41–45 where he announces the drought’s end. ---------------- In 1958, a congenial old man was elected to the chair of Peter with the expectation that he would be a caretaker pope; someone would keep the ship steady while the cardinals identified a more dynamic, long-term leader. o That smiling old man stunned the world a few months later when he revealed his intention to convene the first ecumenical council in 400 years. o And so a few years later they came to Rome, two thousand bishops from all over the world plus an army of advisors, for four years of intense prayer and deliberation over the state of the Church in the modern World – Vatican II. At this time the Catholic Church, especially in the West was at its zenith in terms of numbers, influence and wealth. o Why did Pope John XXIII risk upsetting the apple cart? o Pope Benedict identified the reason during his pontificate but John XXIII saw it decades earlier. The world that had fallen away not just from the Catholic Church but also from Christian faith. Europe, once the centre of Christian civilization, was now a mission field. John XXIII realized that Christianity was divided and in terrible shape to offer a compelling witness to the world. o Yet he also knew that the whole world needed to hear a fresh, effective proclamation of the gospel. Thus, prompted by the Spirit, Pope John decided to convene a council to chart a course towards greater unity and more effective evangelization.
- 2. At the time, Many Evangelical Christians also assume that the Catholic Church was: o About membership in an institution and o Convincing people to buy into a religious system. o They see Christianity as about calling people to a relationship with Jesus while Catholicism is about calling people to a relationship with an institutional Church. Even today, a lot of Catholics were raised in the old days of the question and answer catechism. o Although it wasn’t the intention of the Church, somehow people got the idea from such books that Catholicism was all about a set of tenets that we were supposed to hold like a philosophy or the platform of a political party. o But Catholicism is not about ideology but about a relationship. o What the Dei Verbum makes clear is that the whole purpose of God revealing himself to us is not simply to give us information about Him but to make it possible for us get acquainted with who He really is. o Revelation’s goal is that we may not just know about him but rather intimately know Him. The opening paragraph of Dei Verbum, clearly reveals this “Hearing the Word of God with reverence and proclaiming it with Faith, the Sacred Council assents to the words of St John who says, “we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”(1 Jn:2-3)” The whole reason for the proclamation of the Word, declares Dei Verbum, is to bring people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ, with His Father and the Holy Spirit. LECTORS: You are the conduits – through which God’s grace flows to the People of God – to bring them into – and nourish them within – that living relationship with Jesus Christ. You exercise a proper, prophetic role.
- 3. Characteristics of the prophet: o Receives a divine word (vv. 2, 8), o Obeys it (v. 5), o In the obedience he is fed (v. 6b) o In spite of the obedience, the prophet experiences dry periods. (v. 7) o This “may” indicate that it is time for you to move (v. 9) o Sometimes the word that you will proclaim is seen as a threat (v. 1) o Is praised for “his” wonderful works, for example, where the widow acknowledges the divine source of the word Elijah speaks (17:24) o Speaks a word of entreaty back to God, which is miraculously efficacious in the lives of the hearer. (vv. 20, 22). AND YET ….. o He claims to “serve the Lord” (lit., to “stand before the Lord”) yet later in 19:3-10, he refuses to do so o Like Paul in Romans 7:5 – “I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate." ... OK Lectors – What do you do when you REALLY need to get to Confession, you’re tired, disappointed, angry, depressed, and you’re schedule to read at Mass. Where do you go with this stuff? ------------ And THEN is the time when, quite often, people praise you the most!
- 4. Tradition and Traditions For many Catholics, the concept of tradition brings to mind various practices and customs passed down through the ages: o The rosary, the stations of the cross, genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament. One of the big problems that many of our evangelical brothers and sisters have with the Catholic Church is that it appears to have and endless number of traditions that seem to get in the way of the simple word of God in the Scriptures. o In addition to this, Catholics uphold the Teaching authority of the Church (“Magisterium” being the Latin word for this) o This seems to compete with the authority of the Bible. o Prior Church Councils such as Trent (16th century) affirmed the importance of extra-biblical traditions and the teaching authority of the Church, o Yet no official document ever really attempted to explain the exact nature of Tradition and Magisterium and how they relate to Scripture. o The fathers of the Second Vatican Council, understanding the strategic importance of this issue, were determined to address all this in Dei Verbum, their Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. o Rather than dwelling on such individual “traditions,” the Second Vatican Council preferred to examine the larger reality of “Tradition” with a capital “T.” "Now what was handed on by the apostles includes everything which contributes to the holiness of life, and the increase in faith of the People of God; and so the Church, in her teaching, life, and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all that she believes (DV paragraph 8) Echoes the way Paul uses the word tradition in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 “Hold Fast to the traditions which we gave you whether by word of mouth or in writing.”
- 5. A reading on the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist as it was taught in the Early Churh is used in the Roman Catholic liturgy's Office of Readings on the Saturday in the Octave of Eastertide (Cat. 22 Mystagogica 4, 3-6 PG 33. 1098-1106) o Its author, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, was bishop of Jerusalem in the middle of the fourth century and one of the most important sources we have for how the early church celebrated the sacraments during this era as well as what the early Church believed about the sacraments. o In his Jerusalem Catecheses, he instructs new Christians in the days immediately before and after their initiation into the life of the Church at the Easter Vigil. For this reason, many excerpts from his Catecheses are used in the Church's liturgy from Easter to Pentecost. On the night he was betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: “Take, eat: this is my body”. He took the cup, gave thanks and said: “Take, drink: this is my blood.” (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:17) Since Christ himself has declared the bread to be his body, who can have any further doubt? Since he himself has said quite categorically, This is my blood, who would dare to question it and say that it is not his blood? (Cyril) Therefore, it is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. His body is given to us under the symbol of bread, and his blood is given to us under the symbol of wine, in order to make us by receiving them one body and blood with him. Having his body and blood in our members, we become bearers of Christ and sharers (St. Peter)
- 6. Skeptics Then and Now When Jesus spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood in John 6, the response was less than enthusiastic. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (V52). One charge the pagan Romans lodged against Christians was that of cannibalism. Not till the Middle Ages did theologians really try to explain how Christ’s body and blood became present in the Eucharist. o After a few theologians got it wrong, St. Thomas Aquinas came along and offered an explanation that became classic. o In all change that we normally observe, appearances change, but deep down, the essence of a thing stays the same. o Example: if, in a fit of mid-life crisis, I traded my mini-van for a Ferrari, abandoned my wife and kids to be a tanned beach bum, bleached and spiked my hair, buffed up at the gym, and made a trip to the plastic surgeon, I’d look a lot different. o But for all my trouble, deep down I’d still substantially be the same confused, middle-aged dude as when I started. St. Thomas said the Eucharist is the one change we encounter that is exactly the opposite. o The appearances of bread and wine stay the same, but the very essence of these realities, is totally transformed. o What starts as bread and wine becomes Christ’s body and blood. o The word coined to describe this unique change – the “transformation of the “sub-stance”, what “stands-under” the surface, came to be called “transubstantiation.”
- 7. But why did Jesus arrange for this transformation of bread and wine? Because he intended another kind of transformation. o The bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ o These are, in turn, meant to transform us. o Ever hear the phrase: “you are what you eat?” The Lord desires us to be transformed from a motley crew of imperfect individuals into the Body of Christ, come to full stature. Our evangelical brethren speak often of an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. But I ask you, how much more personal and intimate than the Eucharist can you get? We receive the Lord’s body into our physical body that we may become him whom we receive! Characteristics of the Table Servant o They call at the most inconvenient times. (v. 10) o They can be demanding (v. 11) o You can be tired, busy and have “nothing left in the tank.” (v. 12) o Assurance and support of others will be offered BUT YOU MUST SEEK IT OUT! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1 - And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two. o Being a faithful servant does NOT mean you will not have trials (vv. 17-18) o The servant is taken care of the Lord (vv. 15-16) Luke 10:7 – the laborer is worth his wage
- 8. Elijah Proclaims a Drought.* 1 Elijah the Tishbite,* a from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.” (confer Ephesians 5:22: 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 2 The word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink of the wadi, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there. 5 So he left and did as the LORD had commanded. He left and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. 6 b Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi. 7 After some time, however, the wadi ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land. 8 c So the word of the LORD came to him: 9 Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow there to feed you. 10 He arose and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” 11 She left to get it, and he called out after her, “Please bring along a crust of bread.” 12 She said, “As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a few sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Afterwards you can prepare something for yourself and your son.
- 9. 14 For the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.” 15 She left and did as Elijah had said. She had enough to eat for a long time—he and she and her household. 16 The jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD spoken through Elijah. 17 d Some time later the son of the woman, the owner of the house, fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing. 18 So she said to Elijah, “Why have you done this to me, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?” 19 Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.” 22 The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he lived. 23 Taking the child, Elijah carried him down into the house from the upper room and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See! Your son is alive.” 24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the LORD that you speak.” (“Oh you read so wonderfully!”) **************** 3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there 4 a and went a day’s journey into the wilderness, until he came to a solitary broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “Enough, LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 9 There he came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him: Why are you here, Elijah? 10 He answered: “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.”