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Daily Scripture

+ 5th Week in Ordinary Time

It still has meaning.

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13 Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10 Mark 6:53-56

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple. There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel. [1 Kings 8:6, 8]
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In recent years there has been much discussion in liturgical circles about the proper location of the tabernacle in the worship space. The directives implementing the Constitution on the Liturgy by the Second Vatican Council prescribed that the tabernacle be located in prominent location in the church or chapel, preferably in a chapel dedicated to the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament and appropriate for veneration. In any case, it was not to be located on the altar table used for the celebration of the Eucharist. As a result in many churches renovations, the tabernacle was moved to the ‘side altar’ previously used for the veneration of the Blessed Virgin or St. Joseph and in some churches, it was placed on the old altar previously used for Mass. In situations the old altar was replaced with a permanent pedestal on which the tabernacle was placed.

In liturgical matters, nothing is simple. Those of a more conservative disposition insisted that the location of the Tabernacle on the side altar reduced the status of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist thereby diminishing its meaning in the devotional life of the faithful. Others of a more liberal persuasion opined that in fact, the location in a separate chapel within the church assigned to the sacrament greater prominence thereby increasing the devotional aspect. Moreover, in as much as an emphasis of the ‘action’ of the Mass as the repetition of the “Lord’s Supper” was promoted by the Council, it seemed to liturgists that the location of the tabernacle in the main sanctuary behind the free standing Eucharist table would compete with the ‘action’ of the Mass as a sacred meal.

The most recent prescriptions in the United States provide that the tabernacle be located in the main sanctuary on suitably ornate pedestal. It is ironic that in the major basilicas including the basilica of St. Peter in Rome, the tabernacle is located on a side altar that is not very prominent.

Whatever the location, it should not be a bone of contention worthy of a liturgical battle. The public and private devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is rooted in the long tradition of the Church and should not be disparaged. In the same way in which the tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments was symbolic of God’s presence in the temple, so too, the reservation of the Eucharist Bread has been one of the longest-standing practices of the devotional life of Catholics. It is intended to extend the meaning and the effects of the Eucharistic celebration into the life of the faithful who continue to spend time in prayerful meditation on the mysteries of the life of Jesus not the least of which is his faithfulness unto death on the cross for the salvation of the world. The two aspects of Eucharist need not be in competition. The ‘Mass’ continues to be considered a “sacrificial” meal. But we need to be clear that its connection with the passion and death of Christ even as the lamb of God is not to suggest that his death was mandated to satisfy and angry God. That in my opinion is not an appropriate application of Old Testament sacrifices. No, Jesus sacrificial death was the completion of his entire sacrificial life of unqualified and indiscriminate love in the same way as the sacrificial love of partners in marriage offer their sacrificial love to one another or in the manner that Mother Teresa offered her live in sacrificial service to victims of poverty in the streets of Calctta. It is in this sense that devotion to the Eucharist in the tabernacle takes its extended meaning.

During the celebration of the Eucharist, we become what we eat. Through our devotion to the Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle, we are reminded that the Eucharistic presence in our mind, heart and soul extends into all the good works of our lives with the hope that we too will always think and act with the same sacrificial love as did Jesus in his earthly life.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Sunday June 27, 2010

Hour of Decision

The Scriptures this weekend call us to a personal decision to ‘leave’ everything to follow Christ. However they also make the all-important link between Christian discipleship and love of neighbor. You can’t have one without the other.

When Elijah placed his cloak over Elisha as a sign of investiture and the designation of a successor, he expected a decision. Elisha’s willingness to accept the responsibility of being God’s prophet required a clean break with his past. This is illustrated by kissing his mother and father farewell. Then slaughtering his oxen, he threw a big party, left everything and followed Elijah as his servant. In essence he gave himself totally to God as a ‘son’ and servant of God’s word.

In his gospel narrative, Luke dramatizes the invitation of Jesus to his disciples to “leave everything” and follow him ‘to Jerusalem’ — unconditionally. Luke is exaggerating the mandate of Jesus to make the point that God’s dominion must enjoy a priority in the lives of his followers. In other words, don’t wait until you have fulfilled all your family obligations. Do it as you fulfill all your family obligations. They are part of your commitment to Christian discipleship.

Notice, too, that Jesus scolds his disciples for cursing the Samaritans. True disciples are not combative; they don’t throw stones at those who oppose them, and they don’t demonize them. This stuff is hard to take isn’t it?

Paul urges the Galatians to abandon worldly pursuits and take the road less traveled on which, ironically, they will find true freedom and inner peace. To live in the Spirit is to live in the freedom of the children of God. In the final analysis, there is no law higher than God’s law. You shall love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Even church law does not take precedence over God’s law!

Discipleship is about surrender. In a real sense we do indeed need to burn our bridges behind us and move forward without excess baggage.

Protestant author of Habits of the Heart, Robert Bullah, insists that worship is not only about the praise of God and personal salvation but also about our connectedness to all of humanity. If we are to take the word of God seriously, then we must become “stewards” or servants of God’s Word. If we are to become stewards of the Word, then we must obey the commission issued at the conclusion of every celebration of the Eucharist, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” and your neighbor.

The Mass is never ended. It is an invitation to go out and put into practice all that we have celebrated at these two tables—the table of God’s Word and the table of Eucharist. The call to discipleship is not a call to withdraw from the public square. This doesn’t mean we tell other people how to live or how to vote but it does mean we live our values “using words as necessary.”

We are living in times when confidence in church leadership and trust in government is at an all-time low. We need to retrieve our Catholic identity not by edict but by moving beyond private piety and triumphant medieval symbols of honor and status to the centrality of the living Word through the celebration of this Eucharist. It is at the core of who we are as the Body of Christ.

We need to become a Church without boundaries and without walls but we need to keep our tables connected, this table, your table and the table of humanity. We are bonded in Eucharist; we are bonded in Christ.

Our decision for Christ means reaching out to those who feel alienated from God and those who are estranged from the Church. As often as I have heard criticism of the Church in recent years—much of it valid—I have heard many more say they want to get back into the Church; not the Church that binds its members with rigid rules and regulations but into the Church that breaks open the bread of God’s word authentically and joyfully. A church that feeds its people with living food and frees its members—all of its members, women and men, to be all of what God has destined them to be.

Now more than ever the Church needs strong Christian women and men who know the tradition and who live it with integrity and moral rectitude; humble men and women who are not deterred by their own frailty and mortality; courageous women and men who will hold our leaders unabashedly accountable for their mission and ministry to the Church and to the world.

The language of the Mass—English, Latin, Greek or whatever—is not important as long as these ancient rites enable us to hear and understand the Word of God more clearly and give glory to God through faithful service to neighbor. It is true, we have lost a sense of appreciation for the ‘sacred’ but words about reverence for God and respect for the sacred are empty unless all of us including those in high places humbly acknowledge our frailty and mortality, submit humbly to our ‘higher’ power and acknowledge the power of the Spirit living within the assembly of the faithful.

In the words of the great Catherine of Siena, “If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire!”

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could… then took the other… I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” [Robert Frost]