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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

Much ado about nothing or, is there something to it?

Readings: Acts 19:1-8 Psalm 68:2-7 John 16:29-33

Paul traveled through the interior of the country and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” [Acts 19:1-3]

Depending on one’s sacramental theology and pastoral practice, this text has been variously interpreted. For example, those who work with the RCIA (catecheumenate) hold that the sacrament of Confirmation should be administered with Baptism as it was in the early Church. It is one of the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. The Eastern Rite of the Roman Catholic Church has retained the tradition of administering all three at Baptism. Yes, the infant receives a small piece of the Eucharist bread. And so in the Eastern Rite, there is no formal celebration of First Holy Communion at the age of reason or Confirmation by the bishop at whatever age the local diocese has determined the age of maturity appropriate for Confirmation. All three sacraments are administered shortly after birth.

Others feel that the celebration of First Communion and Confirmation at a later age ensures the participation of youngsters in parish religious education programs – at least until Confirmation. In this case, many Catholics view Confirmation as the completion of or graduation from religious studies.

In recent years I have become convinced that the RCIA folks and the Eastern Rite Catholics have it right. All three sacraments of initiation should be administered together. First Holy Communion and Confirmation have become more social than spiritual. I do not mean to suggest that there is no connection or that there should be no celebration after sacramental ceremonies but for many, the accent is on the wrong syllable.

The path from Baptism to Christian maturity is life-long and the benchmarks for progress are not easily measured by grouping children by age or grade level for a period of preparation that is largely academic.

This is not to suggest that religious education is optional. Faith development is unique to each person within the context first of family and then of parish. Religious education / formation is intended to provide insight into faith development at an age-appropriate level.

Catholicism has become ‘child-centered’ the result of which, we have an adult population whose religious and spiritual development stopped at Confirmation.

The celebration of Eucharist is the primary setting for faith formation. Religious education is a necessary component but detached from Eucharist, it remain just another subject to master.

Of course this all assumes that the parish celebration of the Eucharist is truly inclusive and meaningful rather than just an empty ritual. The parish at worship should be a rendition of a community of faith that strives to live its faith ‘in the town square’ as I mentioned in Sunday’s homily.

Notwithstanding my commitment to religious dialogue, I do believe that effective dialogue is based on the assumption that although both parties are knowledgeable about the topic. Though they may have different perspectives, they are not based on ignorance of the subject.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday July 26, 2009

There was more than enough to go around!

Have you ever been to a covered dish supper where the food ran out? There’s always more than enough to go around and still more food a doggie bag or two.

To help us to understand and to appreciate the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Church liturgists wisely placed the story of the miraculous feeding by Elisha as the introductory reading.

There is a pattern to the story of Elisha’s miracle:

1.The food is brought to the “man of God;”
2.The amount of the food is specific;
3.The quantity is inadequate;
4.The “man of God” ignores the objection of his assistant or servant;
5.Despite the deficiency, there is abundance and food left over.

This story is a ‘literary prototype’ of the gospel story of the multiplication of loaves that is more about meaning than magic. Through a wide use of metaphor and allegory, John seems to be making a clear connection between his description of the miraculous feed and the Eucharist. John’s Gospel contains no description of the Last Supper, as do the other gospel narratives. By the time he wrote his Gospel, the Sunday celebration of the ‘Lord’s Supper’ had become a common practice. John had no need to elaborate on the details.

Instead, John “theologized” on the meaning of the ritual celebration of the Eucharist presenting Jesus as “the Bread of Life.” The implication is that Jesus himself was and remains for all time the bread “blessed and broken” for the salvation of the world.

The pattern in John’s gospel expands on the pattern developed in the Elisha story. Very early in his gospel, John mentions the “signs” that Jesus was working—signs that drew large crowds. John’s gospel is referred to as the “Book of Signs,” signs meaning miracles but not magic. Jesus wasn’t a magician.

The first of these “signs” in John’s gospel was the dramatic story of the changing of water into wine during the wedding at Cana. Jesus is the water that becomes the new wine of which is placed not into old wine skins that burst but into new wineskins. In other words, it’s time to drop the old way of doing things. A new era has begun in Jesus.

As I mentioned earlier, the stories are highly dramatized with a wide use of metaphor and allegory. The miraculous multiplication of loaves, takes place on a mountain — not the mountain on which Moses received the law of God but the place where Jesus becomes the new Law, the living Law, the Word of God and the bread of life. “Not on bread alone do we live but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

John also states that Jesus multiplied the loaves near the feast of Passover, the feast on which the Jews were set free from the tyranny of Pharaoh. Jesus is the new Passover who frees us from the tyranny of sin. The food provided by the young boy is the food of the poor — barley bread and dried fish. Barley grain was used to make bread for the poor because it was cheap. Fish was symbolic of the end times. Jesus himself becomes bread for the poor, i.e., for the “poor in spirit” and for all who acknowledge their hunger before the Lord. He is also the sign that the time for the coming of the Messiah was fulfilled.

The grass is the pasture on which Jesus the “good shepherd” feeds his flock.

We continue to gather for the “breaking of the bread” every Sunday and many of us, every day at this our family table so that we may become bread blessed and broken for others. Thus the bread of Jesus life continues to multiply through the substance of our lives so that the hungers of humanity may be satisfied through the faith and good works of believers such as you and me. And everyone is welcome – saint and sinner. No exclusions. Sometimes it’s difficult if not impossible to distinguish between saints and sinners probably because there is a saint and sinner in every one of us.

Now more than ever we need to join hands around the Eucharist table. There will always be enough to go around and there are no exclusions.

This Eucharistic theology has several implications for liturgists and pastors. In recent years, the liturgy has been laden with precepts and prescriptions (rubrics) that have tended to lock out the deeper meaning of the mysteries we celebration turning it into a an act of worship detached from human experience.

Jesus continues to be the living word of God and the bread of life. There are many lessons to be learned at the table of God’s Word and this food has an everlasting quality whereby we become what we eat—the living Body of Christ given for humanity.

No reservations necessary. Come as you are!