Breaking the Word

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tuesday in the 5th Week of Easter
Bu Dao Weng

Readings: Acts 14:19-28; Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 21; John 14:27-31a
Pictures: CC *betenoir*

The readings and prayers converge today to bring to mind yet another image from childhood. It’s that type of self-righting toy called bu dao weng in Mandarin. It’s quite an amazing thing, because whatever you do to try to make it topple over, the toy somehow always manages to right itself. A perhaps similar amazement and awe-inspiring feeling is evoked as we listen, in today’s first reading, to the continuing saga of the missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas.

Whereas, in earlier days, vain attempts were made to do them harm, today the attempts meet with considerable success. Paul is stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead. But what is even more incredible than the cruel violence inflicted on him is Paul’s response to it. A lesser person would have simply moved on to another city. Instead, Paul dusts himself off and actually reenters Lystra. The lions have just chewed him up and spat him out, and yet back into the den he goes. Not only that, together with Barnabas, he also makes a return-tour of the places visited earlier, including Iconium, where they had almost been stoned. Their aim is not to taunt their persecutors but to continue encouraging their brethren to persevere in the faith. Knocked down more than once, even to the point of almost toppling over, these early missionaries simply refuse to stay down. What could be more incredible? What, we may wonder, is the secret behind their strength?

In the case of the bu dao weng, the secret lies in its center of gravity. Most of its weight is centered at its base. The rest of it weighs next to nothing. Can we not surmise that something similar is happening in Paul and Barnabas as well? How do they continue to persevere in the face of persecution if not for the fact that the whole weight of their hope, their faith, their love, is centered on the One who, in the gospel today, tells us: do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid… I am going away and I will come back to you…

And isn’t it also striking how this grace to remain centered on Christ, even in the face of trial, is nourished in community? As we noted above, encouragement is the precious gift offered by Paul and Barnabas to the communities they revisit. And Paul himself benefits from the ministry of others. We’re told that, after Paul was left for dead outside Lystra, the disciples gathered around him, (and) he got up and entered the city...

We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). These are the words that come to mind as we listen to the edifying witness of Paul and Barnabas. They inspire us to continue seeking, for ourselves and our community, the grace that they received and lived, the same grace for which we asked in our opening prayer: Father… make our faith strong and our hope sure. May we never doubt that you will fulfill the promises you have made…

In what or whom is our center of gravity located?

How is God answering our prayer today?

2 comments:

AnonymousThu Apr 24, 08:19:00 am GMT+8
Just three words that stood out for me in Fr Chris' reflection today: nourished in community . It's palpable, the action and influence of the Holy Spirit in a community in prayer together, whether this is by the bedside of a sick loved one, beside someone in need or in trouble or just confused.

I dun receive as much as I should from my sisters and brothers in the Faith; to be honest, neither have I given as much, but by God's grace He's opened my eyes (and heart) to do this more often.

I too haven't seen a Bu Dao Ooong since when I was a child a l-o-n-g time ago. Has it been consigned to the mists of history? Are there latter day Bu Dao Oongs in our faith community here and now?
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AnonymousThu Apr 24, 09:32:00 am GMT+8
I've seen life-sized 不倒翁 in Toys R'Us. They are like beach balls with a heavy bottom and a light body & head.

I have a question related to nourished in community. While community support is important, if members depend too much on community support, could this imply that the center of gravity is in the community and not so much in Christ?" When a community gets scattered as a result of persecutions, which happened quite frequently in the first few centuries among early Christians, would the members then start toppling?
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Breaking News: Easter

The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one "great Sunday." These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia. The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of the Easter season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holyday of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter (see no. 7).[R4] The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 22-26

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19