Breaking the Word

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tuesday in the 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (II)
Outside/ Inside

Readings: 2 Samuel 6:12b-15, 17-19; Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10; Mark 3:31-35

Those familiar with the clubbing scene will probably know what it feels like to be outside a club late on a Saturday night. You can probably hear the sounds of music and revelry emanating from the interior of the club, just as you can feel the excitement and anticipation welling up from within yourself. You simply can’t wait to join in the fun. That is, of course, if you can first find a way to get in…

This is the image that our readings bring to mind today. Commentators point out to us, for example, the clear distinction that is drawn in the gospel between the crowd seated around Jesus inside the house, and the group that is waiting outside. Although there will be those whose minds will, at this point, immediately turn to questions surrounding the proper role of the Mother of Jesus, this doesn’t seem to be the immediate issue here. Rather, what Jesus seems to be doing is using a concrete situation – two groups of people each in a distinct location – as an opportunity to illustrate a spiritual point. And the point is clear. Just as a distinction can be drawn in the secular world between family members and strangers, so too, in the spiritual realm, a distinction can be drawn between those who are counted among Jesus’ inner circle and those who are outsiders, between those gaining entry into the revelry of God’s kingdom and those who are still outside looking in.

The key criterion for distinguishing these two groups is also clear. It is stated in the words of Jesus in the gospel: whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. And it is also illustrated in the scene presented to us in the first reading. In order to gain entry into Jesus’ inner circle, in order to become a member of the kingdom of God, one must first strive to imitate David, who brought the ark of the Lord into Jerusalem and enthroned the presence of God at the very heart of his own kingdom. And can we fail to notice the way in which David does this? Not only does David enthrone the Lord in his kingdom, but he also does so as only a besotted lover can. Clad only in a linen apron he dances with joyful abandon and performs generous animal sacrifices in the Lord’s honor.

In like manner, in order to be counted among the members of the Lord’s spiritual family, we are called to admit the presence of God into our lives, to allow God to sit upon the throne of our hearts. That’s the way to gain entry into the eternal dance-club of God’s kingdom.

Shall we go clubbing today?

1 comment:

AnonymousWed Jan 30, 08:09:00 am GMT+8
For many years, I had been mentally assigning people I meet into a virtual "Inside" and "Outside". The dreadful thing was that I did this purely on emotional grounds and very naturally and automatically! I knew that this was un-Christian, but at the same time felt powerless becos it had become so ingrained a habit in me. Until the grace of God worked its wonder ...

In math and statistics, we learn that in a finite universe, one can define the solution space as consisting of entities in three regions: 'inside', 'outside' and 'in-between'. It's the 'in-between' space that intrigued me because it embodies traits of both the 'inside' and 'outside'. And isn't that precisely where the majority of us (me included)reside? The Lord of the heavenly dance-club came to show us how easy it is to migrate to the 'inside' - in nifty dance steps, flashing lights and numbing music!

Happy clubbing, Fr Chris!
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Breaking News: Ordinary Time

Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time begins on Monday after the Sunday following 6 January and continues until Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inclusive. It begins again on Monday after Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the First Sunday of Advent. This is also the reason for the series of liturgical texts found in both the Roman Missal and The Liturgy of the Hours (Vol. III - IV), for Sundays and weekdays in this season. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 43-44

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