Lectionary # 442. Scripture Reflection for 23 Saturday (Ordinary Time) Sept. 13, 2008

Scripture: 23rd Sat. Ordinary Time. I Cor. 10:14-22. Psalm 116:12-13.17-18.
Luke 6:43-49. Lectionary # 442:

Scripture keeps nourishing us with sacred words and symbols. By our
listening to,reflecting upon, and praying these words we discover they are
extremely valuable for motivating us to do the the will of God and God's
work that is entrusted to us each day. These same words were once spoken
and not written but they come down to us in a way similar to what has been
handed down to us by the prophets and evangelists. They were meant for
specific audiences but now through the gift of God's revelation they are
meant for us and for those who take the time to read or listen to them in
their written and spoken form. We like the audiences of the past come
alive through these divinely inspired words of Moses, Isaiah, and Jesus.
Today we hear from Paul, the Psalmist, and from Jesus .
St. Justin has an interesting phrase that helps us to look at what
Luke gives us in the sayings of Jesus today. Justin tells us that the
collections of sayings such as we hear were called "the memoirs of the
apostles." They probably were collections of the sayings of Jeus
circulated among the pastors and leaders of the emerging churches. With
time they became the Gospels that we now listen to in our communities and
churches.
St. Paul is undoubtedly dependent upon such memoirs when he hands on
to us in his epislte to the Corinthians some very important and early
insights in the teachings we now have for the real presence of Christ in
the Eucharist. He writes in 57 A.D. these powerful words, "Is not the cup
of blessing we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread
we break a sharing in the body of Christ?" Then he goes on to remark about
this bread and cup :"Because there is one bread, we who are many are one
body, for we all partake of the one bread." This sounds similar to the
teaching found in the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) probably
written around 95 A.D. We also see the similarity in some of our songs
that we use at Communion, for example, "One Bread, One Body." Paul is
giving us the earliest written teaching about the Eucharist but he has
already received this through the teaching of the apostles. In chapter 11
he will continue to speak about the Eucharist."Now I received from the Lord
what I also handed down to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was
betrayed took a loaf of bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it
and said,"This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is
the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes." (I Cor. 11:23-26). This
supplements what he has said about Jesus being the real paschal lamb in I
Cor. 5:6-8 offered in sacrifice. The passage is worth meditating on for it
is a Christian midrash on the Passover which now is applied to Christ: "Do
you not know that a little least leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean
out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are
unleavened. FOR OUR PASCHAL LAMB, CHRIST, HAS BEEN SACRIFICED. Therefore.
let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice
and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
The Psalm contains a verse that can be accommodated to what Paul
writes about the Eucharist: "The cup of salvation I will take up and I will
call upon the name of the Lord." This expresses a vow of gratitude and
alludes to the drink-offering which the petitioner will bring to the Temple
in recognition of God's rescuing and saving him. (Soncino, Psalms, p.386).
The passage from Luke is a series of sayings of Jesus that are
bunched together similarly to what Justin was saying about the "Memoirs of
the Apostles". Each one should be reflected upon separately and understood
in the central idea that they come from the heart of Jesus: "Out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." Divine words have great power!
(Blessed Chaminade). Amen.