St. Dominic s, February 2016

Transcription

1 Intentional Preachers Live Eucharist St. Dominic s, February 2016 Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me. Galatians 2:20

2 Intentional Preachers Overview What do you mean by Intentional Preachers? In 2013 we began by focusing on Intentional Disciples. It was an opportunity to explore what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and to become more intentional about discipleship. Last year we focused on Intentional Seekers. In that series we looked at the doubts and barriers that frequently keep us from getting to discipleship. Now, on the eve of the celebration of 800 years since the founding of the Dominican order (A.K.A., the Order of Preachers), we plan to explore Dominican Spirituality. Many of us find ourselves drawn to this Dominican parish, but we can t really tell you why. Other orders seem to have a very clear spirituality (e.g., the Jesuits or Benedictines). For this year we ll discover and explore what it means to be part of the Dominican family. What unique gifts and insights have kept fervor of St. Dominic alive for 800 years. How can those gifts and insights speak today in San Francisco. Our goal is to: Radiate the Joy of the Gospel from the Heart of the City What is asked of me? First, pick up a booklet at St. Dominic s each month and follow along. If you can, attend one of the Explore sessions (everyone is welcome) offered each month. If you want to go deeper, sign up for a Small Christian Community. Small communities will meet twice a month to discuss. We hope to be able to offer committed small communities and drop in small communities as we get a better understanding of people s interested. Please see the back cover for specific dates. When did the Intentional Preacher initiative start? September 2015 was our first month. We will gradually roll it out to the whole parish. We hope to be able to connect people whenever they learn about the initiative or are ready to get involved. What if I m not sure how much of this I m ready to do? Pick up a booklet, and try it out. Pray about it. I m interested, but I just don t have the time. We understand that this will not fit everyone s interest or schedule. We would like to ask you to pray for this initiative in the parish. 2

3 Format Each month we ll have a theme based around some aspect of Dominican Spirituality. We ll pick scripture passages and other writings that will help us explore this theme. We ll spend the month going deeper and challenging ourselves. In September and October, we will roll this out to the parish. We will form several small communities. It is not too late to join one if you are interested (see the back cover). We plan to make this a yearlong initiative. Here s the planned format for each month: Week 1 - Explore In the Explore session we break open the texts and learn about the theme. This week is led by a presenter who has prepared to take you deeper into the topic of the month. We generally take time to discuss the central readings of the month in small groups and to share the group s insights with everyone at the session. By the end of the Explore session you should be ready to connect the theme with your life as the month unfolds. You can explore the theme on your own through this book, or you can attend a presentation (see the upcoming schedule on the back cover). Week 2 - Share Consider joining a small community to discuss the themes in our lives. There is something powerful about gathering with others to explore and respond to spiritual practices. If you can t join a small community, you can take time each day to pray the texts and reflect on your own journey. Week 3 - Act This week we ll challenged ourselves to take some practical step in our daily lives. We ll do this on our own, so if you re part of a small community, there will not be a meeting this week. Week 4 - Share Gather again in your small community or reflect on your own. Bernardus valles, montes Benedictus amabat, Oppida Franciscus, celebres Dominicus urbes. (Bernard loved the valleys, Benedict the mountains, Francis the towns, Dominic the populous cities) 3

4 Intentional Preachers Live Eucharist Starter Questions What is the Eucharist (A.K.A., The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass)? How is the rhythm of the Eucharist connected to our life? How can we bring our lives to the Eucharist? How can the Eucharist transform our lives? 4

5 Week 1 - Explore Our transformation by God s grace is a slow business. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP Last month the Young Adults Group did a series on the Eucharist, and the RCIA class cover the Eucharist at the same time. One challenge to learning about the Eucharist is that we can easily turn it into an intellectual pursuit. History and meaning are important, but how does the Eucharist change us? How do we live as a Eucharistic people? This is the subject of this month's Intentional Preachers. To explore Eucharistic spirituality from a Dominican perspective, we ll use the modern writings of a well known Dominican, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP. Fr. Timothy was that Master General of the Dominican Order from 1992 to He is the author of seven books, and has spoken around the world (including here at St. Dominic s). He was recently named by Pope Francis as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. In 2008 Fr. Timothy released his book: Why Go to Church?: The Drama of the Eucharist. In that book he chose to explore the Eucharist through the virtues of faith, hope, and love: For Thomas Aquinas, faith shows us the goal of human life, happiness with God; hope reaches out towards it, and love unites us to it. This is the dynamic structure of the Eucharist. In the first act, from our confession of our sins to the prayers of intercession, we are attuned to our final destiny, the happiness of heaven. We listen to the scriptures and are reminded of the story of God s friendship with humanity; we begin to glimpse who we are and where we are headed. In the second act, from the preparation of the gifts until the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, we reach out in hope for that goal. We remember the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples on the night before he died, and the hope that he shared with them then, and grow in hope for ourselves and all of humanity. The final act of the Eucharist, from the Our Father until we are sent on our way, is the re enactment of our encounter with the risen Christ, the triumph of love over hatred and death, the first taste of communion with each other in God. Join us this month as we embrace life as a Eucharistic people. 5

6 Exercises What parts of our Eucharistic celebration do you find the most compelling? Challenging? Compelling Challenging Introductory Rites Opening Prayer Penitential Rite Gloria Collect Prayer Liturgy of the Word Old Testament Reading Responsorial Psalm New Testament Reading Gospel Homily Creed Prayers of the Faithful Liturgy of the Eucharist Presentation of the Gifts Collection Eucharistic Prayer Our Father Kiss of Peace Communion Concluding Rites Blessing Sending How has this changed in your life? 6

7 Main Texts Faith We may come to church wrapped up in the preoccupations of our personal dramas, worrying about our jobs or about what we shall have for lunch and whether the people whom we love still love us. We are caught up in small dramas in which we play the central role... The drama of grace, becoming people who believe, hope and love, involves the destruction of false images not only of ourselves but also of God. St Thomas Aquinas says that in this world we cannot know God as God is, only as God is not. We have to be liberated from the false ideas of God as the Great Head Teacher in the Sky, the invisible President of the Universe, the Ultimate Insurance Policy or whatever. Faith is a journey into the dark, destroying false idols. In drawing near to the mystery of God I also glimpse the mystery of who I am too. God calls me by my name and it is with him that I shall discover my own identity. John writes: it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3.2). My faith is that I am someone whom God calls by name. Read prayerfully: How does this passage speak to you? What is easy or hard about faith? What difference does faith make? 7

8 Hope The Creed affirms the story of our lives, stretching from God s creation of heaven and earth until life everlasting. Now we must, as it were, climb inside that story, and make it our own, even when we do not know what awaits us. That is hope... We place on the altar all of humanity, its joy and suffering, in the hope that God s grace will make something of it...above all, we place our own lives there, our anxieties and fears and failures, hoping that somehow God will accept all that we are, bless us and make us holy. We are preparing for the sacrifice of the Mass, the sacrificium, literally the making holy. We will remember the death of Christ on that most unholy place, Golgotha. For Judaism, nothing was further from God than a corpse. But God has made this polluted and hideous death holy, and so we can place absolutely everything that we are and have done on the altar, confident that the infinite creativity of grace can bless it all. Our lives with their dead ends and botched attempts to love are placed on that altar, part of a story in which everything comes from God and goes to God. Nothing is excluded, because nothing can be as hideous and impure as Good Friday, and that was the turning point in the narrative, the beginning of homecoming, when Jesus was lifted up. Pierre Claverie OP said that we must place on the altar our resentment, our anger, our bitterness for God s healing. Read prayerfully: How does this passage speak to you? What is easy or hard about hope? What difference does hope make? 8

9 Love Note: In the Love section Fr. Timothy uses stories from John s Gospel to reflect on Love and Eucharist. Here he is referring to John 21 (meeting the disciples at the Sea of Galilee and the threefold conversation with Peter about love.). Jesus opens a way for Peter beyond his threefold denial at the earlier charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest. Until this moment, no allusion has been made to this failure. With infinite delicacy, Jesus creates the space for Peter to unsay his shameful words: Are you not one of his disciples? I am not. Throughout John s Gospel, Jesus has said, I am ( Ego eimi ), a reference to the name of God, disclosed to Moses in the wilderness, I am who am. Peter s reply, I am not ( Ouk eimi ) is more than a denial that he knows Jesus. It is the very contrary of the divine name, pure negativity, anti matter. Jesus forgiveness is not just putting aside those words, as if they had never happened. Since those words in the courtyard, Peter has said nothing. He has been dumb. Now Jesus forgiveness heals his silence so that he can speak words of love, words that are only possible because the resurrection is the triumph of love over hatred and of the Word of God over the silence of the tomb. Read prayerfully: How does this passage speak to you? What is easy or hard about love? What difference does love make? 9

10 Memory We do not go the Eucharist to remember an event that is simply past. We are touched by its present happening in our lives. Thomas Aquinas says that we encounter Christ not so much as risen but as rising ( homo resurgens ). We are contemporary with the drama, rather like the Jews remembering the crossing of the Red Sea as an event that they share in even now, every time they celebrate the Passover. Now we are touched by the inexhaustible novelty of Christ... Christian identity is defined by a twofold memory. In every Eucharist, we remember and re enact what Jesus did on the night before he died: Do this in memory of me. This memory gathers us into community and shows us who we are. We remember the saints who have gone before us, the teaching of our churches; we remember each other. But we are also impelled outwards, trying to catch up with God s capacious memory, which forgets no one, otherwise they would cease to exist. Perhaps this twofold memory is symbolized by our recollection of people whose names we do not know, just as there is a monument to the Unknown Soldier. There is the anonymous woman who poured pure nard over Jesus head in the house of Simon the leper, two days before his last Passover: Truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her (Mark 14.9). Or there is the Good Thief, crucified beside Jesus, who asks only to be remembered: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23.43). We remember them even though we do not know their names. So Christian identity is always both given and to be discovered. Read prayerfully: How does this passage speak to you? What is easy or hard about memory? What difference does memory make? 10

11 Key Insights General Faith Hope Love We must meditate on what is happening in the Eucharist We connect the drama of the Eucharist with the drama of our lives Take every small part of the Eucharist and attempt to enter into it more fully through faith, hope, and love We all come with flawed images of ourselves We all come with flawed images of God How is faith a journey? How is faith entered into through the Eucharist? Hope involves the belief that God is there in the messiness of our lives knows us and loves us despite the messiness of our lives can make something out of the messiness of our lives Easter Sunday is why we call Good Friday Good God loves us before we are capable of loving God God creates a space for our expression of love Our expression of love is imperfect Our expression of love often comes after we ve tried everything else Memory How does remembering the events of Salvation history make us present to them? How does remembering re member us? How is Christ always novel? Christian identity is always both given and to be discovered. 11

12 Extra Quotes One might feel obliged to go to church because that is simply part of one s Christian identity. As a member of a family, one is obliged to attend family events, from birthday parties to funerals, however tedious. Everyone would recognize the obligation to celebrate their mother s birthday. As a member of Christ s family, one of his brothers and sisters, then of course one would be expected to take part in Christian gatherings. This is surely right. Christ called his disciples to sit and eat with him. They were his friends. It would make no sense to practise a Christian spirituality and have nothing to do with other Christians. It would be like trying to play football alone. In the words of the old Latin saying, Unus christianus, nullus christianus, The single Christian is no Christian. But what community? Why should I drag myself out of bed to go to a parish church with a congregation of people whom I do not know, and to whom I feel no attachment? In our society, one chooses those to whom one belongs. Our ancestors were born into given communities. They lived and died surrounded by people whom they had not chosen but who were their neighbours. These were the people whom they had to learn to live with and love, their neighbourhood. The local church was the gathering of one s natural community. But today our neighbourhoods have nothing to do with geography. We may feel loyalty to fellow bird spotters or lawyers or jazz fans, but this may not mean meeting each other. The Internet hosts millions of communities, blogs and websites, YouTube and Facebook, through which people are linked with others without ever sharing the same physical space or ever seeing their faces. Why cannot I belong to a virtual Christian community too? Why go to church? We go to church to receive the gift of fine, but they can no more substitute for our bodily gathering together than can s and phone calls be the basis of a marriage. ~~~ The thesis of this book is that the Eucharist is indeed a drama; it enacts the fundamental drama of all human existence. It forms us as people who believe, hope and have charity. These are usually called the theological virtues. They are theological because they are a sharing in God s life. Faith, hope and charity are ways in which God makes his home in us, and we are at home in God. They are virtues because they touch us with God s virtus, God s dynamic grace, making us strong for our journey to happiness in God. When Jane Elizabeth Stanford visited the chapel of the university in 12

13 California which she and her husband had founded, she was shown the statues representing these three virtues: faith, hope and charity. She asked, But what about love? No one dared point out that charity, in this context, means love. Never disagree with a benefactor! And so Stanford University is, as far as I know, the only place in the world which has representations of four theological virtues. ~~~ This is my body, given for you. Because it is a gift, the liturgy cannot, of its very nature, be something that we just make up week by week. If we think of it as an entertainment, competing with TV and football for an audience, then of course we must put on a good show if there are to be bums on the seats. But then there is the danger of the liturgy becoming the priest s show. The priest must put on his or her weekly performance, get the audience rolling in the aisles, not to mention putting money in the collection. This imposes a vast strain on the clergy Will I pull it off this week? and also misses the point. It gives ownership of the liturgy to the clergy rather than to the whole people. Good liturgy does require a vast amount of work planning the music and rehearsing it, welcoming people, training altar servers, preparing the homily (I hope), cleaning the church and so on. But all the labour of preparation is so that we may receive an utterly gratuitous gift. ~~~ This is often the pattern of our marriages, or when we enter a religious order or are ordained. We seem to have arrived, to have come home, and then the hard times begin: preparation, commitment, and then crisis. This is the pattern of the Eucharist too. We have taken time to listen to the word of God, to grow in God s friendship, and to see the world with gratitude. Like Peter we have proclaimed our faith and prayed for our hearts desires. But for us too, the time in Galilee now ends. Like him we must now enter the next stage in the drama of grace. We listen to the Eucharistic Prayer recalling the crisis of Jesus last days, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Our faith too must become the foundation of a new virtue, that of hope. 13

14 Recap & Prepare for Week 2 Reread the text for this week. Underline ideas or phrases that help you to focus on the drama of the Eucharist Pick one each morning, and write it on a slip of paper Hold that theme in your heart throughout the day Try to develop a habit that leads you to the Eucharist At the end of the day, pray an Examen (below) Reflection questions: How is the Eucharist connected to my daily life? What does it mean to be a person of the Eucharist? A Daily Prayer The Examen The Examen is an extremely fruitful daily prayer (set aside 5 15 minutes): 1. Take a moment to recognize that you re in the presence of God 2. Thank God for the many gifts in your life 3. Invite the Spirit to walk back with you through your day, focusing on the specific theme of the day. Take the time to stop and really see that moment with new perspective. 4. Pray for God s guidance for tomorrow. 14

15 Week 2 - Share Individual Option Find minutes where you won t be interrupted. (10 15 minutes) Follow the prayer format ( Lectio Divina ) in the group exercise below. (10 20 minutes) Spend time reflecting on the questions outlined above. Advice For Participating In Small Christian Communities The facilitator s role is to guide the flow of the meeting. They are not in the group to be experts. Help the facilitators by following their lead. During the discussion period, there will be multiple questions or topic for conversation. It is best to take them one at a time (i.e., let everyone share about one before moving to the next). Don t attempt to give the right answer. Just share your experience, insights, and perspective. Please stay on topic (the questions asked). Pay attention to time. Keep your answers on the shorter side. You can always add more later. Make sure everyone gets a chance to speak (i.e., give others a chance to speak before sharing a second time). It s ok to not share if you don t feel comfortable, but challenge yourself to share occasionally. Give your attention to the person speaking. Please don t start side conversations. Avoid asking follow up questions. Let people share what they want to share. It is always good to affirm others. Avoid answering other people s questions (i.e., taking on the role of expert). 15

16 How To Pray Using Lectio Divina Goal: Engage one of the focus texts at a deeper level Allow the Spirit to teach our hearts Provide fruit to lead into the discussion and sharing Steps (Should take minutes): Lectio (Reading, 2 5 minutes) A participant reads the passage seconds of silence A participant reads the passage As the passage is being read, the participants are invited to find a word, phrase, image, or idea that resonates with them. We ll call this the focus. Example: Imagine reading the Our Father text from Matthew 6. People might focus on: "Thy Kingdom Come," "Lead Us," "Our," the idea of fatherhood, an image of God's Kingdom, Do I forgive others? Etc. Meditatio (Meditate, 5 10 minutes) Stay with the focus from above. There are different ways to do this: Why does it resonate? What does it mean in my life today? Repeat it as a mantra. Imagine it. How is this connected to seeking God? Oratio (Pray, 1 2 minutes) Whatever comes up in meditation, form into a silent prayer offered to God. Contemplatio (Contemplate, 1 2 minutes) After speaking a prayer to God, sit and listen or rest in God's love. This leads into discussion and sharing. Start with insights from the prayer. Transition to sharing about seeking God. Tips There is no right way, do what works for you Embrace the silence Let God find you 16

17 Small Christian Community Process First Meeting (Suggested timing based on a 60/90 minute meeting) Welcome & Check In (5/10 minutes) Review Format (5/5 minutes) Review the participant s advice (page 15) Prayer (15 minutes), review format : Lectio Divina (p. 16) Discussion based on the prayer and the questions (p. 14). Prayer (10/15 minutes) Transition Passage: My faith is that I am someone whom God calls by name. (p. 7) Lectio Divina : Fr. Timothy on Hope (p. 8). Discussion (30/45 minutes) Begin with insights from the prayer experience Discussing the reflection questions (page 14) Action/Request (5/10 minutes) The practical exercise is listed on the next page Participants can share thoughts and plans Review date of the next group session Participants can request prayers from the group 17

18 Week 3 - Act Revisit the exercise on page 6 Actions: Pray the Eucharist each time you attend. Arrive early. Bring your life. Let the Eucharist speak to your life. Enter into the Eucharist with faith, hope, and love. 18

19 Week 4 - Share Preparing Continue to use the phrases you highlighted when you prepared for Week 2: Pick a phrase each morning, and write it on a slip of paper Hold that theme in your heart throughout the day At the end of the day, pray an Examen (page 14) Week 3 exercise: Plan to share something about your Week 3 exercise If you were not able to do it, plan to share your barriers. Individual Option (10 15 minutes) Journal about the experience of the exercise from Week 3. Small Christian Community Process Second Meeting (Suggested timing based on a 60/90 minute meeting) Welcome & Check In (5/10 minutes) Review Format (5/5 minutes) Review the participant s advice (page 15) Prayer will be about 15 minutes Review the prayer format : Lectio Divina (page 16) Discussion will follow based on the prayer the Act exercise (page 18) Prayer (10/15 minutes) Transition Passage: The resurrection is the triumph of love over hatred. (p. 9). Lectio Divina : Fr. Timothy on Memory (p. 10). Discussion (30/45 minutes) Begin with insights from the prayer experience Discussing insights from the Act exercise Action/Request (5/10 minutes) Review date of the next Explore session Participants can request prayers from the group 19

20 Three Ways To Get Involved With Intentional Preachers 1. Pick up a booklet, and explore on your own. or 2. Attend an Explore session to learn about this month s scripture. Everyone is welcome. or 3. Check out a Small Christian Community to join with others to go deeper. ~~~ Upcoming Explore Sessions Monday, February 1, 7:30 9 PM, Aquinas Room Young Adults Session*, Wed., Feb. 3, 7:30 9 PM, Parish Hall Sunday, February 7, 10:30 11:30 AM, School Basement * The Young Adults group is a community of single and married Catholic adults in our 20s and 30s; to find out more, visit: ~~~ Connect With a Small Christian Community Contact Scott Moyer at scott@stdominics.org or come to an Explore session to get connected 20