Jonah – the Basil Fawlty of Prophets
Does lectio divina always have to be next Sunday’s Gospel?
Some times recently I have attended three meetings in one week where we have started each with a lectio divina on the same forthcoming Sunday Gospel. It seems to be fashionable at the moment to limit lectio divina in this way but’ in fact, lectio can be based on any part of Scripture – indeed on any suitable passage of spiritual writing. This is perhaps partly because many catholics are not very familiar with other parts of Scripture – despite the fact that the first reading in the Mass explores many parts of the Bible. An RCIA programme needs to equip prospective catholic Christians to begin to find their way about the whole Bible and to recognise it all as an expression the Word of God. This is an important strand in their spiritual growth, and an essential guide to their Journey in Faith.
Nowadays we are called to be a prophet
At first sight the Old Testament Prophets might look a tough place to start getting more at home with Scripture – but this is not so. Each prophet was on a personal journey in faith and his personal relationship with God was very much along RCIA lines. In the Old Testament this kind of personal relationship seemed to be the preserve of a limited number of holy men and women but the prophet Joel (Joel 3: 1 to 2) tells us that ‘In the last days – the Lord declares - I shall pour out my spirit on all humanity. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions’. In the New Testament St Peter quotes this very passage (Acts 2: 17-21) to explain what was happening in Jerusalem in the first Pentecost after the Resurrection of Jesus. This is not an obscure bit of the catechism – this is one of the most precious, important and wonderful messages of RCIA – you too have the Spirit – open yourself to his potential and let him flow through you and lead you into all truth.
Isaiah – well now, there’s a real prophet
When Jesus, fresh from 30 days in the Wilderness, chose a passage of Scripture to read when he went back to his home synagogue (Luke 4:16-30) he chose Isaiah 61:1-2. At the end of the reading and in a silence where you could hear a pin drop, he declared ‘this text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening’. In other words ‘this is about me’.
And Isaiah, who lived over 600 years before the birth of Jesus, also describes a ‘servant’ who offered his back to those who struck him (Isaiah 50:6), ‘a man of sorrows acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3), someone whose sufferings and sorrows were ours and who was crushed because of our guilt (Isaiah 53:4-5), and who was given a tomb with the rich (Isaiah 53:9). A prophet was – and is – someone who understands something of the mind of God and who is on a mission to declare God’s message, even if it costs him his life.
We too are called to share in this work. Serious stuff.
If you were to do an RCIA session on Isaiah, a good passage to read would be chapter 6. You might read it in full and spend a couple minutes in silence before reading it again. Whether you proceed to a lectio divina or you decide to move directly to a more directed bible study will depend on what you discern is best for your group. Some points which may arise from the discussion include:
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Isaiah heard the voice of God after he had put himself in a Holy Place – in this case the Temple. Church is an obvious Holy Place where we can go to listen to God but can we create a Holy Place in our own homes, or, in a more abstract sense, within our lives?
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Isaiah’s first-hand experience of God was, to say the least, awesome, and it made him feel very sinful, very humble and very small.
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His humility and the honest acceptance of his inadequacy led to his lips being purified – of being made ready for what God was about to ask him to do
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Then God says ‘Whom shall I send?’
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And a trembling Isaiah responds ‘Here am I, send me.
What does it mean to our enquirers, candidates and catechumens to be called to be prophets?
Jonah – the Basil Fawlty of prophets
The book of Isaiah runs to 66 chapters and can be a bit much for many neophytes (beyond selected bite-sized chunks as above). But Jonah is only a modest four short readable chapters long and so it’s a good place to start studying a complete book of the Old Testament. You might get your group to read the whole book before the RCIA session, and then ask them to read part of the book aloud before leading a discussion.
The book was written in the 8th Century BC. Whether it describes actual events or is a work of fiction isn’t that important. Neither is it all that important whether it features a whale (not normally found in the Mediterranean) or a Great White Shark or a fictional zoological creation. At one level it’s quite amusing, over the top to make a good story. Jonah is a prophet like Isaiah – but not a very good one. It’s easier to identify with Jonah than with Isaiah – he tends to learn the hard way. Despite the humour in the book, the deeper layers beneath the surface become increasingly profound. Because it deals with God’s forgiveness of those who repent, it is read by Jews on the day of Yom Kippur. This message of repentance and forgiveness is a very profound one which is part of the core of the Gospel message. In the New Testament Jesus likens the three days in the belly of the whale (or big fish) to the three he would spend in the tomb (Matthew 12:40). He also suggests that even the notorious men of Nineveh will sit in judgement on the generation of the religious establishment which rejected him (Matthew 12:41).
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Like Isaiah Jonah gets a mission from God – to go to the city of Nineveh (near the modern city of Mosul in present day Iraq) and tell the people that if they do not repent they will be destroyed. The Ninevites were not Israelites. In fact, to the Israelites, they were the enemy and regarded as evil. What is God asking us to do right now?
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Jonah responds by running away as far as possible in the opposite direction. Tarshish might have been in Spain - on the edge of the known world – but, if not, it was certainly a long way from Nineveh. When people run away from God they not only make life hard for themselves but for others too. The storm threatens the lives of all the crew. The person running away may also not realise that all the trouble is their fault. In amongst all the mayhem Jonah is asleep. Have you ever run away from God and how did God bring you back?
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Jonah admits it is his fault and suggests that they throw him over the side. Looks like King Hezekiah had such a moment (Isaiah 38: 10-15). Have you ever felt that it would be better to be thrown over the side?
The large fish was provided by God to be on hand to rescue Jonah when he finally got to the end of himself. God did not abandon the disobedient Jonah – although the rather uncomfortable way this happened was because Jonah had to discover how to follow the will of God the hard way. Plenty of scope to discuss how this can apply to our lives.
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God now repeats the challenge for Jonah to go to the Ninevites and this time Jonah agrees. He preaches to the people of the evil city and they all repent and are saved. You might expect Jonah to be amazed at what God has done through him – but no. Jonah actually disapproves of the fact that God loves the Ninevites as much as he loves everyone. Jonah hates them and was looking forward to them getting destroyed. A key aspect of being a good prophet is to discern the mind of God and to work with him. In Isaiah 55:8 God observes that ‘for your thoughts are not my thoughts’. Which of the teachings of the Gospel do find most difficult to come to terms with?
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In the remaining part of the chapters 3 and 4 Jonah’s relationship with God continues to be a difficult one – because he is so stubborn and ill-tempered. He has a lot of difficulty seeing things the way God sees them, yet God never gives up on him and never stops loving him. Of course if Jonah could just fall in line with the sovereign will of God and learn to appreciate God’s wisdom – indeed rejoice in it – it would be so much easier. At the end of the book Jonah still hasn't quite got it Are you learning to see the world through God’s eyes?
Getting into the Scriptures
Getting in to Scripture
I developed my love of the scriptures long before I became a Catholic in the seventies. Indeed my familiarity with Scripture helped me to make the transition. I noticed that the Mass, the Catechism and the Office were full of scripture. I encountered some Catholics who knew the scriptures much better than I did, and many more who did not, but who were keen to know more.
Some RCIA enquirers may come from another Christian tradition and already know their way around the Good Book. The majority, however, will simply not know where to start, and introducing them to it needs to be an important part of the RCIA programme.
A Bible study is led by someone who knows something about it, has prepared it in advance and can provide input before facilitating the very thoughtful session of sharing and discussion which usually ensues.
Many people think that the Old Testament is boring and irrelevant to the Christian faith. In the following example I seek to convince enquirers that this is not so.
The story of David and Bathsheba is a tale of sin and repentance. It also can offer an introduction to the scriptures. In the New Testament David is described as a man after God’s own heart’ (Acts 13:22) by St Paul in a sermon to Jews in Antioch in Pisidia. The Jews at Antioch would know about this, for they, like Jesus, were steeped in scripture. I find it’s useful to get everyone to look at the passage in Acts and pick out the key verse. It’s not usually a good idea to get someone to read out the whole passage – it all gets a bit like school, the leader of the group loses pace and everyone else loses the thread of the amazing story. But people might want to look at the passage at home if they find it interesting. Most people are surprised that the Scripture is interesting and challenging. We’ve already introduced St Paul, where Acts comes in the Bible and the sort of thing you find in Acts. We also introduced the idea that the New Testament draws on the Old, often giving it a new slant, and deeper meaning.
But who was David, the man after God’s own heart?
I used to think that the story of David and Bathsheba was surely something which everyone had heard of, yet a surprising number of people have not, or, if they have, do not realise its significance. Second book of Samuel 11:1-27 and 12:1-15 tells a tale of lust, temptation, sin, cover-up and murder. Again I like to get everyone to find it, pick key points out of it and suggest they might like to read it in full at home. There’s a lot of scope to discuss how David was in denial. Enter Nathan and a lot of scope to discuss what repentance really means. But there’s more. Psalm 50 or 51 (depending which bible you use) starts ‘Have mercy on me’ and we have a fascinating insight into David’s reaction when the full aweful enormity of what he had done hits him. He confesses his sins and his repentance was far reaching, profound and sincere. He realises it needs to be far deeper than just saying ‘sorry’. He recognises his need for conversion, to turn around and let God change him. ‘Create in me a clean heart’ he says. Then he asks ‘Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall speak out your praise’. He lives in a world where animal sacrifice was part of religious practice but he utters the profound words ‘sacrifice to God is a broken spirit’, a flash of forward-looking words which could so easily have come from the New Testament, before returning, in the final verse, to the world of 1000BC and animal sacrifices again.
The short answer to why he was a man after God’s own heart was given in Acts 13:22 where St Paul says that he would do the will of God. The long answer is that David had a personal relationship with God. He believed his sin had spoilt this relationship. Yet as psalm 51 (50) unfolds we sense that he goes through sorrow for sin and repentance to forgiveness and a restored relationship with the God he loves.
The discussion which might develop from this Bible study often goes right to the heart of the Christian’s relationship with God. It also provides a biblical context in which to explore the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Lectio divina (divine reading) is led by the Holy Spirit himself. Any human leader is there to help to develop the prayerful atmosphere at the beginning and maybe to discern when to end the session. In an RCIA context the leader may need to take care that the group knows what it’s about and is in a spiritually ‘safe’ environment. People often use the following Sunday’s Gospel as the subject of Lectio divina but it could be any part of the Bible – or, indeed any other suitable spiritual writing. Strictly speaking in Lectio divina the group listen to a passage being read aloud and then sit prayerfully in silence allowing the words to sink in, peacefully discerning what the Holy Spirit is saying to them. After thoughtful reflection the passage is read again followed by further reflection. One may also do Lectio divina alone as prayer..
The way Lectio divina is often carried out at the moment often involves sharing of thoughts between the people during the reflection. The sharing of the thoughts of one person feeds into the reflection of the group. This can be very effective, indeed very wonderful, but there still needs to be a lot of silence amongst the sharing of what the Spirit is saying through the Word of God.
Lectio divina is not a Bible study, nor teaching nor is it instruction. It’s not a debate, not an opportunity for people to express their own opinions nor an intellectual exercise about doctrine. It is a form of spirituality. The participants need not know very much about the passage in advance – although it does help if there is some general understanding of scripture.
The idea of opening yourself to the Holy Spirit in prayerful silence will be a new idea to many RCIA group members. People who are used to it develop gifts of discernment. To introduce Lectio divina to ‘beginners’ the passage needs be short – perhaps one of the scripture texts from the Office (Habakkuk 3:17-19 works well). The leader needs to establish the prayerful silence carefully. It may be, at first, only a few minutes. Then, and only then, the leader may invite people to share the thoughts that came into their minds. As the group grows into Lectio divina the periods of silent reflection may increase with time but much depends on the discernment and sensitivity of the leaders. The members of the group need to learn. The leaders help them to do so – but cannot do it for them.
Learning verses of Scripture In the bibles which the Gideon’s leave in hotel bedrooms there are lists of verses to read in particular circumstances, such as depression, uncertainty and anxiety. I’ve heard of Christians reciting verses and calling it ‘sword practice’, for the word of God is powerful, like a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). If you find yourself slipping into being judgemental it might be helpful to remember that Jesus said ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged’ (Matthew 7:1). If you are tempted to gossip remember that St Paul said ‘Love does not rejoice in wrong-doing but finds its joy in the truth’(1 Corinthians 13:6). If you are feeling pleased with yourself after putting a £20 note in the collection, remember that St Paul also said ‘Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess – and even give up my body to be burned – if I am without love it will do me no good whatever’ (1 Corinthians 13:3). And if you find yourself saying ‘I’ve every right to be annoyed’ remember that St James says ‘God’s saving justice is never served by human anger’ (James 1:20).
When Jesus was tempted in the desert (Matthew & Luke Chapter 4) he used verses of scripture to defend himself. The devil also cited scripture for his purpose, although it was always in a misleading context which Jesus could always see through. Learning verses is a powerful weapon against temptation as part of a growing understanding of the context in which they are placed.
A facet of growing in reverence for the scripture as the precious Word of God
The coming of the Magi – a message for our time
To many people the Magi are the ‘three wise men’ of Christmas cards and nativity plays, and of the carols we learnt as children. Yet what little we know of them suggests that they were on a journey of faith. Whatever their religious background we presume that they were not Jews yet they made the connection between their own observations of creation and the Jewish scriptures. They were earnestly searching for the truth. They were prepared to think outside of their cultural box. Yet ultimately, beneath all the historical and cultural baggage, there is only one truth. Their appearance in the Christmas story emphasises that The Word was made flesh for everyone. The Catechism (819) recognises that ‘many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the confines of the Catholic Church’. This is largely referring to non-Catholic Christians, accepting them ‘with respect and affection as brothers’ (818). It also reaches out to those of other religions (839 to 843) and to ‘those, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart’ (847). There are a lot of such people around us these days.
Is RCIA about helping people to become Catholics or Christians? The short answer to this question is, of course, ‘both’. Most people who embark on an RCIA programme want to explore the possibility of being received into the Catholic Church. But RCIA is more than just instruction in what the Catholic Church teaches, important though that is. It is where a group of people at various stages on their faith journey share their experiences and deepen their personal relationship with Jesus Christ together. The Magi were neither Jews, Catholics nor Baptists but I imagine them as deeply spiritual people who, in the words of the catechism, had come to ‘seek God with a sincere heart’.
Some years ago our RCIA group was joined by a lady who was a Baptist minister. She wasn’t considering becoming a Catholic herself but she came to bring a friend. Her friend had been baptised a Catholic but had never been confirmed. The Baptist minister wanted to help her friend to grow in faith in the living reality of Jesus Christ in her life and she thought the best way to do this was to bring her along to RCIA. We enjoyed having our Baptist friend with us each week. She shared her spiritual experience with us and enjoyed sharing ours. She came along to the Easter Vigil to see her friend being confirmed. RCIA is not, of course, primarily preparation of baptised Catholics for Confirmation, but, in this case, it was very appropriate.
I often wonder how we would feel if someone were to come to RCIA and, after getting a great deal out of it and growing in personal faith, were to decide to become a Methodist. The Holy Spirit can surprise us but it’s exciting to see him at work.
What many non-Catholic Christians respect about the Catholic Church is its spirituality - the distillation of 2000 years of reflection and spiritual experience. What we do in RCIA is to share what we have with each other as well as with our enquirers and catechumens. Not all of Our Lord’s disciples are Catholics by any means. If we share our spirituality, our personal relationship with God, rather than focus on just recruiting more Catholics, we shall help to build up the Church in a way that will stand the test of time. Many of the enquirers probably would want to be received into the Catholic Church – because they were hungry for more of spirituality which it offers. And those who do not become Catholics may well go on to build the Kingdom of Heaven in some other way that we would wish to support.
Ecumenism has come a long way since the 1960s. Back then it sometimes seemed that ‘Christian Unity’ could be a case of fudging differences in doctrine. Some cynics would say being united by not being sure what you believed. It soon became accepted that the way to be an ecumenical Catholic was to understand our own tradition better so that we were more able to share what we have with others of different traditions and discover the reality of our shared spirituality. Discussion of doctrinal differences is a job for theological experts and church leaders. Meanwhile there is plenty for the rest of us to get on with at grass-roots level.
John Ortberg wrote a challenging book called ‘if you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat’. Going into the world and making disciples does call for water-walking. The lives of many Saints, and of Christians in general, shows that it is amazing what people can do when they keep their eyes on Jesus rather than on the stormy waters around them.
But I’d like to focus on the importance of having a good strong boat to get back into when our attempts at water walking don’t quite come off. A boat where we can dry our clothes, get some encouragement from our friends, and, when necessary, learn some useful theory.
I chose to become a Catholic because it offered me a safe boat from which I could gingerly try a bit of water-walking. Non-catholic Christians who I meet whilst water-walking come from different boats yet they have been enticed out of them by the same Lord and they walk on the same water. We don’t always understand each other but what unites us is the common spirituality which lies beneath what we say.
Now we see through a mirror darkly but one day we may compare notes with the Magi.
The importance of sycamore trees
The importance of sycamore trees
Before I became a Catholic, reading and reflecting on Scripture, hearing the Word expounded, meeting with other Christians for prayer and praise, and praying on my own, were all important things I did in the practice of my faith. And when I did became a Catholic they remained just as important to me, although I also began to appreciate the reality of the Mass much more than I had before. I encountered some more things people did, such as the Stations of the Cross, saying the rosary, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, honouring Our Lady and the Saints and asking them to pray for us, and going to places like Lourdes. I now understand some of these practices more than I did and am much the better for doing so. The others I may come to understand more fully one day in the future when the Spirit leads me in that direction. But I see them all as part a fascinating spiritual landscape to be explored. A corporate distillation of 2000 years of shared spiritual reflection
But how many hours a day should I spend in prayer, or in reading the Scripture or in saying the Office, and how often should I say the rosary or go to Mass during the week, and how much of my money and time should I give away to those in need? The answer could well be ‘a lot more than I do’ but, apart from the useful discipline of the Sunday obligation, it’s the S word – the should word that often indicates that the cart is before the horse and that there is a major loss of the plot. St Paul (1 Corinthians13:3) went as far as saying ‘and even if I give up my body to be burned – if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever’. What St Paul (and, indeed, St Thérèse of Lisieux) meant by ‘love’ was inseparable from an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Originally the word ‘charity’ meant this kind of love (derived from the Latin caritas), but somehow the ‘should’ type of do-gooding gave birth to the unpleasant expression ‘as cold as charity’.
Sycamore Fig
Zacchaeus (Luke chapter 19) was a rich man but his riches did not win him any friends. His neighbours hated him as a tax-collector and a collaborator with the Roman army of occupation, and they suspected him of ripping them off. When Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming, the crowd would not let him get through to the roadside as Jesus came along. Being, like me, vertically challenged, he couldn’t see what was going on. But Zacchaeus had one quality that was to prove the gateway to life. He knew that he wanted to see Jesus very much indeed. He was so determined that he single-mindedly climbed a tree*, perhaps spoiling his expensive clothes in the process and causing some loss of dignity. But he wanted to see Jesus more than anything else. And not only did he see Jesus but Jesus looked up and saw him. And Jesus honoured him beyond his wildest dreams – he chose to come eat with him in his house. Here was totally undeserved and freely-given grace that filled him with joy. We are not told whether Jesus told him that he should clean up his act or even ‘should’ give up being a tax-collector. But when so much love is freely given there isn’t any ‘should’ about it. Zacchaeus reacted to the grace offered by Jesus by repenting and wanting to make amends to anyone he had defrauded by misuse of his office.
Religious practices are good sycamore trees if they help us to see Jesus and to reach out to him. If we let them become ends in themselves they are sycamore trees on the wrong road into Jericho. But if we let the living Holy Spirit lead us to the ways of organising our spiritual life according to where we are at the moment on our faith journey, the Lord will be spending more time at our house.
*The sycamore of the Bible is not the familiar Acer pseudoplatanus, (a kind of maple) that is so common in Britain but the Sycamore Fig , Ficus sycamorus . The tree Zacchaeus climbed would be much smaller than the ones around Wuthering Heights!