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Vigil of Pentecost (Saturday evening)

Year A, May 10, 2008

Year C, May 26, 2007

Year B, June 3, 2006

Note: Alternate first readings include Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20b; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Joel 3:1-5. Check with your liturgy commission.

First reading, Genesis 11:1-9

The Theological Background (possibly): There are a number of ways, of course, to interpret this ancient fable. The one I favor emphasizes the temerity of the people and the outraged response of God. They say, "Let us make a name for ourselves," and God grumbles that "nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do."

This interpretation links chapter 11 of Genesis with chapter 3, the story of the fall. There the bold couple fell for the serpent's offer, "become like gods, deciding what is good and what is evil," and the one real God could only respond by scattering them out of Eden.

Proclaiming It: If you accept this interpretation of Genesis 11, then use your voice to bring out the audacious nature of the tower plan. Make God's response sound emphatic and determined. You're describing an epic argument here. Make it sound like one.

In both the New American Bible, translation, commonly used in American Catholic churches, and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible used in most U.S. Protestant churches, the ambitious builders use bitumen for mortar. How are you going to pronounce "bitumen?" It's bih TYOO mn. To hear it on your computer, click here, then click on the word Bitumen.

Our Liturgical Setting: The purpose of using this reading today is to set the stage for God to undo the confusion of human languages. By the Pentecost miracle, people of many languages simultaneously hear one gospel, and the church is set on its mission to unite humankind again under one God.

Alternate First reading, Ezekiel 19:3-8a, 16-20b

Alternate First reading, Ezekiel 37:1-14

Alternate First reading, Joel 3:1-5

Second Reading, Romans 8:22-27

The Theological Context: Paul is realistic about how difficult it is to maintain Christian hope and faith in a hostile world. Perhaps to give us company in this struggle, he says that all of creation, not just ourselves, is longing for some kind of transformation. Here are the preceding verses:

Rom 8:19-21

For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

I suspect this is not a premise in Paul's logic, but a conclusion made necessary by Paul's vision of the greatness of what God has wrought in Christ. In other words, God's present and future transformation of us is so astounding that it can only be happening in the context of a universal transformation of nature as well as of humankind. So, in solidarity with nature, we groan about the unfinished condition we are in. But we have hope, given by the Spirit, of complete redemption.

Proclaiming It: Before you read Paul's switch from the groaning paragraph to the further discussion of hope, pause.

When you then say, "For in hope we were saved," sound like you're giving a solution to the problem you just described.

"Now hope that sees is not hope." What kind of hope is not hope? Hope that sees (Or, as the RSV translates it, "Now hope that is seen is not hope.") As lector, use your inflection to ensure that you identify this particular bogus hope. Don't make it sound like the simple contradiction, "Hope is not hope."

Pause again where Paul begins the discussion of the Spirit's help in our praying.

Several other commentaries on these passages. All are thoughtful, all quite readable, from the scholarly to the popular.
Links may be incomplete more than a few weeks before the "due date."
Bible Study pages of Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Picayune, Mississippi Scholar Reginald Fuller's commentary on the vigil readings, courtesy of Saint Louis University's Center for Liturgy.

The Lectionary selections in the frame at the left, if any, are there for your convenience. The publishers of the page in that frame have no connection, except for membership in the one Body of Christ, with the publisher of this page. Likewise the publishers of the pages on the links above.

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Last modified: Tue May 22 19:23:38 CDT 2007