Scripture studied in depth at annual Spring Enrichment

By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Keynote speaker Rev. Eugene LaVerdiere joked about his doctorate at this year's Spring Enrichment, May 15-18.

"PhD: It fills your mouth," he told hundreds of catechists, youth ministers and parish volunteers gathered at The College of Saint Rose in Albany for the series of courses and workshops, sponsored by the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.

Still, he added, "I'm just a student of the Scriptures, trying to understand the Word of God." Actually, Father LaVerdiere is senior editor of Emmanuel magazine, the author of several books, and national secretary of the Pontifical Missionary Union for Clergy and Religious in the U.S.

Thoughts on Scripture

Father LaVerdiere, who spoke on "The Eucharist as Gospel Event," quoted St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians: "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes."

"Paul isn't saying you celebrate the death of the Lord, [but] that you proclaim" it, Father LaVerdiere stressed. "We have to transform the celebration of the Eucharist into a Gospel event."

To do so, he said, we can look again to St. Paul, who wrote to the Galatians: "All are children of God in Christ Jesus....There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

The speaker called this concept "very, very challenging for us. God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. We are icons of the Lord Jesus, crying out, `Abba! Father!' We have to address God as `abba' as children of God."

Abba!

Father LaVerdiere recalled a trip to Jerusalem he took many years ago. Waiting for friends at the airport, he noticed an Hasidic Jewish family waiting for a grandfather to disembark. When the grandchildren saw their grandfather, they and ran to him, yelling, "Abba! Abba!"

Then the children's parents came forward, smiling and saying, "Abba." The priest said it was the first time he had heard a living person use that term.

"We have to reflect on our new identity from Baptism as children of God to transform the Eucharist into a Gospel event," he noted. "We have to be present to the whole assembly. It's very hard to be present, a personal presence."

Copying Christ

The speaker held up Jesus as a model of change. When He fed the 5,000, Father LaVerdiere said, Jesus used barley loaves, the food eaten by the poorest of the poor.

"The five barley loaves were Jesus," he said. "Jesus nourished the 5,000 with Himself." As a parent nourishes a child, a teacher her students or a minister his flock, Jesus nourished people with His presence by dwelling among them.

"Jesus is present to the whole assembly, proclaiming the Eucharist as a Gospel event to outsiders," Father LaVerdiere stated. He exhorted his audience to keep thinking about what it means to be children of God.

Impressions

Afterward, first-time attendee Kate McGrath of St. James parish in Albany said the priest's words were meaningful to her personally.

"I'm a teacher, but I'm thinking about what else I might like to do," she explained. "I'm thinking about going into faith formation."

She liked Father LaVerdiere's concept of "what God has planted in us, He's going to see it through to completion. It was comforting and inspiring at the same time."

Hank Phillips of St. Mary's parish in Cooperstown told The Evangelist he came to Spring Enrichment to feed his fascination with Scripture. "Last winter, I put on a Scripture study on Mark," he noted. "I just want to pursue this. I have this curiosity."

Mr. Phillips was looking forward to workshops on the Hebrew Scriptures and on how Jesus evangelized, but added that he enjoyed Father LaVerdiere's perspective on the Bible, as well.

"I like the way he takes apart the Scripture, makes it more meaningful," he said. "He talks with feeling."

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