Fr. Adolph Guy
Last Sunday, John the Baptist pointed us to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Today, we see Jesus personally active in the ordinary life of people. He enjoins them (and us now) first to: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. And then, he calls each of us to follow him as he did with the two pairs of brothers: Simon Peter with Andrew and John with James. In the following reflection of this third Sunday of ordinary time cycle A, I will talk about the Christians’ need to be familiar with the Word of God in order to be able to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and all men and women who preceded us in the Christian faith, especially the apostles.
Christians believe in a God who speaks. To quote Pope Benedict VXI: “the entire economy of salvation demonstrates that God speaks and acts in history for our good and our integral salvation” (Verbum Domini 23). Nowadays Christians have put at the center of their life economy, technology, personal career, material wealth and the likes. Consequently, God has become remote if not absent in their life. To address this need, Pope Francis instituted the third Sunday of the ordinary time as a Sunday dedicated to the Word of God through his apostolic letter titled Aperuit Illis on September 30, 2019. The main aim of this letter is to help us “to grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures” (N.15). He explicitly put it this way: “we urgently need to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the risen Lord, who continues to speak his word and to break bread in the community of believers. For this reason, we need to develop a closer relationship with sacred Scripture; otherwise, our heart will remain cold and our eyes shut, struck as we are by so many forms of blindness” (N.8).
Following the advice of the Holy Father, each of us who can read is encouraged to procure for himself/herself a copy of the Bible or its app in his/her Smartphone and read it from time to time in order to become familiar with the Holy Scripture. Our lectors are reminded to prepare their reading ahead of time in order to proclaim the Word of God in a voice that is loud and clear. This will help those of us who cannot read to hear the Word of God since for most of them it is the only moment to have access to the Holy Scripture. Each one of us is reminded to pay attention and respect to the word of God especially during the liturgy, when it is being proclaimed or explained because many of us are sleepy, busy with their mobile phones or talking during this time.
If we put God at the center of our life, we hear God as the one who speaks to us through the Holy Scripture. And God will eventually convince us to believe in him (Jn 20:31). In Not a fan Kyle Idleman explains: “We tend to define belief as the acceptance of something as real or true. But biblical belief is more than just an intellectual acceptance or a heartfelt acknowledgment; it is a commitment to follow. Following by definition requires more than a decision you make in your head while sitting in a pew; following calls for movement. One of the reasons our churches can become fan factories is that we have separated the message of ‘believe’ from the message of ‘follow’. After separating the two messages, they get out of balance.”[1]In lines with this, Pope Benedict XVI indicated that “To believe is not only a way of thinking or an idea;… it is a way of acting, a manner of living. To believe means to follow the trail indicated to us by the Word of God.[2]
Becoming familiar with the Bible with a special emphasis on the gospel and striving to put the Word of God to practice in our daily life will make of us Christians who are very committed to the Church. Neither the cold weather nor the rain nor the heat will prevent us from attending any church activity. Life hardship as the price of things is going high due to the inflation or the economy, technology, personal dream or material wealth will not be an excuse not to follow Jesus. In this way, we will be ready to say yes to Jesus whenever he calls us to go wherever he wants us to be and do whatever he asks us to do. May the Blessed Virgin Mary – who said ‘yes’ to the Word of God and pondered it in her heart – pray for us in our journey toward her son.
Last Sunday, John the Baptist pointed us to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Today, we see Jesus personally active in the ordinary life of people. He enjoins them (and us now) first to: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. And then, he calls each of us to follow him as he did with the two pairs of brothers: Simon Peter with Andrew and John with James. In the following reflection of this third Sunday of ordinary time cycle A, I will talk about the Christians’ need to be familiar with the Word of God in order to be able to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and all men and women who preceded us in the Christian faith, especially the apostles.
Christians believe in a God who speaks. To quote Pope Benedict VXI: “the entire economy of salvation demonstrates that God speaks and acts in history for our good and our integral salvation” (Verbum Domini 23). Nowadays Christians have put at the center of their life economy, technology, personal career, material wealth and the likes. Consequently, God has become remote if not absent in their life. To address this need, Pope Francis instituted the third Sunday of the ordinary time as a Sunday dedicated to the Word of God through his apostolic letter titled Aperuit Illis on September 30, 2019. The main aim of this letter is to help us “to grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures” (N.15). He explicitly put it this way: “we urgently need to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the risen Lord, who continues to speak his word and to break bread in the community of believers. For this reason, we need to develop a closer relationship with sacred Scripture; otherwise, our heart will remain cold and our eyes shut, struck as we are by so many forms of blindness” (N.8).
Following the advice of the Holy Father, each of us who can read is encouraged to procure for himself/herself a copy of the Bible or its app in his/her Smartphone and read it from time to time in order to become familiar with the Holy Scripture. Our lectors are reminded to prepare their reading ahead of time in order to proclaim the Word of God in a voice that is loud and clear. This will help those of us who cannot read to hear the Word of God since for most of them it is the only moment to have access to the Holy Scripture. Each one of us is reminded to pay attention and respect to the word of God especially during the liturgy, when it is being proclaimed or explained because many of us are sleepy, busy with their mobile phones or talking during this time.
If we put God at the center of our life, we hear God as the one who speaks to us through the Holy Scripture. And God will eventually convince us to believe in him (Jn 20:31). In Not a fan Kyle Idleman explains: “We tend to define belief as the acceptance of something as real or true. But biblical belief is more than just an intellectual acceptance or a heartfelt acknowledgment; it is a commitment to follow. Following by definition requires more than a decision you make in your head while sitting in a pew; following calls for movement. One of the reasons our churches can become fan factories is that we have separated the message of ‘believe’ from the message of ‘follow’. After separating the two messages, they get out of balance.”[1]In lines with this, Pope Benedict XVI indicated that “To believe is not only a way of thinking or an idea;… it is a way of acting, a manner of living. To believe means to follow the trail indicated to us by the Word of God.[2]
Becoming familiar with the Bible with a special emphasis on the gospel and striving to put the Word of God to practice in our daily life will make of us Christians who are very committed to the Church. Neither the cold weather nor the rain nor the heat will prevent us from attending any church activity. Life hardship as the price of things is going high due to the inflation or the economy, technology, personal dream or material wealth will not be an excuse not to follow Jesus. In this way, we will be ready to say yes to Jesus whenever he calls us to go wherever he wants us to be and do whatever he asks us to do. May the Blessed Virgin Mary – who said ‘yes’ to the Word of God and pondered it in her heart – pray for us in our journey toward her son.