Today, the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we celebrate the “Sunday of the Word of God” for the first time. If you’re wondering what it’s all about, look no further:
- This Sunday was set aside by Pope Francis to celebrate Sacred Scripture. It’s intended to help God’s people to “grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures.” The pope explained his thinking in a document called Aperuit Illis, and it’s a good (and short) read if you’re interested. He intentionally released the document on the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. Jerome, who said that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” The document’s name comes from Luke 24:45, where the risen Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”
- Why today? A few reasons. In the document, Pope Francis points to one I wouldn’t have thought of: today marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in which Christians of all denominations and traditions pray for the grace to be reunited as one, just as Christ prayed that we would be one in John 17:20-23. If that dream is to be realized, it will be Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, and Copts taking Scripture more seriously, and placing God’s written word at the center of our lives (individually and collectively). But celebrating the word of God today is also fitting for a different reason: today’s Gospel marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, after his baptism (which we celebrated last week). If you had the short form of the Gospel today, it ended “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).
- Why a Sunday Mass? If you heard the longer form of the Gospel today, it ended by telling us that Jesus “went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people” (Matt. 4:23). This notion of the “gospel of the kingdom” being preached in a synagogue context has been largely lost – Catholics often don’t know the Scriptures well enough, and Protestants don’t have enough of a liturgical context in which to experience the word of God as it is intended. Luke 4 talks about one of Jesus’ synagogue visits, and says that “he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written…” (Luke 4:16-17). The biblion (scroll or book) of Isaiah was something that was the synagogue’s, and Jesus goes into the synagogue to proclaim the word in a liturgical setting. We need to rediscover the intimate union between the Scripture and the Mass.
- What else do we need to rediscover about the Bible? Drawing on Vatican II, Pope Francis points to three dimensions: the Scriptures’ “saving purpose, spiritual dimension and inherent incarnational principle.” In other words, the Scriptures are here to save us, not as a vestige of the past, or a generic universal proclamation, but as God’s word to you and me, here and now. He wants to say something to each one of us through Scripture, but it’s up to us to take the time to actually listen.
- Does “the word of God” just mean the Bible, then? Not at all! As I’ve said before, “the Bible Isn’t the Fullness of Revelation. Jesus is.” The “Word of God” primarily means Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. As St. John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). By extension, we can speak of both Scripture and Tradition as God’s “word.” Pope Francis points out that “before becoming a written text, the word of God was handed down orally and kept alive by the faith of a people who, in the midst of many others, acknowledged it as their own history and the source of their identity. Biblical faith, then, is based on the living word, not on a book.” The point of Word of God Sunday is not to be able to get to know a book better; it’s to spend more time reading and listening to what God has revealed in order to know the Divine Author of that book.
- How can I live this out in my daily life? Remember that the celebration exists to help us to “grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures.” Why not spend 15 or even 30 minutes today reading the Bible, and praying about what you’re reading? Ask God for the grace to understand what He’s saying to you, and end your time in prayer by (with the help of the Holy Spirit) making a resolution, to put the word into action today.
- Oh, and by the way:, if you’re a priest (or want to pass this advice along to one), consider giving Bibles to your congregation, and teaching them how to read them prayerfully. Pope Francis recommends that pastors “find ways of giving a Bible, or one of its books, to the entire assembly as a way of showing the importance of learning how to read, appreciate and pray daily with sacred Scripture, especially through the practice of lectio divina.”
The command of Christ to HIs apostles immediately before his ascension into Heaven was:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19)
The term ‘disciple’ connotes much more than the mere reading of holy scripture by a Christian. It is rather, associated with a saying of St. Paul: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”, which indicates the importance of community, human interaction, and holy imitation of the teachers and preachers that Christ provides to the Church through every generation. So, the Word of God is indeed a ‘living word’… and not merely a compilation of holy text contained in a physical book. Thus, we have the concept of ‘Tradition’ in the history of the Church. It seems to come directly from the above quote of Jesus in Matt. 28:19. The writing of scripture was a result of following this teaching, as an aid in that teaching that Jesus commanded them. So, the ‘living tradition’ was first, and the writing and compiling of scripture was then produced by this same ‘living tradition’…. that is… The Holy Church in the first few centuries of Christian history.
Your article opened my eyes and heart this morning. Thank You and the person who sent it to me.
[quote]By extension, we can speak of both Scripture and Tradition as God’s “word.” Pope Francis points out that “before becoming a written text, the word of God was handed down orally and kept alive by the faith of a people who, in the midst of many others, acknowledged it as their own history and the source of their identity. Biblical faith, then, is based on the living word, not on a book.” The point of Word of God Sunday is not to be able to get to know a book better; it’s to spend more time reading and listening to what God has revealed in order to know the Divine Author of that book.[/quote]
Where have we heard that before? “Tradition” – meaning “our traditions” are become equal with the Word. Talmud and Torah, again.
So the New Testament was not Divinely Inspired is what you’re saying. The authors were not led by the Holy Spirit? They just put down what they could remember xxx amount of time later?
Funny isn’t it how RC doctrine says Pope X two thousand years after Christ’s ascension, can open his mouth “ex-cathedra” and speak as the voice of God “infallibly” (only God is infallible), but the authors of the New Testament, “well, they got some of it, but they must have missed a bunch so we’ll fill in the blanks with our traditions.”
Reminds me of the Talmud where IIRC it says things like, “when there is a disputation in heaven, God consults the rabbis”, or “When the Talmud is read, God stands”. Are we seeing a pattern here?
“Biblical faith, then, is based on the living word, not on a book.” It’s alive because God is alive, Christ is alive, the Holy Spirit is alive. It’s not “alive” because men and women want to add to it or manipulate to fit their doctrines and “needs”. So where is “the Living Word” if not in the Holy Book? Which book is it in again? It’s not in a book; it’s in Pope X’s head?
That’s quite a “doctrine” you’ve got there: The Holy Bible is not complete, it’s not “the Living Word”. So after all the jargon and contortions we end up with the same old ——–: “our doctrines are at least equal to the Holy Bible and if in doubt, just believe what we say.”
Jesus – I think His Name was Jehoshua actually – but mercifully He is prepared to listen even when we call Him by our version of His Name, is indeed the Living Word, but when He appears or speaks to people as He does, are we to believe that He alters or adds to Holy Writ? If so, then either His will has changed since his Resurrection or Holy Writ contains errors or omissions, in which case it cannot be divinely inspired, can it?
So the point of all this, apart from the Sunday schtick, is another one of those doctrinal leg-splits the RC church has made a specialty of over the last 1500 odd years: “study the Scriptures…but don’t take them too literally because it’s not the whole Living Word, and our doctrines are also part of it because….” Because we’ve hung ourselves out on the line of carnal and temporal aggrandizement and we’re not going back now because if we do, we’ll have to admit we don’t have a lock-hold on anyone’s salvation, we’re not equal with God and we’re just sinners like everyone else.
That would be a bit of a come-down, but then He did say, “The last shall be first”, and “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
james, blasphemy is still the third worst sin that Cries To Heaven For Vengeance. what you do here is almost as bad as when you call the demon in your head (the one who told you that you will usurp The Authority of The Church and The Position of The Virgin Mary) blasphemously as “The Holy Spirit.” No, The Third Person Of God is not a demon, and not telling you anything.
Christ is Jesus, which is His name. One of your many “personal interpretations. Actually, God does not answer those who spit upon Him, like heretics.
ALL Prayer IS directly prompted by God, but the intentions of non-Catholics disgust Him. This is official Dogma of The Church, and why Praying “with” those outside The Church is mortally sinful. even the protestants knew this, which is why they banned prayer with Catholics (though they did not know the real reason).
so “james,” evil one, be more like St James Matamoros, not like the a random guy named james in hell.
There are three forms The Church uses so inform aupernaturally:
1) Magesterium (Combined Teachings and Teachers of The Church)
2) Sacred Tradition (The Church Is The Perfection of Israel; AND what The Church does on earth, God does in Heaven as Eternal)
3) Scripture (The Writing of The Prophets of The Old Covenant, with The New Testament being written by The Last Prophets of The Old Covenant and The First Bishops of The New And Eternal Covenant aka The One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church)
Notice how Scripture is the least there.
Scripture also has 5 different meanings (Moral, Historical, Analogical, Anagogical, All at Once).