Read; Meditate; Pray; Contemplate

This Sunday, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, is designated by Pope Francis as the “Sunday of the Word of God”. At the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, he proposed setting aside

“a Sunday given over entirely to the Word of God, so as to appreciate the inexhaustible riches contained in that constant dialogue between the Lord and his people” (Misericordia et Misera, 7).

Devoting a specific Sunday of the liturgical year to the Word of God can enable the Church to experience anew how the risen Lord opens up for us the treasury of his word and enables us to proclaim its unfathomable riches before the world.

He made several suggestions. One was that: “renewed efforts should be made to provide members of the faithful with the training needed to be genuine proclaimers of the Word, as is already the practice in the case of acolytes or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.”

I would like to thank all those who have volunteered as readers. In the past we have had Days for Readers and hopefully we will return to these in the near future. At Mass, when we begin the Liturgy of the Word, many of us instinctively follow what the reader is proclaiming by following the text in our newsletter or in our Sunday Missal. Wouldn’t it be better if we listened attentively to the Word of God, with our whole mind and heart?

Today’s Gospel recounts that all eyes were fixed on Jesus after he read from the prophet Isaiah. The Liturgy of the Word at Mass is of equal importance as the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Just as Jesus is really and truly present under the appearance of Bread and Wine so He is also really present when the Word of God is proclaimed. By listening we are fixing our heart and mind on Jesus who speaks to us through the words proclaimed.

Another suggestion made by the Pope was, “Pastors can also 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’ (Divine Reading). I am sorry I haven’t done this. I am presuming you all have easy access to the Scriptures? There are available in our shop various Bibles including copies of the new English Standard Version (Catholic Edition) which is the translation that will be used in the revised Lectionary that will be published by the Bishops Conference of England and Wales this or next  year. Each month there is available at the back of the church, a handy booklet with the reading for every day. On 25th July last year Pope Francis said: “Every day we read a page of the Gospel, we pray with the Psalms, we read the Prophets! We will be moved by the Lord’s faithfulness. Scripture will also help us to understand what the Lord asks of our lives today.’

I know that some already use the method of ‘Lectio Divina’. It consists of reading God’s word in a moment of prayer and allowing it to enlighten and renew us. I have left at the back of the church a simple outline of the ‘Lectio Divina’ method written by a Benedictine monk Father Boniface Hicks.

Let us ‘Read; meditate; pray; contemplate’ and increase our knowledge of Christ in our lives