LOVING GOD’S WORD

Fr Billy Swan

The Gospel for this Sunday, the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, speaks of the fertile power of God's Word, symbolised by a seed. As committed Catholic Christians, we are more aware than ever of our responsibility to be missionaries in modern Ireland. We are more and more challenged to know where we stand on social and moral issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, climate change, education, sexuality and family issues, etc. All of this can seem intimidating and overwhelming for us. However, there is also an opportunity here to grow in faith and perhaps to know its depth and wisdom for the first time. In order to help us do this, resources like The Catechism of the Catholic Church are indispensable.

But perhaps the greater urgency is to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures. Here are just a few suggestions of how a greater love and familiarity with God’s word can help us to be clear and confident about our faith.

The first suggestion is to buy a family Bible and to put it in a prominent place in your home. We would like visitors to notice a nice ornament or piece of furniture in our home. Why not bring their attention to the presence of the Bible? Next, buy a copy of the Sunday and Daily readings at Mass. You can buy them online or order a copy of the Magnificat magazine. Just ask your priest or parish office for help. Can I predict that once you begin to practise the habit of prayerfully reading the daily readings, you will come to love what you read?

In magazines like the Magnificat there is always a good commentary to help us unpack the message. In many parishes, there are Scripture reflection groups, Bible study groups, Lectio Divina groups and other prayer groups who share around the Word of God. For many, the Scriptures have moved from the periphery to the centre of their spiritual lives. The Word of God has become their stable diet and they have come to know the truth of St Ambrose’s words: ‘The word of God is the vital substance of our soul: it nourishes, feeds and directs it’.

Yet this does not mean that we need to go around quoting the Bible all the time or become fundamentalists. But it does mean that every word we speak and action we do is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and in some way is obedient to the Word of God. As St Paul reminds us: ‘We speak in Christ’ (2 Cor. 2:17). To speak in Christ means that our words are moved by God and are spoken as if in his presence. This is particularly true of the daily and Sunday readings that shape our thoughts and actions on any given day. It means that we become obedient to God’s word and led by God’s word as we negotiate our way through the daily demands of family life, meetings, conversations, emails, letters, texts and the ways we communicate today.

Finally, on the road to Emmaus, the disciples described the effect of Jesus breaking the Word to them as their ‘hearts burning’ (Luke 24:32). There was power in his words, authority, truth and life. This same divine power will flow from the Word of God that we share when it emerges from the wellspring of the divine life within us. Here is the crucial connection between the word of God we speak and the Word of God that dwells within. Our words risk being hollow and empty if they are not animated by the indwelling of the Word.

We speak not from the head but from the wellspring of the heart that has internalised the message we dare to speak about. This was and continues to be our task as a prophetic and missionary people – to internalise the message before we share it: ‘When I found your words I devoured them. They became my joy and the happiness of my heart’ (Jer. 15:16).