Sunday the 26th of January 2025 - The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday of the Word of God

Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10/ Ps 19(18)/ 1 Corinthians 12:12-30/ Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

At Mass Jesus is present to us in several ways, including through our gathering, the words of scripture, and in the Eucharist. Described by the church as the source and summit of our Christian life, Jesus becomes present to us in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Through consuming his body and blood in Holy Communion Jesus becomes part of what we are, who we are, so that we can become more like him, the people God means us to be.

In the passages of scripture from the Old Testament, the Psalm, the Second Reading, and proclaimed in the Gospel, Jesus is present to us as The Word of God. We are reminded of the opening passages to John’s Gospel which describes beautifully how Jesus is the Word of God, there from the beginning, the Word was God, and the Word was with God. This Word of God took on human flesh and appeared amongst humanity in the person of Jesus. It is this Word of God that the church encourages us to celebrate today, a day offered to us by Pope Francis to be set aside for the study and spreading of God’s word. The theme the Pope gives us to ponder this year is from Psalm 119 and is a cry of hope from someone suffering a time of anguish, tribulation, and confusion, putting all his hope in God. We too live in such a time were there is much suffering, ordeal, and turmoil, and we need to turn to the Word of God to find the hope of its message.

We cannot hear God speaking to us in the noise and tumult of our busy lives. We need to find space where we can be calm and quiet and listen for the Word of God. The great advantage to help us do this is found in the richness of scripture. The second letter to Timothy (3:16-17) puts it like this; ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work’. Prayerfully contemplating the scriptures is a way of listening for God speaking to us. There are many layers of scripture, and it can often be the case that the same, sometimes familiar, passages will speak to us differently at various times depending on our current situation and needs.

Today we hear the beginning of Luke’s gospel. Written in the early days of the Church, capturing the verbal accounts of people who saw and heard the actual events, Luke addressed his gospel to a person he named as Theophilus, a name which means, friend or lover of God. We can adopt this name and read Luke’s gospel as if it had been written for us because we are friends and lovers of God, giving us a more personal relationship with the account. When we are in church listening to the scripture readings listen to them as if they are addressed to you, and you alone. How do they speak to me where I am in my Life? What is it that God is telling me to do today, when I leave church and go back out into the world? The message will be different for each person attending the same mass that day. Each person will be inspired to do some work on behalf of God to build up his kingdom in readiness for the return of Christ.

The readings today emphasise the power and authenticity of God’s word. In the first reading the people of God, many years before Jesus was born, are led through a recommitment to the covenant they have with him, promising to centre their lives in the saving word of God. In the gospel passage Jesus reads from the book of Isaiah and identifies himself as the person to which the reading is pointing. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophesies.

The extract from the first letter of Paul to the church in Corinth highlights how we should respond to what we hear from the word of God. Paul calls for unity in the church. Something we still need today both within the church but in the world as a whole. The unity we seek is one that will give us the undivided body of Christ. The Christ that we encounter through our gathering together as the church, a unity that is resplendent with the Spirit given diversity that makes us individuals, with distinct callings from God.

The Word of God is a living and compelling reality that can reach the depths of our being if only we would stop and listen to it. It is God’s way of disclosing his will to us. We are often too busy with our everyday lives and worries to give much time to prayer. When we do it might be in times of crisis and need when we are so engaged in bombarding God with requests for help there is no room for him to answer let alone give us any guidance. We can concentrate so hard in going down our own chosen road that we forget to stop and listen for the guidance from God about the road he wants us to follow.

God always remains faithful to his promises, our response to that should be a similar faithfulness to God and his will for us. We cannot exhaust the richness of God speaking to us through his word in scripture. It will remain forever relevant and available to us from generation to generation.

God Bless Brendan.