That’s just the first
reading. In the Gospel, Jesus repeats the promise of light in darkness, even
the darkness of the shadow that death casts on all of us.
“What’s not to like?”, as
a 2022 pop song asks.
But where do we find the
light? Where’s the freedom? How do we get out from under the things that weigh
us down?
Let me answer with a
story I heard more than thirty years ago. I don’t even remember if it’s fact or
fiction, but it’s stayed with me all this time.
The story is about a
young man whose father promised him a new car for his 21st birthday. But when
he came down to breakfast on the big day, all he found waiting on the table was
a new Bible, nicely wrapped.
The headstrong young man
threw it down and stormed out of the house. He was so angry he didn’t return
until he received news that his father had died suddenly.
After the funeral he went
up to his old bedroom. There, on a shelf, was the Bible that had so deeply
disappointed him. He opened it—and his father’s cheque to the car dealership
fluttered to the floor.
Fact or fiction, the
story reminds us that the Bible contains what we’re hoping for; there’s a
treasure within its pages. But we need
to open the book.
The Word of God is where
we can find the way to all that’s promised us today—light, freedom, joy, and
more.
In 2019 Pope Francis
decided the Church needed to devote one Sunday each year specially to the word
of God to help us experience how the Lord opens up the treasury of his word. So
the Holy Father instituted the celebration of Sunday of the Word of God, on the
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
He pointed out that the
Sunday of the Word of God will occur around the time of the annual week of
Prayer for Christian Unity. This is no accident: the Bible, which we share with
all our fellow Christians, point out “the path to authentic and firm unity.”
As suggested by Pope
Francis—not to mention one of our own parishioners—we will bless our lectors at
all Masses today “in order to bring out the importance of the proclamation of
God’s word in the liturgy.” (Aperuit illis, Pope Francis, 19 Sep 2019)
But not for a moment
should Word of God Sunday end on Sunday—any more than our prayer for Christian
unity should only last a week. Today, however, the two themes combine
beautifully. Our Protestant brothers and sisters give us an excellent example
of devotion to the Scriptures, and it is one of the gifts of the ecumenical
movement that many Catholics have been inspired by them.
I was out for a walk with
a good Catholic friend the other day and I thanked him for sharing something
helpful with me. Right away he replied “Simply I learned about Wisdom, and
ungrudgingly do I share; her riches I do not hide away”—words from the seventh
chapter of the Book of Wisdom, which he continued to quote.
I asked when he’d
memorized these words, expecting him to answer ‘religion class.’ Instead, he
told me that when he started to pray Morning and Evening Prayer some years back
he found himself both consoled and inspired by the Word of God, particularly
the Book of Wisdom, (and I quote) “in its beauty, its potent truth and concise
clarity.”
He said that he wanted to
“carry” the words with him, and so set out to memorize the passage, although
that wasn’t something he’d done for years!
He emailed me later to
say that memorizing the text has not only been a delight but continues to be a
constant inspiration.
How many of us have a
text from the Bible longer than a sentence close at hand—or close at heart?
I won’t show off by
quoting, but there are several passages in the Letter to the Hebrews that I
know from memory, and two in particular remind us of the power of Scripture.
The first is probably quite familiar to you: “The word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword…able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)
The second is: “Let us
keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to
perfection.” (Heb. 12:2 NJB) How can we keep our eyes fixed on him without
looking to God’s word? As St. Jerome has said, ignorance of Scripture is
ignorance of Christ.
By meditating on the
words of God we enter into the mysteries of Christ’s life, death, and
resurrection—not to become theologians but disciples.
A fine Dominican—who was
a theologian—said that “a deep and loving knowledge of God, a deep insight into
Christ and a loving imitation of him,” will refashion our way of living, and
give us courage and power impossible to human nature on its own.
“As a result of such knowledge and love of Christ, discouragement and weakness will be replaced by joy and strength in doing great things for God,” the late Father Paul Hinnebusch, op wrote.
In other words, the
answer to the question I asked earlier “Where do we find the light, the freedom
and the joy?” is from knowledge and love of Christ. And we obtain that
knowledge and love in part from the living and active word of God.
Of course we know Christ
in other ways—through the liturgy, the sacraments, prayer, and the example of
fellow disciples. But his word plays a key role in all these ways as well.
I can end right there as
long as I keep my promise to provide a one-sentence summary for each homily.
Today it is simply this: Let us read Scripture and reflect on it more often so
that we can receive all that God has promised us in Christ.
Perhaps one last word
from the Word of God as we begin the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the
prayer Jesus made to the Father in the Gospel of John:
I ask…that
they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also
be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that
you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I
in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world
may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Here is what my good friend actually
wrote me; it needed to be shortened in the homily.
“Simply, I learned about Wisdom
and ungrudgingly do I share—
her riches I do not hide away;
for to men she is an unfailing treasure;
those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God,
to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them (Wis. 7:13-14).
“As I have been fortunate
enough to cultivate the habit of praying Morning and Evening Prayer over the
last number of years, I have been greatly consoled and inspired by the Word of
God. The Book of Wisdom has had a
particular attraction for me and the above passage really resonated for me, in
its beauty, its potent truth and concise clarity. I wanted to “carry” it with me, and so I was
compelled to try and memorize it, although such an exercise had not been
something I had been in the habit of doing for some decades! Committing the passage to memory has been not
only a delight but continues to be a constant inspiration. This exercise has
also inspired me to the happy task of committing the following passage to
memory as well:
Love is patient and kind; love is not
jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things (Cor. 13:4‒7).”
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