3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Sunday of the Word of God
When someone speaks a harsh word to you, it hurts. When someone compliments or congratulates you, maybe you blush or smile. If our human words have such immediate and lasting effects, how much greater is the effect of God’s Word, always speaking to us.
In the beginning, God spoke, and everything came into being. God’s Word continues to be the source of our whole Christian life and witness.
In the light of God’s Word, we see the unique dignity of every human person. And so we reach out to support young mothers and families in difficult situations, and give public witness to the value of each person at every stage of life.
The Word of God brings forth the vast array of all creation, and we honor and care for it as the work of God’s hands and the home he has entrusted to us.
Every human culture and civilization is transformed and elevated when it receives God’s Word, and so our missionary work continues throughout history. And God’s Word unites us across cultures, so we welcome one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord and marvel at the variety and beauty God’s word inspires throughout the world.
God’s Word speaks to our hearts when we hear it proclaimed in the liturgy, ponder it in our personal devotion and study it with attentiveness. By his word, Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, transforms our offerings of bread and wine into His own Body and Blood, to nourish us for eternal life and to unite us in communion with one another and himself.
God’s Word is true and never deceives us. There is no “fake news” in God’s Word. It is the Good News that God’s saving power reaches out to touch every broken life and situation, to bring healing, strength, understanding, reconciliation, renewal and hope.
Listening to God’s Word and allowing it to challenge, convict and transform us, we find sure guidance for our lives. Of all the voices we hear, the voice of God alone is an unfailing and faithful. He always speaks to us in a way we can hear, and we can learn to discern his voice from among all the other noise around and within us.
On this Sunday of the Word of God, let the Word touch your heart. Ponder it as Mary did, and offer God the word of response that arises in your heart.
-Fr. Tom
Readings
- Isaiah 8:23–9:3
- Psalm 27:1, 4, 13–14
- 1 Corinthians 1:10–13, 17
- Matthew 4:12–23
