‘Your words, O Lord, are spirit and life’.
Have you ever wondered why we carry the Book of the Gospels raised in procession, placed on the altar and carried again in procession to the lectern? Why we stand as the procession enters, and why we stand to greet the Gospel? We do so perhaps because, well that’s what we do!! But for good reason – the tradition of our Catholic faith.
Do these actions remind you of anything we listened to in today’s readings – about Ezra and Jesus?
“…Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood.”
“[Jesus] as was his custom, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.”
Today Ezra tells the people, “This day is holy to the Lord.”
Today is known as the Sunday of the Word of God. You may feel that that is every Sunday! But on the 30th September 2019 Pope Francis instituted “the third Sunday in ordinary time to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination (by way of homily) of the Word of God’, based on Psalm 119 verse 74: “I have hoped in your word.’ And his declaration has history: it is 60 years this year since Dei Verbim (the Word of God’), one of the four Dogmatic Constitutions thatcame out of Vatican II in 1965. I am not trying to swamp you with facts and dates as Vatican II perhaps was not as visible as it could have been even though personally I lived through all that when I was between 14 and 17. But 60 years on it has impact perhaps demonstrated by Pope Francis’ much more recent reflection.
If you will bear with me I would like to highlight some thoughts of Pope Francis. He writes:
“I 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”. “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.
It is important…that in the Eucharistic celebration the sacred text be enthroned, in order to focus the attention of the assembly on the…value of God’s word. On this Sunday, it would be particularly appropriate to highlight the proclamation of the word of the Lord and to emphasize in the homily the honour that it is due.”
Sacred scripture, we know, is one of the two foundations of our faith, (the other, Sacred Tradition). It is the word of God written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In all Masses we listen to and take part in these actions in the part of the Mass called the Liturgy of the Word. Our readings today are very good examples of these foundations. The scripture events of the Old Testament foretell the coming of the Messiah and Jesus of the New Testament fulfils the scripture of the Old; he stands in the synagogue:
‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’
There is therefore a bridge built on Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition connecting the Old and New Testaments. The first reading tells us that Ezra read ‘from the book, from the Law of God’. In other words Ezra, a subject of scripture, is himself reading from scripture. This sets the scene for today’s Gospel according to Luke, Jesus of the New Testament reading from Old Testament, the prophecy of Isaiah. Today and everyday OT and NT scripture is being read in the Liturgy of the Word.
And it is not only in reading but in interpreting. Ezra interprets, explains, the passages “..so that all could understand.” Jesus teaches in the synagogue to the point where “all…looked intently on him”, so we can be assured that they won’t settle for this but are looking to him to explain his teaching of the passage he chooses and the relevance it has for us and for all generations. This interpretation, we call a homily, is continued today, by a Priest or Deacon. So a continuing act has taken place throughout the history of scripture.
Sacred tradition is the handing on from one generation to the next of the teachings of Jesus and the apostles recorded in the New Testament, as demonstrated by both our second reading from St Paul to the Corinthians and our Gospel reading. Early Christians did not know of a ‘New Testament’, writings were in their infancy, so Tradition was passed on by word of mouth. That is why Tradition is being lived today by our passing on those teachings by our spoken word.
You may have watched a 2010 film the ‘Book of Eli’, starring Denzel Washington. It is a post-apocalyptic film set following a nuclear war, and I am not normally into futuristic films. The plot surrounds the search for a book. Eli encounters many violent situations involving people attempting to find this book; but he survives. The twist in the story is that Eli is blind, a fact not known until the end, and he proves to be ‘the book’. Surviving until the end he narrates the whole of the bible which he carries in his head and as he dictates, it is all written down. Reminds us of how holy scripture has been passed on by word of mouth or in written form for those who could read. A fanciful story perhaps but it does carry a moral. It’s not that we have to commit the whole of the bible to memory but it demonstrates for us an opportunity we should take to pass on the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, to pass on our faith, to re-echo our faith, to spread the good news of Jesus and live as God wishes us to.
And how does he wish us to live? In the Gospel, Jesus is setting out his stall as it were, he is announcing his ministry. For the first time he is announcing that he is the Messiah foretold centuries before, that he is fulfilling God’s promises, and that the text he reads is fulfilling that ministry:
‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor,
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and the recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
This is how Jesus lived: among the poor, the sick and the dying and those repressed by Roman occupation; he brought the Good News of salvation; he was bringing a new law, and not only by preaching it, but he was the living reality of it. As we respond to the psalm:
‘Your words, O Lord, are spirit and life.’
The passage he chooses becomes our ministry. We are the Church, we are the members of the one body of Christ St Paul speaks of in the second reading. As one body we depend on each other. We look to those in our society less fortunate than ourselves. By our actions we reach out to those in need both in our local communities and to the world at large.
So perhaps today let us reflect on our own lives. Do we grasp those opportunities presented to us, no matter how small or in whatever circumstance, to listen to the word of God, to spread the Good News, to pray and work together as the one Body of Christ for the benefit of the poor and those in many countries of the world repressed in religion and downtrodden in humanity? Let us remember our foundations of faith: Scripture to feed us with the word of God and Tradition to announce and live the life of Jesus and the Apostles.
Let us recall on this day, the Sunday of the Word of God, when we stand in procession or in greeting the Gospel the reverence we show and the importance we attach to the word of God. “For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.” I trust I haven’t made you weep too much!