On 30 September 2019, on the feast day of St Jerome, an Early Church Father from the 4th and 5th centuries who is most famous for his Latin translation of Sacred Scripture, Pope Francis declared that the third Sunday of Ordinary Time each year would be known as the Sunday of the Word of God. The Pope intends this Sunday to be a sacred day dedicated to the celebration and reflection of God’s holy word.
Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Congregation for Divine Worship declares that The Sunday of the Word of God strives to “reawaken an awareness of the importance of Sacred Scripture for our lives as believers, beginning with its resonance in the liturgy which places us in living and permanent dialogue with God.”
Since we have multiple readings from God’s holy word in our daily and Sunday Masses from both the New Testament and the Old Testament, we receive the message that God's word is to have a central role in our life of faith. God speaks to his people through these biblical readings in the liturgy. In addition, it is Christ himself who proclaims his Gospel in our liturgies.
Since the week of prayer for Christian unity falls on January 18 to 25, Pope Francis saw this as a good time of the year to celebrate our devotion to Sacred Scripture, since Scripture unites as Christians.
I really like how Pope Francis sees a direct link between Sacred Scripture and the way we can grow in our faith: “A profound bond links sacred Scripture and the faith of believers. Since faith comes from hearing, and what is heard is based on the word of Christ (Romans 10:17), believers are bound to listen attentively to the word of the Lord, both in the celebration of the liturgy and in their personal prayer and reflection.”
As we celebrate the Word of God in a special way this weekend, I want to encourage all of you to make reading and reflecting upon his holy word an interregnal part of your daily lives of faith.
Blessings to all of you - Father Lincoln.
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