He opened their eyes
Pope Francis established Sunday of God's Word more than a year ago by publishing an Apostolic Letter with the meaningful title: "He opened their eyes." The risen Jesus first explained the Scriptures to the disciples going to Emmaus, and then opened their eyes to recognize Him. The enlightenment was crucial for their whole life: they became witnesses of Jesus crucified and risen! According to Pope Francis, the third Sunday in ordinary time is a time of thanksgiving for the Word of God, which is given to us in the words of Sacred Scripture, which we read during the liturgy in the church, and also in homes during individual and family prayer. The Holy Father invites us this Sunday to glorify God, who speaks to us, because he is "good and gracious". And being “good and gracious, he shows the way to sinners, and helps the humble to do good and he teaches the poor his ways”- this is what the Psalmist assures us today.
God's Word - converts, transforms and saves man.
Today, thanks to the scriptures which we have heard during Holy Mass, we discover another role of the Word of God. What God says can convert, transform and save us! But the Word of God does not fall like a fire from heaven. God chooses people - prophets and apostles. He reveals to them and entrusts his word so that they can direct it to a specific person or to the whole people. How does God's word convert, transform, and save?
First, we see Jonah whom God, despite his initial resistance, sends him with his word:" Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you." Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said." Amazingly, Jonah's word from God speaks in the first place about the coming punishment. The people of Nineveh took it with the utmost seriousness as a word from God, not from the Jewish prophet Jonah: "And the people of Nineveh believed God." Jonah brought this word to them and announced it. After hearing him, they humbled themselves before God, asking for mercy. God's Word - even the one that heralded imminent punishment as a consequence of their grave sins - touched their hearts and led them to repent.
The apostles are called to save people from the depths of death with the net of the Gospel.
In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus calls the apostles, whom he calls "fishers of men." He will send them to people with a net in the form of the Gospel. Woven from the words of Christ that come from God, which brings Grace - Merciful love that saves the perishing. Moreover, this net can not only save them, but also transfer them from the currents and depths of death to the streams of Living Water - into the space of life permeated with the Holy Spirit, into the world inspired by Truth and Love. The words of the Gospel have such Power from God and Christ!
Word of God sets us free to live in another world now: not in a sad world of consumption, but in a joyful space of sharing; not in the captivity of the senses, but in sacrificial love inspired by the truth about man; not in the darkness of boosters and drugs that obscure consciousness and kill the dynamism of life, but in the brightness and splendor of reason enlightened by the wisdom that gives happiness and prosperity.
Saint Paul draws this new world in front of people picked up by the Gospel net from the abyss of sin and death. He emphasizes that time is short and that soon the entire world will be transformed. In the context of the approaching end, he does not write to give up everyday life, but calls for a life of absolute freedom and selfless love. He wants believers to put the Person of God, His new world in the first place and to live their daily lives in such a way that the waters contaminated with sins and the currents of everyday life would not flood them and prevent them from reaching God's Kingdom.
The Word of God shapes in the Eucharist our way of salvation!
Listening to the word of God this Sunday, we see how it sets out and shows us the way of salvation like a supernatural GPS - the way to holy life, and ultimately to Heaven. It is similar to a several lane highway. The basic lane is a path of deep conversion. It runs throughout our life and is regularly cared so that grave sins do not obstruct it. The second is a trail of activity inspired by God's Word, His Gospel. Everyday transformation takes place there through sacrificial love, commitment to creating good, by building a fraternal community of life. And on both of them there is a trail of happiness and joy from conversion, from ever deeper transformation and from victory over sin and death.
The word that comes from God and Christ opens for each of us this wonderful path to Heaven, made of several trails. Today’s Word calls us to courage and trust: "Follow me!". It also marks the next sections on each of these routes with its inspiration - up to the finish line, which is the fullness of salvation, the full happiness in communion with the saints and with God in Heaven!
And a foretaste of this Fullness of happiness is the Lord's Feast that we celebrate. Those who follow this path of salvation can fruitfully participate in it, constantly listening to the calls brought by the Word of God. Let us praise our God today! Let us give thanks for the content of these Words, for its truth, and for the Grace and Love that it brings and pours into our consciences and souls. May it continually convert us, watch over us, transform us and make us happy! Let The Word of God save us now.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george