Word to the Wise
Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - Wednesday in the 21th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Thess 2:9-13 and Matt 23:27-32]"And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe." [1 Thessalonians]
A recent book that I read spoke of the concern of many churches, including our own, that there is no longer a sense of biblical literacy. The Bible becomes an ancient book with pearls of wisdom, perhaps, but not really relevant to the world in which we live. There are populations where the Bible still remains the rule of life in a very direct way, but secularism has worked its way into our consciousness so that many of us would have a difficult time remembering all ten of the Ten Commandments. Biblical values are still around but their relationship to a written or spoken "word of God" is vague for so many. Some of this is due, in our own church, to poor preaching and a pre-Vatican II lack of emphasis on the role of scripture in the life of the church. Pope Benedict XVI tried to reverse this in his long post-synodal exhortation: VERBUM DOMINI, but we have a long way to go.
I say all of this in response to St. Paul's words to the Thessalonian community, one of the first he established. He sees the word of God as a dynamic force at work in the person of faith. The Second Vatican Council, in its document on the liturgy, speaks of Christ being truly and really present in his word which is proclaimed at the liturgical celebrations of the church. If only we could make that an abiding part of our consciousness when we attend Eucharist or any other celebration of the church. Of course, we need to have high standards for the proclamation of that word. We also might make the reading of scripture outside of celebrations a regular part of our lives. I know some people who do this, but again, we have a long way to go to make the word of God "work" in us who believe. AMEN
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