GARCIA-LUENSE: Reflecting on Word of God Sunday

In about a week and a half, we will observe Sunday, Jan. 26, as Word of God Sunday. Pope Francis inaugurated this annual liturgical observance on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time just a little over five years ago. This relatively new celebration for us as Catholics deserves a little reflection. 

First and foremost, it is imperative for us as Catholics to remember that the Word of God is something much more profound than letters in a book. The Word of God is a person, the second person of the Most Blessed Trinity. As the Gospel of John reminds us in its opening verses, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). The evangelist goes on to point out (v. 3), recalling Genesis, that this Word was how God created everything. “God said… and so it happened” (Gen 1:7,9,11,15,24,30).

We have just finished celebrating the season of Christmas in which we remember, reflect upon, and celebrate the great mystery that John articulates just a few verses later, “And the Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). 

If the Word of God is a person, the person of Jesus Christ, how do we then, as Catholics, understand the Bible as the Word of God? The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation issued by the Second Vatican Council says, “Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit…. Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God” (Dei Verbum, no. 10). Thus, the Bible, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is a faithful witness to the one eternal Word. The council fathers note that this expression of the Word of God in human words is similar to the incarnation itself when the eternal Word took on human flesh and weakness (cf. Dei Verbum, no. 13). The eternal ineffable God who dwells in unapproachable light condescends to express Himself, to reveal Himself, in ways that we human beings are capable to receive. 

The Scriptures, then, become a place in which we encounter God. The privileged place of this encounter is, of course, in the Liturgy. When the words of Scripture are proclaimed as a part of the Liturgy, it is Christ Himself who speaks to us. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy speaks of this as one of the four modes by which Christ is really present in the Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 7). (The other three are the person of the priest presider, in the liturgical assembly, and the Eucharistic species.) God in Christ comes to us through the Liturgy of the Word. Therefore, the Scriptures are essential to coming to know the Word of God. This is so true that the Council Fathers quote St. Jerome in asserting that, “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Dei Verbum, no. 25). As a result, “Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful” (Dei Verbum, no. 22).  

Let us take the upcoming opportunity of Word of God Sunday to renew our appreciation for the importance of the Scriptures in our lives as Christian faithful.

Let us open our minds and hearts ever more deliberately during the Liturgy of the Word at our Sunday masses. Let us make time to individually encounter the Word of God in human words by making the Scriptures in some form or fashion a part of our daily prayer. And in this Jubilee year dedicated to the virtue of hope, let us, like the psalmist, declare to God, “I hope in your Word” (Ps 119:74). 

Brian Garcia-Luense is an associate director with the Archdiocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.