Parish Transformation Update (1/24/21)

PARISH TRANSFORMATION UPDATE
1/24/21

LET’S GET THE WORD OUT!

Pope Francis has declared the 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time “Word of God” Sunday, which we celebrate today.

The Word of God, as proclaimed in the Sacred Scriptures, lies at the heart of our Christian life. We meet the one true and holy God in His sacred writings. God wants to meet us in many ways. One of those ways is in our Holy Bible, written in our human language. It is in Scripture where we learn God’s gentle kindness (a kindness which, paradoxically, cannot be expressed in words!). And still, God adapts His language with thoughtful concern for our weak human nature in these blessed Words He gives us.

The most wonderful Word God has given us is His Son, the Word of God, who took to Himself the flesh of human weakness. Our Lord Jesus, the Word of God become flesh, was made like us in all ways but sin, through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in this Word of God where we enter into the Heart of God.

We pray that under the influence of the same Holy Spirit who inspired the words of Sacred Scripture and overshadowed the Blessed Virgin that the Word became flesh, we may strive to allow God’s Word to be planted deeply within our hearts, so that we may come to know the Wisdom, the Will, and the Heart of God in our lives.

It has been said that the devil’s best friend is a dusty Bible. On this Word of God Sunday, what part does the Bible play in your own life? It was Saint Jerome who said that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” Perhaps a good place to get to know Jesus on a personal level is in the Gospel of Mark, which we will hear from in this year’s Sunday readings. And, if you want to delve more deeply into this particular Gospel, a wonderful commentary, written for the Christian who wants to grow closer to Jesus, the Word of God, would be something like “The Gospel of Mark” by Mary Healy from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture.

“God’s Word, listened to and celebrated, above all in the Eucharist, nourishes and inwardly strengthens Christians, enabling them to offer an authentic witness to the Gospel in daily life.”

Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” # 174

SAINT JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH

Mechanicsburg, PA

Parish Transformation Update (1/24/21)