Word of God Sunday and what it ultimately should do to us.

Pope Francis decreed through his Apostolic Letter Aperuit illis issued in September 2020 that the 3^rdSunday in Ordinary Time be observed as Word of God Sunday throughout the world in every diocese.  Before this decree, it was left up to the different Bishops’ Conferences to decide when they would observe this within their regions.  However, with this decree, the universal church would do this on the same Sunday.  

 

Do you find yourself, like many most probably would, asking what is the aim and purpose of such a decree?  If so, then it shows that the centrality of the Word of God has in your life needs some rearrangement.  As Catholic Christians, it is truly imperative that we centre our lives on being motivated and defined by the truth and power that lies in the Word of God.  The phrase “Word of God” has meaning and depth that is more than meets the eye. It isn’t only the printed words that form what is known as the Bible or Sacred Scripture, though for most it is limited to this definition.  John’s Gospel has a prologue which many find to be deep and esoteric, and here we are told that the Word of God is also the logos, who is Jesus himself, the second person of the Holy Trinity.  

 

When we understand this, then by saying that as Catholic Christians when we are called to centre our lives on the Word of God, we are in fact saying that our lives have a very strong need to be formed, shaped, moved and given purpose by BOTH the sacred words of Scripture, and the person of Jesus Christ, who is the Word made Man.  

 

The Church wants us to cherish the Word of God.

At every Catholic funeral, be it a Mass or a service, we have the option of placing Christian symbols on the casket of the deceased.  The funeral pall is the white cloth that covers the casket, symbolic of the baptismal garment that we wore at our baptism.  The other symbol is the Cross of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who saved us by his own cross on Calvary, and who calls each one of us to carry our crosses after him.  The third one is the Bible.  

 

I have little hesitance when placing the first two symbols on the casket, but the third symbol of our faith, the Word of God, is one which I sometimes wonder if I should leave out after having a chat with the survivors of the deceased.  This is because the words in the official Rites that accompany the placing of the Bible are “In life, (name) cherished the Gospel of Christ. May Christ now greet him/her with these words of eternal life:  Come, blessed of my Father!”

 

Of course the words are beautiful and touching.  Who doesn’t want to hear Jesus telling our beloved deceased relative or friend “come, blessed of my Father”?  It’s not that part that I struggle with.  I would want very much for every deceased to hear Jesus telling him or her that.  But it is what comes before those words that I fear may have a very hollow ring to it.  To say that in life, so-and-so CHERISHED the gospel of Christ is certainly not a throwaway phrase.  

 

At the celebration of any liturgy, the words that are used are very important, and don’t just lend themselves to aesthetics and pleasantries.  They need to mean what is said; otherwise they should not be said at all.  It has to therefore be true that in life, that there was evidence that the person had truly cherished the Word of God, and that includes frequent, if not daily appreciating the Word, pondering over the Word, and wanting to live life having been influenced and formed by the Word of God. We don’t cherish the Word by leaving it unopened with the spine uncracked and pages stuck together due to years of being left on the shelf.  While it doesn’t mean that every Catholic should be a scripture scholar, we do have a need to have some degree of familiarization with the Word of God. 

 

I always make a visit to the wake of the deceased before the day of the funeral to pray for the deceased, as well as to have a chat with the family members.  It is there that I find out a bit more about the spiritual life of the deceased, and whether he or she had, in their living days, demonstrated that the Word of God was indeed cherished.  Oftentimes, the family members cannot say with any degree of confidence that the deceased had been seen poring over the pages of the Bible or praying with the Word.  Of course, this may not mean that the person never did pray, but that there was no evidence of it taking place.

 

While we should never pray in order to be seen praying (Jesus does warn against this in the gospels), I am certain that if there was evidence that the person’s life was driven and shaped by gospel values and being steeped with the Word of God, it would have been easily detected.  

 

Pope Francis, by decreeing Word of God Sunday to be observed by the entire universal church, is in essence reminding us to have our lives shaped and textured by the words of Sacred Scripture. When we do this clearly and assiduously while we are alive, we not only leave a good and lasting legacy for our loved ones after we part from them in this life.  

 

At our funerals, our lives will make the words of the Rite truly meaningful, and give peace and real comfort to our loved ones.