Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13–14
1 Corinthians 1:10–13, 17
Matthew 4:12–23
The Sunday of the Word of God is celebrated on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. In a particular way, this highlights the truth known intuitively by most Catholics but often missed by those who see the Church only from the outside: We are a Bible-believing Church.
The Word of God, that is, the Eternal Son of the Father, has made Himself known to us in word and sacrament. Just as the Risen Lord Jesus is present to us in a substantial and sacramental way through the Eucharist, so the same Son of God is made present through sacred Scriptures, through the word proclaimed to us in the Bible. We are called to receive Him and to allow Him to feed and nourish the world through our response in faith.
With the psalmist, we proclaim, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” The Word of God is the source of the light that we need to put our faith into practice. We are given the salvation that God wills for His people through the Living Presence of Jesus Christ in word and sacrament.
The call of the first disciples of Jesus as presented by Matthew reveals how the Lord shares His will with us. He proclaims the Gospel in word and deed. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Passing by the fishermen, He calls them to follow Him. “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” First Peter and Andrew, then James and John, leave their former way of life and learn from Jesus. They watch as He goes about preaching, teaching and healing the sick. Salvation is given, and all are called to respond.
When we learn about Jesus from the Scriptures through our own reading and study, alone or in groups, and nowadays through the many resources available to us, we are confronted just as the first generation of disciples with a call to respond. Jesus penetrates our minds and hearts as we hear His word proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Word and in the prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours. What is required of us is a decision. Will we follow where He leads?
The word of God presented in the Scriptures can become prayer. Our hearts are centered by the words of the psalm: “One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD and contemplate his temple.” When we ask one thing of the Lord, we are ready to “leave our nets” and to follow.
Faith is enriched by the words and deeds presented to us in the Scriptures. When we become convinced that the will of God made known to us offers more than we could ask or imagine, we can proclaim: “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living.”
Our own lives then become a living mirror of the stories told in Scripture. We believe. We live. Our lives make known to those around us what God offers to His followers.
At a time when the world seeks a clear witness of Christian life, the word of God serves to allow that to happen wherever souls are willing to respond. St. Paul invites us to a witness of unity: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”
The Catholic Church invites all to read and pray and to deepen knowledge of Jesus and His ways through the Scriptures. Each of us, every family can take the Bible home in so many ways. Be creative as you seek to live the Sunday of the Word of God. Let the word of God dwell in you!