The word becomes flesh ...

     We are a visual and auditory people in these modern days.  I love my Nook for a variety of reasons, and even though I have not moved to "listening" to a book on an audio recording, I know that that, too, is very popular.  We are a people of convenience ... which is okay.  However, we are losing the "feel" for the texture of the paper, the size of the tome, and the experience of "carrying" the book or books.

     What we hear, what we see, what we read is embraced through a variety of filters (time constraints, experiences, interests, attentiveness, prejudices, understanding, etc.).  We pick and choose what we want to pass on.  This is a part of human nature.

     But the WORD entrusted to us by God is too important, too vital to be accepted, embraced and passed on through the normal filters of life.  The reading from Ezekiel from the Hebrew Scriptures this morning has the Lord pointing that out to Ezekiel.  He says to Ezekiel that this rebellious people needs to hear the call to repentance and conversion, a message of "Lamentation and wailing and woe!"   But they can only respond if they hear, and the can only hear if it is proclaimed, and it can only be proclaimed if it is understood, and it can only be understood if the message become an integral part of the proclaimer,  So he tells Ezekiel to take the written scroll that God has handed to him and to eat it, to literally eat the scroll.  To eat it and digest it and allow it to become a part of who he is so that when he speaks in God's name, the WORD would be powerful and true.  And Ezekiel found the the strong and bitter words on the scroll to be sweet as honey in his mouth.

     We are entrusted with the written WORD of God in the Scriptures.  We are presented with the WORD of teaching, instruction and guidance through the Church.  And most importantly we are gifted with the living WORD of God found in our relationship to Jesus Christ and in his Eucharistic Presence.  The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.  And in doing so, the Word becomes flesh in our lives even today, unfiltered and unimpeded, bringing about that transformation in us that the Lord desires.  What a wonderful God we have!