POWER OF THE WORD

      The first reading for Wednesday of the first week of Lent comes from chapter 3 of the Book of Jonah.  We find Jonah finally responding to the word of God to go to the city of Nineveh and bring God's word to that sinful city.  After only one day of calling the Ninevites to repentance and to action, they responded.  A truly miraculous encounter with the power of God's word.

    With one week of Lent under our belts, we too are presented with the challenge to see God's word to us, in Scripture and in prayer, as more than "just words".

    I really like the words of Pope Francis, they speak to my heart.  Here is what he has said about the Word of God.

    The word of God changes us ... It penetrates our soul like a sword.  If, on the one hand it consoles us by showing us the face of God, on the other, it challenges and disturbs us, reminding us of our inconsistencies.  It shakes us up.  It does not bring us peace at the price of accepting a world rent by injustice and hunger, where the price is always paid by the weakest.  God's word challenges the self-justification that makes us blame everything that goes wrong on other persons and situations.  The word of God invites us to come out into the open, not to hide behind the complexity of problems, behind the excuse that "nothing can be done about it" or "it's somebody else's problem", or "what can I do?"   The word of God urges us to act, to combine worship of God and care for man.  

    The Word wishes to take flesh today, in the times in which we are living, not in some ideal future.

    Are we a Church that is docile to the word?  A Church inclined to listen to others, engaged in reaching out to raise up our brothers and sisters from all that oppress them, to undo the knots of fear, to liberate those most vulnerable from the prisons of poverty ... from the sadness that stifles life?

    We might add, from the terrors of fear and war.  The news these past two weeks has been filled with images and news of Ukraine's terrible Lent of occupation.  I've heard many people, even non religious people, say that they are "praying for the people of Ukraine".  The Word of God calls for prayer ... but also for action.  Jonah did not expect anything to happen in Nineveh, but was he surprised!  May we find ourselves surprised when the power of the Lord's word, in prayer and in active participation in the suffering of our sisters and brothers, changes hearts and minds and brings peace.