Dear friends in Christ
When we gather each week for Holy Mass we do so, according to Saint Augustine, to be fed at the two tables of God’s Word and His Sacrament. Specifically, as we listen to the Word of God proclaimed to us, we do so in an attitude of watchfulness because God Himself is speaking. We actually stand in attention listening to the Gospel. As Saint Augustine again says in his commentary on the Gospel: we should hear the Gospel as if our Lord were present and speaking to us. We must not say 'happy with those who could see him', for many of those who saw Him crucified Him; and many of those who have not seen Him have believed in him. The very words that came from our Lord's lips were written down and kept and preserved for us. We can only love someone we know. In order to get to know Jesus we read the Gospels. This teaches us how to see Him as the Apostles saw him. To observe his reactions, to watch the way He behaved and listen to His words which are full of wisdom and divine authority. It is more difficult to get to know Jesus well without reading the Word of God. When we have listened to the Gospel at Mass our response is: Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ! So how do we praise Him? He asks us to praise Him with our needs and not simply nice words. We can run the risk of forgetting God’s Word and God’s Law and allowing the teaching of His Church to remain at a superficial level. Pope Saint John XXIII once wrote that God’s greatest enemy in the world is ignorance, the cause and, as it were, the root of all the evils that poison entire nations and perturb many souls. The moment in the Gospel of Jesus teaching in the Synagogue is a reminder again to us of the importance of our Christian formation: that is, being informed and informing ourselves of what God requires of us; how we live our life on earth in such a way as to please Him and one day merit eternal life. This means returning frequently to the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and using all of the many sound resources available for our growth in the Truths of our Faith.
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale