Sunday of the Word of God

On the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time the Church throughout the world celebrates the Sunday of the Word of God. The theme for this year’s celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God is taken from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians: “The word of Christ dwells among you” (Colossians 3:16).

St. Paul does not ask that the Word be merely listened to or studied; he wants it to dwell, that is, to take up stable residence, to shape our thoughts, guide our desires, and make credible the witness of the disciples. The Word of Christ remains a sure criterion that unifies and renders fruitful the life of the Christian community. Today we have an invitation addressed to the whole Church to place the Gospel once more at the centre, since every true renewal is born from docile listening to the Word. To welcome it means allowing ourselves to be accompanied by the One who does not deceive, because He gives life and hope. To be inhabited by the Word ultimately means permitting Christ to speak even today through our lives, so that every person may recognise His presence, which continues to illuminate the journey of history.

Every Christian and every community must rediscover the primacy of the Word of God. Its sincere and profound listening is an essential path through which human beings encounter God. When space is given to the Word, each person discovers that the Word of God dwells in the heart like a seed that, in due time, sprouts and bears fruit. Indeed, all of us are invited to nourish ourselves with the daily bread of the Word and, afterwards, to proclaim it to our brothers and sisters, for proclamation flows from the abundance of the heart, according to the Gospel saying: “from the fulness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45). (Guidance for the Sunday of the Word of God from Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation.)