The pastoral letter for this Advent entitled “Entrusting You to God and His Word”, which Archbishop Paul Cremona O.P. and Bishop Mario Grech issued on 21 November greatly emphasized the importance of listening to God’s Word and proclaim it anew.
The Bishops rightly pointed out that today we are seriously surrounded by voices which easily deviate us from listening to God’s Word. “Today, the human person is tempted to turn a deaf ear since he is weary of hearing words which sound sweet but are hollow. Words have lost their worth, so much so that it has become easy to twist them around.
In a certain sense, today the human person is opting to be deaf!” What is the remedy for this deafness in order that the human person can recuperate the capacity to listen once again?
The change to be effected lies in the subject of the person’s hearing. Hence, listening to God’s Word is the sole means through which the human person can authentically renew his and her capacity to listen appropriately. As Psalm 119 correctly states, God’s Word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). Thus, as the First Letter to Timothy says, God’s Word “is sure and worthy of full acceptance” (1 Tim 4:9).
In their pastoral letter the Bishops presented God’s Word as that which unites us as one family. It has the ability to shape us as persons. It has the power to heal us from every form of hypocrisy so that our relationships with one another are marked with sincerity and mutual concern for each other.
God’s Word is courteous because it encourages us to break the deadly silence of fear and mistrust and, instead, speak out words that save. It is not important if God’s Word is vented out from our mouths in the village square or on the church’s parvis as long as it is capable of moving the stagnant waters of not only a sinful society but also of a sinful Church!
Commenting on the Gospel episode when Jesus healed the blind, deaf and dumb man the Bishops highlighted that “the Gospel is an affirmation that God is not silent and indifferent in the face of history, but he spoke to mankind by sending us his Son. His is a Word that saves”.
In fact, at the opening of the Synod of Bishops dedicated to the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian faith, Pope Benedict XVI said that the main reason for this evangelization is “to help people encounter the Lord who alone fills our existence with deep meaning and peace, and to favour the rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and hope to personal, family and social life.”
As a catalyst for spiritual change in society the Church should firstly initiate a dialogue of conversion with God. The Bishops justly reiterate this dire need. “In order to evangelize effectively, the Church must first sit at our Lord’s feet and pay attention to his Word… New evangelization is possible if its members and its structures become internally renewed. This renewal is possible if we open up our ears to the Word which has the power to recreate us”. Admitting our personal and communal sins as Church is the key for making our words credible!
Secondly, dialogue with contemporary culture is pivotal for the new evangelization to occur. The Synod exhorts that to plant God’s Word in “the family, work, friendship, various forms of poverty and the trials of life, etc” means fruitfully encountering Jesus Christ in person! Am I ready to listen to God’s Word and let it recreate me?
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap