By Fr. Antony Christy, SDB-
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wis 7: 7-11; Heb 4: 12-13; Mk 10: 17-30
The Word this Sunday is on the Word.
The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us! The truth is not just that…the Word becomes flesh even today. Stay with me and think along…
The Word is the foundational principle of our Christian life. It is the Word that makes all the difference for the choices we make. The Word offers us all the wisdom we stand in need of to live a life that is meaningful. The Word has to be desired with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength. It is not that easy!
The Word is also our Judge, practically because the Word gives us the criteria to live by. When those criteria are met we are affirmed; when not, the Word holds us on a tribunal. And the Word is powerful, scans deep into our intentions and motivations, not merely uttered words and external actions.
The Word is the treasure that gives meaning to our Christian life, the call that makes our whole Christian life come truly alive. It is worth giving our life in the service of the Word. At the service of the Word whatever we give up comes back manifold… the Word epitomises our entire existence!
The Word is not merely the written word that we are referring to, it is the Living Word, the Word that became flesh, the Word that becomes flesh even today! What a choice of day, to recognise, as a Universal Church, the sanctity of seven more of our brothers and sisters…for it is in this sanctity that the Word becomes flesh among us!
Pope Paul VI or Pope John Baptist Montini, Bishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero or simply Oscar Romero, Fr. Vincenzo Romano, Fr. Francesco Spinelli, Sr. Maria Katarina Kasper, Sr. Nazaria Ignacia and the young Nunzio Sulprizio are the seven who will be raised to the altars this Sunday by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square! We shall dwell on just three of these, the reason being very simple: two of them are from our own times, our century; and the third one, there is a special reason and we shall see it.
The three whom we shall speak of, shall remind us of the message today: the Word becoming flesh, in and through them, today, here and now! They remind us of the desire we need to have for the Word, the power that the Word can give us and the call that we have to follow the Word.
The Desire for the Word:
Pope Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonino Maria Montini or popularly known as Pope Paul VI was a great servant of God, who was given the responsibility of shepherding the flock of God at a time that was so crucial in the history of the Church. He exercised his Petrine ministry from 1963 to 1978… the years of the Vatican Council II and its follow up. Though it was Pope St. John XXIII who convoked the Council which has become the watershed of the identity of today’s Church, it was Pope Paul VI who actually animated it and carried it forward giving the Church her new face for the present millennium!
Of all the great and wonderful designs of God revealed to the Church, the insistence on the Word and the need for us to rediscover the centrality of the Word within our faith, was the greatest of gifts we were presented with. Pope Paul VI was a lovely instrument of God who brought us to understand the life that we have in the Word of God, with the great Constitution of the Vatican Council II, DEI VERBUM – Hearing the Word of God and proclaiming it with faith! The desire for the Word, the yearning for the Word, the love for the Word has to be the life spring from where every moment of our life gains meaning and relevance.
The Power of the Word:
Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez or fondly known simply as Oscar Romero, was not the person that we know, from the beginning. He was a good man, yes! But let us beware, being a good person alone does not suffice, we are called to be not just good persons but persons of God, making the presence of God felt wherever we are! That is a power, a power that is given to us by the Word! Yes…the ordinary conservative thinking good man Oscar Romero continued to be so, even when he was given the responsibility of being the Shepherd of a people who were so oppressed and exploited.
But there was a moment when he encountered the Word and that changed his entire life. He found a great power in that Word! The Reign of God is here in our midst; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice and truth; they shall behold the Word face to face! The Archbishop discovered a force, a power within himself that none could surpass, unless they did away with him and that is exactly what they did. On 24th March, 1980 they shot him, right at that wonderful moment when the Word was becoming Flesh for the People of God, during the moments of Consecration at the Eucharist. He was the voice of the voiceless, the power of the powerless, the hand of God for the suffering people of God…he was the Word alive among them!
The Call of the Word:
Nunzio Sulprizio was a late addition to the list to be canonised this day… while the rest of them were announced on 19th May, Sulprizio’s name was added on 19th July! It would be interesting to reflect why so. First of all, Sulprizio was just 19 (13 April, 1817 – 5 May, 1836) when he died and with the Synod for the Young underway, isn’t this the right time to canonise this youngster, miracles in whose intercession are already authenticated and recognised by the Church. A beautiful icon for the youth of today!
Secondly, this young man was declared ‘Blessed’ in 1963 by the then Holy Father, Pope Paul VI… what a wonderful message it is, to see the Blessed and the Pope who beatified him being declared together as ‘Saints’! The message is simple and clear: the Call that the Word has for us – to listen and to follow the Word to the farthest extent, of leaving behind everything and gladly embracing the cross of nothingness! The Call is for us, not just to hear the Word, but to become the Word, following the Word in every sense. Just as Jesus did, to empty ourselves and take upon ourselves the Will of God, with joy and sense of sacrifice that was found in the life of the young Sulprizio.
What a wonderful day to celebrate! Let us unite to thank God for this great Word alive amidst us even today…in and through these saintly brothers and sisters that we have. Let us behold the Word today, nurture within us a great yearning and desire for the Word, recognise the power the Word fills us with in front of this world and respond to the call that we have: To grow continuously in order to become the Word ourselves!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.