For the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time…
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
James 1:21
If you are a faithful reader of Living Faith, you may have noticed that with every editor’s opening note from myself and my predecessors there is a verse atop that page that has become a motto, or a guiding principle regarding the purpose of Living Faith: Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart (Luke 2:19).
This is exactly what we are to do with the Word of God as it comes to us in our private reading and studying of Scripture, and most especially, via the Liturgy of the Word in the Mass. We are to receive it, like Mary did. And not just receive it and listen to it, but to obey it.
This Sunday’s epistle from St. James captures this essence as well. We are to humbly welcome the Word of God. It has the power to save us. But only if we humbly, and perhaps quite vulnerably, open ourselves to it with a willingness to repent and change.
The idea of the Word as a being planted in us is evocative of Jesus’ parable of “The Sower” (Matthew 13:1-9, 23). Such seeds need to land in rich soil, so that can turn into plants that grow to a harvest, once properly tended.
What is the Word that we are welcoming this Sunday? What will it take for us to obey?
Lord Jesus, may I listen and obey.
