During the third Sunday of Ordinary time (Year B, 2009), the Filipino Church celebrates two events: the National
Bible Week and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Within the context of the Year of St. Paul, these two
events serve to highlight that importance of Paul's conversion as one of the significant events of the life of the Church
and the importance of the Scriptures as Word of God. The phrase "Word of God" means three things: Christ
Himself, the memory of Christ as handed down (tradition) by the apostles, and the Scriptures. Paul encountered the
Word of God on the way to Damascus, and after his baptism came into contact with the apostles so as to receive
from them the memory of the Lord. It is from these two events that he too began to proclaim the gospel not as
human words, but as the word of God. These encounters allowed Paul to reread the prophets and the Law (the
Scriptures) and understand them as pointing to Christ, the Messiah, the one in whose name salvation is given to all.
See also the following article
Mark 1:14-20 The First Fruits of the Kingdom Proclamation
1. The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul coincides in the Philippines with National Bible Week. This coincidence of events is Providential since it brings into focus the relationship between Word of God and the change it effects in the one who hears it and lives by it. The National Bible Week was instituted so as to remind Catholics in the Philippines that the Church lives from the altar of the Lord's Body and the Word.
Reflect: Paul met the Word of God on the way to Damascus and it changed him radically. You meet the Word of God in the proclamation of the Word in God's assembly and in the eucharistic Bread. How has your weekly encounter with the Word of God made you a better person?
2. In the recent Roman Synod on the Word of God and the Mission of the Church, the bishops and representatives of the local churches highlighted the conviction that the place where the Scriptures is rightly heard is the assembly of the Lord's Body. see Synod Message 2008
Reflect "(F)aith comes from hearing, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ" (Rm 10:17). If the visit to the Blessed Sacrament is an extension of and preparation for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, so the study of the Bible or the more prayerful "lectio divina" should be an extension of and preparation for the Liturgy of the Word. Do you make visits to the Blessed Sacrament as well as the prayerful reading of the Scriptures integral elements of your life as a Christian? If your answer is affirmative, how has your visits and lectio divina helped you participate better in the Mass and in the life of the Church? If your answer is negative, why? How do you propose to improve in this aspect of the Christian life?
3. The National Bible Week celebrations make us aware that the Word of God proclaimed in the midst of the Church must also find its echo in the midst of families, the smallest cell of the Church. Here, the memory of the Lord and of the things he has done for us is to be brought to mind, celebrated and appropriated. It is through this living memory that the family becomes Church and provides the right environment of faith, hope and love where family members grow together into the Body of Christ.
Reflect. Could you honestly say that your family is a reflection of the Church that Christ has sent out into the world to proclaim the gospel of reconciliation and forgiveness?
