Let God Speak to You

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

by Fr. David M. Knight

In the Second Vatican Council the Church spoke of a real presence of God in the reading of Scripture:

"The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since from the table of both the word of God and of the body of Christ she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life, especially in the sacred liturgy. In the liturgy God speaks to his people and Christ is still proclaiming his Gospel. In the sacred books the Father who is in heaven meets his children with great love and speaks with them." (Vatican II, “Liturgy,” no. 33; “Revelation,” no. 21.)

The encounter with Jesus, and with the Father and Spirit, that we have in reading God’s words in Scripture is just as real as the encounter Paul had on the road to Damascus. And much more reliable than any private vision of him that we might experience. When God reveals himself to us this way, we are able to declare with certitude “what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes,” and been touched by in our heart. We have seen and we can testify, “This is the word of life.”

Does it shock you to hear that Jesus Christ — and the Father and Spirit — will speak to you personally through their inspired word? Does it shock you to hear Jesus saying in John’s Gospel, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”? Or “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come”? These words were not meant just for the Twelve apostles; they were Christ’s parting promise to all who would be joined to him in grace.

We know God as the One who created all things by his word, identified himself as the Word made flesh, and his “sheep” as those who “listen to my voice”; who urged us to “let my words abide in you,” spent his time on earth verbally “teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom,” and promised that although “heaven and earth pass away, my words will not pass away.” Why, then, do we insist on treating him as someone who does not want to communicate with us any more? Why do we consider it a marvel when he does?

Initiative: Respond to the Lord's invitation to, "Come and see.” Pick up the Bible and get absorbed in it. Give God’s words time to grow on you and grow in you. The day will come when you will have no doubt that you have been enlightened by God. Don’t expect it tomorrow, but work for it today — and every day. You have to persevere until you know. Decide to make the word of God as much a part of your life as water, food and air. Be as specific about your time for reading Scripture as you are about meal times.