Focus on the Church - 5 March 2012

Focus on the Church Sunday March 04, 2012
Verbum Domini, the Apostolic Exhortation 7
In our today’s programme we bring you the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, meaning, the Word of the Lord, of Pope Benedict XVI, which is a reflection on the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in 2008, devoted to “The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church.” This document which is being considered as the most important Church document on Holy Scripture since the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, published in 1965. Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, said that the purpose of the document is to communicate the results of the Synod; rediscover the Word of God – a source of constant ecclesial renewal; to promote the Bible among pastors; to help the faithful become witnesses of the Word of God; to support the new evangelization and ecumenical dialogue; and to foster ever greater love for the Word of God. It is addressed to the Bishops, Clergy, Consecrated Persons and the Lay Faithful and considers "the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church".
Pope Benedict through the present Synod hopes to build a link with the previous Synod and stresses on the importance of the Word of God in the life of the church he indicates that with the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God, he is conscious of dealing in a certain sense with the very heart of the Christian life, in continuity with the previous synodal assembly on The Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission. Indeed, the Church is built upon the word of God; she is born from and lives by that word. Throughout its history, the People of God has always found strength in the word of God, and today too the ecclesial community grows by hearing, celebrating and studying that word. It must be acknowledged that in recent decades ecclesial life has grown more sensitive to this theme, particularly with reference to Christian revelation, the living Tradition and sacred Scripture.
The Pope then speaks of the growing awareness of the word of God in the life of the Church. Beginning with the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII, we can say that there has been a crescendo of interventions aimed at an increased awareness of the importance of the word of God and the study of the Bible in the life of the Church, culminating in the Second Vatican Council and specifically in the promulgation of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum. The latter represented a milestone in the Church's history: "The Synod Fathers ... acknowledge with gratitude the great benefits which this document brought to the life of the Church, on the exegetical, theological, spiritual, pastoral and ecumenical plane". The intervening years have also witnessed a growing awareness of the "Trinitarian and salvation-historical horizon of revelation" against which Jesus Christ is to be acknowledged as "mediator and fullness of all revelation". To each generation the Church unceasingly proclaims that Christ "completed and perfected revelation. Everything to do with his presence and his self-manifestation was involved in achieving this: his words and works, signs and miracles, but above all his death and resurrection from the dead, and finally his sending of the Spirit of truth".
The Second Vatican Council brought about a transformation in the understanding of the Word of God through its documents particularly the Dei Verbum. This document indeed brought great transformation in the inner expression and theological thinking of the word of God. Everyone is aware of the great impulse which the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum gave to the revival of interest in the word of God in the life of the Church, to theological reflection on divine revelation and to the study of sacred Scripture. In the last forty years, the Church's magisterium or the official teaching has also issued numerous statements on these questions. By celebrating this Synod, the Church, conscious of her continuing journey under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, felt called to further reflection on the theme of God's word, in order to review the implementation of the Council's directives, and to confront the new challenges which the present time sets before Christian believers.
In the twelfth synodal assembly, Bishops from throughout the world gathered around the word of God and symbolically placed the text of the Bible at the centre of the assembly, in order to stress anew something that the faithful risk taking for granted in everyday life: the fact that God speaks and responds to our questions. Together the Synod Members listened to and celebrated the word of the Lord. They recounted to one another all that the Lord is doing in the midst of the People of God, and shared their hopes and concerns. They all felt that all this made them realize that they can deepen their relationship with the word of God only within the "we" of the Church, in mutual listening and acceptance as a group or a family. Particularly due to this sharing there emerged their gratitude expressed in the testimonies about the life of the Church in different parts of the world during the various interventions on the floor. It was also moving to hear the fraternal delegates about their experiences, the persons who had been specially invited for the Synod and had accepted the invitation to take part in the synodal meeting. The Pontiff felt that in particular of the meditation offered by His Holiness Bartholomaios I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, deeply touched everyone and for which the Fathers expressed deep appreciation. Furthermore, for the first time ever, the Synod of Bishops also invited a rabbi to offer a precious witness on the Hebrew Scriptures, which are also part of our own sacred Scriptures.
The Apostolic Exhortation speaks strongly of the role of the Holy Spirit in the spread of the word of God. At the Last Supper Jesus had promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Disciples and this will remain with the church till the end of times. In this way we were able to acknowledge with joy and gratitude that "in the Church there is also a Pentecost today. In other words, the Church speaks in many tongues, and not only outwardly, in the sense that all the great languages of the world are represented in her. But more profoundly, inasmuch as present within her are various ways of experiencing God and the world, a wealth of cultures, and only in this way do we come to see the vastness of the human experience and, as a result, the vastness of the word of God. We were also able to see an ongoing Pentecost; various peoples are still waiting for the word of God to be proclaimed in their own language and in their own culture.
The Pontiff stresses the contribution of St Paul in his writing and spreading it through his preaching and missionary journeys. Pope Benedict says that throughout the Synod the members felt that they were accompanied by the testimony of the Apostle Paul. It was providential that the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly took place during the year dedicated to the great Apostle of the Nations on the two thousandth anniversary of his birth. Paul's life was completely marked by his zeal for the spread of God's word. How can we not be moved by his stirring words about his mission as a preacher of the word of God: "I do everything for the Gospel” or, as he writes in the Letter to the Romans: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith". Whenever we reflect on the word of God in the life and mission of the Church, we cannot but think of Saint Paul and his life spent in spreading the message of salvation in Christ to all peoples. Paul who proclaimed the Word to the gentiles understood the Lord well and in his preaching he could present the depth of knowledge of the divine word he had.
Pointing to the importance of Scriptures in the life of the Church, the Pope says that with this Apostolic Exhortation he would like the work of the Synod to have a real effect on the life of the Church: on our personal relationship with the sacred Scriptures, on their interpretation in the liturgy and catechesis, and in scientific research, so that the Bible may not be simply a word from the past, but a living and timely word. To accomplish this, the Pontiff himself would like to present and develop the labours of the Synod by making constant reference to the Prologue of John's Gospel, which makes known to us the basis of our life: the Word, who from the beginning is with God, who became flesh and who made his dwelling among us. This is a magnificent text, one which offers a synthesis of the entire Christian faith. From his personal experience of having met and followed Christ, John, whom tradition identifies as "the disciple whom Jesus loved", "came to a deep certainty: Jesus is the Wisdom of God incarnate, he is his eternal Word who became a mortal man". May John, who "saw and believed”, also help us to lean on the breast of Christ, the source of the blood and water which are symbols of the Church's sacraments. Following the example of the Apostle John and the other inspired authors, may we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit to an ever greater love of the word of God.
Fr Eugene lobo S.J.