3^RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

21^ST/22^ND JANUARY 2023

Dear Parishioners,

This week is a week of celebrations! Today, we celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God, third Sunday of Ordinary time and on the 17^th of January we celebrated the 60^th anniversary of Verbum Dei Community, our Community, which means ‘Word of God’ in Latin.

The Word of God is God himself speaking to us, giving us the answers we are looking for, giving us the strength and the comfort we need, in the daily circumstances of our lives.  When we really listen to His Word, with faith and trust, we can receive Him into our lives. We just celebrated the words of John’s Gospel this Christmas: The Word of God was made flesh. The Word of God is alive and active (Hb 4:12).

‘Your word is a lamp to my feet’ (Psalm 119:105), God’s Word gives us light for each new step. Isaiah, in the first reading this Sunday, uses the image of light and darkness to describe how God touches our lives: The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light, on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone (Isaiah 9:1).  He is the Light in the darkness. The Light transforms the darkness of fear, of loneliness, of sadness. The Light is hope, new beginnings, new horizons.

The readings this Sunday continue with a beautiful Psalm. The Lord is my light and my help, whom shall I fear? He is my stronghold (Psalm 26). I would like to make this my prayer, my touchstone, for the coming year and I invite you to do the same; that this prayer can give us the strength to live any challenging situations we may encounter in

2023. We do not know what we will be faced with but we know that with God’s Word in our hearts He will be our light and our source of strength.

In the Gospel, Matthew quotes the same Isaiah reading to show how God is faithful to his Word and that the transforming light promised in the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament, with Jesus’ presence.  Jesus is speaking out to everyone to repent and discover the Kingdom, and then he makes a very personal call to Simon, Andrew, James and John, to join him in his mission of sharing God’s Word.

As I mentioned before, this week marked the 60^th anniversary of Verbum Dei. Our founder, Fr Jaime Bonet, understood that Jesus wants to be known all over the world, to all people, nations, languages, cultures. He understood that Jesus was asking to make his voice heard, to preach his Word and transmit his message of peace. Fr Jaime started this adventure in Mallorca, Spain and a group of young people joined him because they understood the same call from Jesus. They understood to go to the five continents and to spread His Word, in order to do that they studied Theology in Rome and Spain. Verbum Dei Missionaries were the first women to study Theology in Rome. How many adventures during these 60 years! How many people have been touched by His Word. We thank to God for 60 years of Mission and for many people who said yes to Him through this charism, to pray and to preach the Word of God.

All these celebrations are a reminder that God’s Word is new today, offering us new possibilities and also in the same way that Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James and John, he is calling each one us in different ways to speak his word of hope to others.

Take care and have a good week ahead,

Anabel Gonzalez, FMVD