Pope Francis confers the lay ministry of catechist upon nine people during Mass for the Sunday of the Word of God on Jan. 21, 2024. Vatican Media
In his homily, the pope pointed to how history shows us the power of God’s word in the lives of the saints.
“We think of the first monk, St. Anthony, who, struck by a passage of the Gospel while at Mass, left everything for the Lord. We think of St. Augustine, whose life took a decisive turn when God’s word brought healing to his heart,” Francis said.
“We think of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, who discovered her vocation by reading the letters of St. Paul. And we think too of the saint whose name I bear, Francis of Assisi, who, after praying, read in the Gospel that Jesus sent his disciples to preach and exclaimed: ‘That is what I want; that is what I ask, that is what I desire to do with all my heart!’ Their lives were changed by the word of life, by the word of the Lord.”
Pope Francis underlined that for the same thing to happen in each of our lives “we need to stop being ‘deaf’ to God’s word” and to start spending time in prayer with sacred Scripture.
Pope Francis presides over Mass for the Sunday of the Word of God in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 21, 2024. Vatican Media
“We cannot do without God’s word and its quiet and unassuming power that, as if in a personal dialogue, touches the heart, impresses itself on the soul, and renews it with the peace of Jesus, which makes us, in turn, concerned for others,” the pope said.
“It calls us to set out with him for the sake of others. The word makes us missionaries, God’s messengers and witnesses to a world drowning in words, yet thirsting for the very word it so often ignores. The Church lives from this dynamic: Called by Christ and drawn to him, she is sent into the world to bear witness to him,” he said.
Pope Francis presides over Mass for the Sunday of the Word of God in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 21, 2024. Vatican Media
During the Mass, Pope Francis formally conferred the ministries of lector and catechist upon eight women and three men from South Korea, Chad, Jamaica, Brazil, Bolivia, Germany, and Trinidad and Tobago.