The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, on the Roman calendar, typically falls around the end of January.
In Aperuit Illis, Pope Francis said Catholics should keep in mind God’s teaching in the Book of Revelation: that the Lord is standing at the door and knocking. “Christ Jesus is knocking at our door in the words of sacred Scripture. If we hear his voice and open the doors of our minds and hearts, then he will enter our lives and remain ever with us,” he said.
“The Bible,” he noted, “cannot be just the heritage of some, much less a collection of books for the benefit of a privileged few. It belongs above all to those called to hear its message and to recognize themselves in its words.”
“The Bible is the book of the Lord’s people, who, in listening to it, move from dispersion and division towards unity. The word of God unites believers and makes them one people,” he stated.
The pope also explained that there is an ecumenical value to the celebration of Sunday of the Word of God, since “the Scriptures point out, for those who listen, the path to authentic and firm unity.”
Each community can decide how to mark the Sunday of the Word of God, but it is important, he said, that sacred scripture be “enthroned.”
He said one example of how to do this would be to highlight the “proclamation of the word of the Lord and to emphasize in the homily the honor that it is due.”
Other examples he gave were for pastors to give out Bibles or a book of the Bible to encourage daily prayer with sacred scripture, such as lectio divina, or for bishops to celebrate the Rite of Installation of Lectors that day. He added that this is a good opportunity for parishes to renew their efforts to train lectors to be “genuine proclaimers of the word.”
Francis spoke about the role of pastors, who, he said, have the responsibility of explaining sacred scripture and helping their parishioners understand it, especially through the homily, which possesses, as it says in Evangelii Gaudium, “a quasi-sacramental character.”
“Helping people to enter more deeply into the word of God through simple and suitable language,” he emphasized, “is a pastoral opportunity that should not be wasted!”