11 December, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Word of God

1. The supernatural power of the Word of God derives from God Himself, not from the particular person who utters it.

Remember what Jesus Christ said to His Apostles when He told them to convert the world to faith and holiness. "Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptised shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned." (Mk. 16:15-16)

The salvation of the world must come from the preaching of the Apostles and their successors, but only because their preaching contains the word of God Himself. There have been many philosophers throughout the centuries who taught their own particular doctrines with great eloquence and persuasiveness. Their teaching did little to make men better, however. Perhaps men did not listen to them, or perhaps they heeded them for a while and soon forgot them. That is always the fate of human achievement. After the initial noise and flourish comes silence and oblivion. But the word of God remains forever. “The word of the Lord endures forever.” (Peter 1:25) The light of the Gospel never fades, because it is a light which comes from God. The goodness which emanates from its inspired pages will move and transform human hearts until the end of time.

2. We should hold the word of God in reverence and listen attentively to it. “He who hears you, hears me,” Jesus told His Apostles, “and he who rejects you, rejects me.” (Luke 10:16) The man who preaches the word of God may be imperfect and ill-trained, but we should not judge his message by his personal qualities and oratorical ability. We should focus our attention on the word of God and treasure that. God often employs weak and imperfect instruments, and even unworthy ones, in order to accomplish His work, so that we may hear His word with humility and seek Him rather than men. If we seek men, we shall find men; but if we seek God, we shall find God and His eternal truth and goodness.

We should listen humbly to God's word and should remember that we have great need of it. Even if we are well instructed and feel that we are more learned than the preacher, it is still necessary for us to be attentive to the living word of God so that it may transform us and make us holy.

3. It is especially important for us to acquire the dispositions necessary to enable us to listen attentively to the word of God and to put it into practice in our lives. We are all acquainted with the parable of the sower. The seed, of course, represents the word of God. Some of the seed fell by the wayside and was trampled into the earth or carried away by the birds. Some fell on rocky ground and because of the lack of moisture it withered away. Some fell among thorns, which choked it and prevented it from springing up. Finally, the rest of the seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit more or less abundantly. (Mt. 13:3-8)

How do we receive the word of God? Perhaps we are constantly dissipated and distracted? In that case the divine seed will not bear fruit, but will be trampled down or will wither away. It may be, however, that we hear the word of God with pleasure and joy until our first enthusiasm is strangled by our fondness for money, ease and earthly pleasures, which prevents us from laying up merit for everlasting life.

Let us remember that the word of God is a very precious gift, which ought not to be neglected or abused. Our eternal salvation depends on the manner in which we receive it.