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Rediscover the Word of God this Sunday

Today is Jan. 26, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Today we read at Mass, “Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people, their hands raised high, answered, ‘Amen, amen!’ Then they bowed down and prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground” (Neh 8:6).

We’ve been restoring the building that houses our Dominican seminary here in Washington, DC. The Dominican House of Studies has been home to the formation of the friars of the Province of St. Joseph since 1905. An intimidating gothic facade gives way to a lively community within, albeit one that has needed some upkeep of late! My favorite project has been the restoration of the high altar and mural in our chapel.

Depicting the Virgin Mary giving the Rosary to St. Dominic, surrounded by Dominican saints, the chapel is breathtaking. Just this week I brought someone who has lived in the neighborhood for years to the chapel for the first time. She was stunned!

I felt the same way when I came to the House of Studies for the first time. I couldn’t believe the men I met; the beauty of prayer here (the Liturgy of the Hours chanted marvelously by more than 60 men’s voices!). I felt at home instantly. It was an important moment for the confirmation of my vocation. The return to Jerusalem for the people of Israel must have been something like that.

Rediscovering the beauty of divine truth

In the Old Testament, after decades of exile in Babylon, the people of Israel returned to Jerusalem with hearts eager for renewal. Scripture tells us that Ezra the priest gathered them together and read aloud the Book of the Law. Many of these exiles heard God’s Word for the first time in their adult lives, and their response was overwhelming. They wept in repentance and rejoiced in rediscovery. Though the scroll was never truly lost, it had long been forgotten in the hearts of God’s people — and hearing it again sparked a profound conversion.

Today, as the universal Church celebrates “Word of God” Sunday, we should realize that we too, can fall into a kind of exile when we drift away from Scripture. The busyness of life or the burden of trials can distance us from the nourishment of God’s Word. Yet as Ezra’s example shows, the possibility of rediscovery of the beauty of divine truth promises renewal and joy. Simply pausing to read Scripture, whether at Mass or in personal prayer, is an invitation to reclaim our own identity as God’s beloved children and to be “stunned” again in God’s presence.

Let us pray,

Almighty ever-living God, direct our actions according to your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.