Pastoral Message and Worksheet Two - Meeting Jesus in our listening

This weekend you will receive the second of our worksheets for this year, which concerns the Liturgy of the Word at Sunday Mass. Both Pope Francis and the Bishops of England and Wales have called on us this year to think more and more about the importance of the Sacred Scriptures in our journey of faith: as Bishop John says in today’s message: … it is in listening to the readings from the Scriptures that we hear God Himself speaking to us. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that “the Word of God is something alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12) which means that even the most familiar passages of the Scriptures can speak to us in different and new ways according to the circumstances of our lives, challenging and reassuring us, day by day. It is important that we continually investigate and pray with the Scriptures so that God can be made present in all our actions, choices and decisions.

In weeks to come we will explore the different parts of the Liturgy of the Word one by one, but for this Sunday please spend some time thinking about, and discussing, the way in which we have a personal encounter with Jesus through the Word of God proclaimed in Sunday Mass.