Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thank you for sharing some quiet time with the Lord for the next several weeks. Our guest reader is Deacon Eric Bissette, a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. You may recognize Deacon Eric as a regular reader on the Little Books app.
Let's listen Now.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke.
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the Word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats. There alongside the lake, the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked them to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.
Simon said in reply, master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.
For astonishment at the catch of the fish they had made seized him and all those with him. And likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.
When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
The Gospel of the Lord there's an interesting phrase in the very first line of the Gospel. The crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the Word of God.
The Word of God is the phrase I want you to think about.
Jesus is God.
So when Jesus speaks, they are listening to the Word of God.
I have a question for you. The Word of God was proclaimed to us at Mass in the first reading, then in the responsorial psalm, then in the second reading, and finally in the Gospel.
The question is, what's the difference, according to our teachings and our belief, between what was taking place on the shore of the Sea of Galilee when Jesus, who is God, was speaking the Word of God to the people? And what just took place at Mass when the Word of God was proclaimed to us?
Think about it for just a few seconds. What's the difference between what was taking place on that shore and what just took place Here, the answer is astounding.
There's no difference. The difference is zero.
What's taking place is precisely the same thing both there and here.
Because it's our teaching that when the Word of God is spoken at liturgy, and I quote now, God himself is speaking to his people.
In other words, it's live.
And our teachings go on to say, and I quote again, Christ present in his own word, is proclaiming the Gospel.
It's live.
So there is no difference between what was taking place when Jesus spoke to the people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and what takes place when the Word of God is spoken to us here at liturgy.
We need to look closely at this. The Word of God is not only live, it's graced. It's unlike any other kind of word. It has a power within it.
Jesus in one of his parables, compared the Word of God to a seed. A seed has life within it. And when planted in good soil, something happens. The Word of God has an effect on us as the sun has an effect on a flower, as rain has an effect on dry ground.
The Word of God carries within it God's power. Its effect is just as real as the effect of receiving into us the consecrated bread and the consecrated wine.
When we listen to the Word of God, we listen differently. For these are not words about God. These are words coming from God.
These words are not a lesson. These words are not a teaching. These words are not information.
These words are a way in which God speaks to us here and now live.
What I have been telling you is simply information.
It's helpful to know. But knowing is not the most important thing.
The most important thing is to ask ourselves, what is God speaking to me this day, to each of us this day? What is God speaking through these words we just heard?
The biggest mistake I could make would be to stand here and tell you what God is saying to you.
I don't know. God is speaking live personally to each of us. And it has a power within it. What God is speaking, what God is accomplishing as these words are proclaimed, is something only you can know. Each of us simply lets it fall upon us and lets God act upon us.
And what we receive from God is unpredictable. It goes way beyond the words themselves. It may be the farthest thing from our minds. It may be something that appears to have nothing to do with the words themselves.
These words are God speaking to you and to me and to each of us.
This is a time to listen to what God is saying live to us.
I'm going to close by inviting you to experience a new way of listening to God's word, to discover the astounding truth of God speaking to you.
Centuries ago in monasteries, the monks would get up early in the morning and gather in their places of assembly and one of them would read aloud a selected passage of scripture very slowly, and then would read it again and again and the monks would just sit there and let it fall upon them. And one by one they would go off by themselves to a quiet place.
They heard God speak to them and they went off to take it in more fully and to talk to God about it.
I want you to experience that not only right now, but every time you hear the word of God spoken upon you at liturgy.
I'll reread a part of the Gospel and invite you to clear your minds of any thoughts and simply let God speak to you, sometimes in the most surprising way.
Don't calculate the meaning. Simply let the Word fall upon you. Here's the passage Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus, saying, leave me Lord, for I am a sinful man.
Jesus said to him, do not be afraid.
Let us now take a minute of silence and let the Lord continue to speak. Life to Sa.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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We will begin our Lenten journey with the Little Black Book beginning March 2, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
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