Scritto da Rodelio Mapula  | Categoria: A proposito di Noi

“The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”, the letter to the Hebrews 4:12 says.

Thus, it is vital to one’s life to listen and to contemplate on this Word that gives life. The Apostles of Jesus Crucified - Davao Community, in the Philippines, rooted in its love for the Scripture endeavors to reach out to all – young and old – the beauty of contemplating the Word of God in their lives. It is a fundamental act of love for God. It is the Word which is the means that God uses to speak to us, and for that, we need to love it and use it. 

The Word of God therefore is not passive. We are called to meditate on it. We are called to contemplate on it with a deeper sense of self-giving love. The great spiritual doctor, St. John of the Cross reminds us that “contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.” Moreover, the great Pope St. Gregory highlights that the greatness of contemplation can be given to none but those who love. Whoever wishes to hold the fortress of contemplation must first of all train in the camp of action. He believes that we ascend to the heights of contemplation by the steps of action”. It is a step of faith when we contemplate the Word of God before his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

If contemplation is love, then it must be sought in a willful listening. God speaks in the silence of the heart and listening is the beginning. God speaks in various ways. One of these is the Sacred Scripture. The scripture is the Word of God. St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy reminds that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (3:16). Everything begins in listening – inclining our ears as to what the Lord God has to say. 

St. John Avila in his spiritual masterpiece “Audi Filia” invigorates that hearing the word of God leads to deeper communion with Him. He advises everyone to listen for God’s voice. Listening to this melodious symphony of the Truth is the best way to develop spiritual ears. In truth, there is always something to listen and always something to live. Adding to it, Cardinal Robert Sarah is right when saying that our world no longer hears God because it is constantly speaking, at a devastating speed and volume, in order to say nothing. It holds forth in an unending monologue. He understood that there is a dictatorship of speech, a dictatorship of verbal emphasis. This theatre of shadows proves that nothing is left but a purulent wound of mechanical words, without perspective, without truth, and without foundation (The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, 2016).

Profound listening with love is a contemplative practice. When listening is sought with contemplation, it makes everything more and more a reflection of love. In our continuous effort of making the Word of God active and a source of inspiration in the lives of the faithful, we aspire to begin it with the children who indeed are the hope of the Church in the years to come. St. John Paul II exclaimed “how important children are in the eyes of Jesus! (Letter to Children, 1994). This is a positive sign of hope, a concrete wish for life. Above all, it is homage to children, whom Jesus favored and by whom he loved to be surrounded. To the people and to his disciples, he pointed to the little ones as models for entering the kingdom of heaven (The Church and Children, 2001). 

Furthermore, Pope Francis reminds in one of his audience of students that children are a joy-filled gift for the Church and the world. Children give life, joy and hope. As St. John Paul said, “they are the hope that continually blossoms, a project that starts ever anew, the future that opens without ceasing (Jubilee of Families, 2000). Everyone can and should participate in evangelization even the young. Mission is the work of all God's People, each one in the vocation to which Providence has called him (World Mission Day, 2000). Let us then encourage the children to cultivate this love of contemplating the Word of God in their hearts that it may truly radiates in their whole being to make them not only good persons but holy Catholic Christians.