The Prophetic Word for personal Guidelines

The Prophetic Word for personal Guidelines 

The Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod on the Word of God talks about the "Outflow of God as a Hymn with many voices" (IL 9). Through this articulation, the Instrumentum Laboris alludes to the way that there are a couple of levels of importance to the articulation "the Word of God" (e.g. the Word of God as the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word of God as the made world, or the Word of God as the Incarnate Word, and so forward.). The Lineamenta for the Synod had talked before of an "outfit of implications" of the Word of God. Notwithstanding the fact that not in the exceptionally same sense, I figure we can use this same imagery for the arrangement of reflection days that have been dealt with by USG-UISG and SEDOS on the occasion of the consistent Synod on the Word of God. Amid these three reflection days, we wish to analyze the distinctive measurements of a personal prophetic Word of God – to be particular, the Word of God as imaginative, prophetic and liberating. Seven days ago, we contemplated the favored life and the innovative measurement of the Word of God. Today, we wish to contemplate the favored life and the prophetic measurement of the Word of God. In reacting to the demand to offer a reflection on the sanctified life and the prophetic measurement of the Word of God, I figured I would advance three request – in particular: (1) In what sense is the Word of God prophetic? (2) In what way does the Word of God upgrade the prophetic character of the favored life? (3) What has been the experience of my own assemblage in such manner? These three requests shape the three areas of this short reflection. 

 The Prophetic Word. 

The main request, at that point, is in what sense is the Word of God prophetic? I trust three parts ought to be considered. 

The Word of God as a Call to Action: 

The principal part is the character of the Word of God as an invitation to take action. As we probably are aware, the Word of God isn't a sit without moving word. It is a dynamic and dynamic word. It achieves what it says. In Genesis, we hear God saying: "Let there be light", and there was light. In area 55 of Isaiah, we read: For similarly as from the sky the rain and snow plummet and don't return there till they have watered the earth, making it ready and beneficial, offering seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so should my oath be that goes ahead from my mouth; It won't return to me void, but instead might do my will, accomplishing the end for which I sent it (Is 55:10-11). As we probably are aware, prophetic writing in the book of sacred texts is loaded with cases of how singular prophets or the whole nation of Israel is invigorated to activity by hearing the Word of God or scrutinizing the Torah. The Word of God is dynamic and dynamic. In the outflows of Pope Benedict XVI, it is "performative". Notwithstanding the fact that not correctly in reference to the Word of God, we read the accompanying in his encyclical Spe Salvi: So now we can state: Christianity was not simply "inspiring news" – the correspondence of a so far cloud substance. In our dialect, we would state: the Christian message was "illuminating" as well as "performative". That suggests: the Gospel isn't just a correspondence of things that can be known – it is one that gets things going and is extraordinary (SS 2). 

The Word of God as a Call to Conversion: 

The second segment is the character of the Word of God as a call to transformation. Before long, prophetic writing in the book of sacred texts contains various cases of the Word of God as a call to change. In part 8 of the book of the prophet Nehemiah, we get some answers concerning the examining of the Book of the Law "from dawn till early afternoon, inside seeing the men, ladies and those adolescents sufficiently mature to grasp" which induced the general population to apologize from their wrongdoings and search for God (cf. Neh 8:3ff). Maybe the most emotional case is the book of the prophet Hosea. The book opens with these words: "In the start of the LORD'S talking ... the LORD said to Hosea: 'Go, take a prostitute life partner and special lady's children, for the land offers itself to harlotry, getting some distance from the LORD'" (Hos 1:2). In segment 6, the prophet says: In their weight, they should search for me: "Come, let us return to the LORD, For it is he who has leased, yet he will patch us; he has struck us, yet he will tie our wounds. He will resuscitate us following two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his quality" (Hos 6: 1-2). As such, the Word of God isn't simply "performative" (achieving what it says), it is in like manner "transformative". As the Holy Father says in Spe Salvi, the Word of God is "groundbreaking" (on the same page.). It requires a change – change of the unmistakable individual as well as of the greater society or of the entire nation, as we find in the book of the prophet Hosea. As often as possible, remembering the true objective to realize this change, God approaches the prophet to go, figuratively speaking, "against the current". He asks for that the prophet challenge the conceit of his counterparts. A valor like that of Hosea is every now and again what is required in prophets sent to a world requiring change. 

The Word of God as Response to the Cry of the Poor: 

The third segment is the character of the Word of God as a reaction to the cry of destitute individuals. Prophetic composition overflows with portrayals of the abuse and abuse of destitute individuals and voiceless by the rich and compelling. Prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Amos portray the circumstance of destitute individuals and what God hopes to improve the situation their advantage. For instance, Amos records the contemplations of the capable plotting against the poor in the accompanying words: When will New Moon be over so we can offer our corn, and Sabbath, so we can showcase our wheat? At that point, we can impact the bushel to quantify tinier and the shekel-weight greater, by falsely disturbing the scales. We can purchase up to the frail for silver and the poor for a few shoes, and even get a cost for the sweepings of the wheat" (Amos 8:5-6). 

In many examples the poor cry of the Lord since they view him as their selective sanctuary. The individuals who should guarantee them have transformed into their persecutors (Is 3:15). The poor find in the Word of God a reaction to their cry. They are supported and reaffirmed by passages like Psalm 10:17-18: "God, you tune in to the grieves of destitute individuals, you give them strength, you surrender them a hearing, to give judgment for the stranded and abused, with the goal that natural individuals may strike fear no more". 

On the other hand, the oppressors who swing to God to demonstrate their immaculateness get words like those of Isaiah 58:6-11: 

Isn't this the sort of fast that satisfies me: to break treacherous shackles, to settle the thongs of the weight, to release the abused free, and to break all weights? Is it not imparting your food to the hungry, and securing the down and out poor; in case you see someone lacking garments, to dress him, and not to get some distance from your own particular family? 

Without a doubt, for needy individuals, the change of the oppressor is the most certain sign that God has heard their cry. In the tale of the prophet Elijah, God's reaction to the cry of the poor is interceded by the prophet's guard of the poor against the impacts of this world (1 Kg 18-19). 

To total up, at that point, the Word of God is prophetic seeing that it is experienced as an invitation to take action (the Word of God as performative), a call to change (the Word of God as transformative), and a reaction to the cry of destitute individuals (the Word of God as liberative). 

 The Prophetic character of Consecrated Life. 

The second request is how does the Word of God enhance the prophetic character of the favored life? Allow me to start by referring to the post-synodal archive, Vita Consecrata: 

The prophetic character of the sanctified life .... takes the state of an extraordinary kind of partaking in Christ's prophetic office... There is a prophetic measurement which has a place with the favored life accordingly, happening because of the radical idea of the accompanying of Christ and of the following response regarding the mission normal for the sanctified life. The sign regard, which the Second Vatican Council perceives in the sanctified life, is communicated in the prophetic onlooker to the power which God and the realities of the Gospel have in the Christian life. In perspective of this pre-greatness, nothing can go before the individual love of Christ and of the poor in whom he lives (VC 84). 

At the finish of the day, there are two segments which give the favored life its prophetic character – the radical after of Christ and commitment to mission, or individual love of Christ and love of destitute individuals. Today, this prophetic character of the sanctified life is being enhanced in the endeavor of religious assemblages to rediscover the centrality of the Word of God in their life and mission.

The Word of God in Scriptures. 

To begin with, the Word of God in Scriptures. Renewal of the religious life today generally comes through putting the Word of God at the focal point of their spirituality and group life. Such practices as the daily reading of Scriptures and a regular Bible sharing are ending up increasingly basic in religious groups. The Lectio Divina, suggested by several current reports of the Church, is being re-learned and practiced by religious groups. In reality, familiarity with Sacred Scriptures is a capable and indispensable way of feeding the accompanying of Jesus and love for the Lord. Tuning in to the Word of God in Scriptures encourages a personal relationship with Christ, and therefore enhances the main component of the prophetic character of the consecrated life, namely, a personal love of Christ. 

The Word of God in wilderness situations. 

Second, the Word of God in wilderness situations. As we probably are aware, the Word of God isn't "secured up composing". Many Synod Fathers have alluded to this statement in the Instrumentum Laboris. As said earlier, the Instrumentum Laboris speaks of the Word of God as "a song with many voices". The Word of God isn't restricted to the biblical word. In his mediation at the Synod, Fr. Wilhelm Steckling, the predominant general of the OMI, emphasized the Word of God as found in the "extra-biblical word" – in creation, ever, in the way of life of nations, in the lives of individuals, especially those in outskirts situations. Tuning in to the Word of God in the Bible resembles a schoolroom task which allows us to learn the grammar of God's Word with the goal that we may perceive the Word of God revealed outside and past the Bible. Knowing Christ in the Bible resembles becoming more acquainted with his face to face so we may remember him as he passes by among the general population in outskirts situations. Vatican II's archive, Dei Verbum, starts with the phrase "Dei Verbum audiences et proclamations". The Church proclaims the Word of God yet in addition tunes in to it – tunes in to it as it is revealed in Sacred Scriptures, yet additionally, to utilize the words of Gaudium et Spes, in "the delights and the expectations, the griefs and the anxieties of the men [and women] of this age, especially the individuals who are poor or in any capacity afflicted" (GS 1). It is particularly through consecrated men and ladies that the Church does this, especially those consecrated men and ladies who are engaged in mission at the boondocks of our faith and the margins of society. In outskirts situations, they endeavor to tune in to the Word of God revealed in the lives of ordinary individuals, in the aspirations of poor people and marginalized, in the searching of faith-searchers, in the cultural and religious traditions of individuals of different faiths. This enhances the second component of the prophetic character of consecrated life, namely, dedication to mission or love of poor people.

In both ways, at that point – that is, tuning in to God's Word in Scriptures and tuning in to God's Word in wilderness situations, the Word of God enhances the prophetic character of consecrated life.

 The Word of God in Society of the Divine Word. 

And now to the third inquiry, namely, what has been the experience of my own congregation in this regard? Give me a chance to start by saying that Vatican II, through its announcement, Perfectae Caritatis, called for the renewal of religious congregations in the light of three standards – namely, the Gospel, the charism of the originator and the changed states of our chance (PC 2). In our case, we attempted to react to this call for aggiornamento by backpedaling to our originator's charism, as communicated in the very name of our congregation – "Society of the p.5 VD 5 Divine Word". In several general chapters, we looked for solid ways of making the Word of God the focal point of our life and mission. In one general chapter, we made the biblical pastoral service a need for our congregation. All the more as of late, we have started to consider the book of scriptures a "characteristic measurement" of our life and mission. This means that we try to permeate any and all of our activities (regardless of whether parishes, schools, or boondocks mission) with the biblical measurement. To realize this, coordinators of the biblical pastoral service are appointed at all levels of our congregation – generalate level, continental, area, and local levels.

I trust I can speak of two minutes in this push to ingrain a biblical measurement to our life and mission.

The Word for Others. 

The principal minute was the enthusiasm in carrying out all sorts of biblical initiatives in our missionary activities – creating the book of scriptures focuses, shaping book of scriptures consider gatherings, giving the basic book of scriptures seminars, undertaking correspondence courses on the Bible, and so forth. All of this exertion was coordinated to the general population, ad extra, in our missionary activities. This was the snapshot of emphasizing the "Word for Others." In general, our confreres were great at this – addressing the Word to others. Here, the Word of God was something we do, a work we expected to accomplish. There was almost no about the "Word to us", the Word addressed to ourselves, making the Word of God the focal point of our lives. Here, many confreres were rather shy or hesitant, or even uninterested.

The Word for Us. 

This situation has, be that as it may, gradually changed. We have gradually realized that the Word we proclaim to others will sound discharge in the event that it isn't a Word that is tuned in to by us. Along these lines, in 2005, we declared a "Book of scriptures Year" for the entire congregation. We called it "A Year of Divine Word Missionaries Reading the Bible". Everybody was encouraged to read the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles consistently. In addition, 13 passages from Luke and Acts have been the subject of a month to month Lectio making a plunge all of our groups all through the entire congregation.

A special booklet was delivered as an aid to this exertion, containing the reflections on the 13 passages contributed by chose confreres from all finished the world. The likelihood of reading the entire book of scriptures during the time was also offered and a plan was produced for doing as such.

The reaction to this initiative was great. About 95% of all confreres and all local groups faithfully carried out the program laid out in the booklet. And all the more importantly, because of this activity, confreres now keep on reading the Bible regularly, groups keep on gathering for Lectio divine, even provincial committees start their gatherings with a type of book of scriptures sharing. In a particular group, regular Lectio Divina has prompted individuals going out and initiating another apostolate among the beggars, road sellers, and cart-pushers in the city. At the end of the day, the push to pay particular attention to the "Word for Us" is giving confreres restored zeal and creativity in proceeding with their various activities, or starting new ones, in the biblical pastoral service – a recharged responsibility, at the end of the day, in the mission of bring the "Word to Others".

Conclusion 

It is currently time to finish up, and I wish to do as such by alluding to Jer 20:7-9. Here, the prophet Jeremiah complains about God enticing him into turning into a prophet.

You tempted me, O LORD, and I let myself be lured; you were excessively solid for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am a question of laughter; everybody derides me. At whatever point I speak, I should shout out; viciousness and outrage is my message; The word of the LORD has brought me disparagement and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I won't say him, I will speak in his name no more. Be that as it may, at that point it winds up noticeably like fire consuming in my heart, detained in my bones; I develop weary holding it in, I cannot persevere it.

A similar imagery appears in Luke's anecdote about the pupils on the road to Emmaus. As the risen Lord disappeared from their sight, the followers said to each other: "Were not our hearts consuming (inside us) while he addressed us in transit and opened the sacred texts to us?" (Lk 24:32). The real prophet is the one in whom the Word of God consumes as a fire inside him or her. It is my expectation that the progressing Synod on the Word of God will realize consecrated men and ladies – to be sure, a whole Church – whose hearts consume with the Word of God.