Scripture, light for the path
"Thy word is a lamp unto my steps, a light unto my path." (Ps 119:105). The Word of God illuminates our journey, orients the situations of our existence, teaches us the good that we have to do and directs us towards heaven. "The master way to discover our path is the frequent reading of the Scriptures inspired by God."said St. Basil the Great.
Unfortunately, many flounder confused by the toxic smoke of false ideologies, but those who are grounded in the Word of God share in the consistency of the eternal God. For, as Christ assured us, "he who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock".(Mt 7:28); "Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away." (Mt 24:35; cf. Is 40:8).
Source of life
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Word of life and hope, a luminous and powerful Word, a Word of truth and wisdom, a Word of love that leads to fraternal charity, a Word of full salvation. "Jesus Christ is the fountain of life; therefore he invites us to himself as to a fountain (cf. Jn 7:37-38); drink from him who loves him, drink from him who feeds on his Word. If you are thirsty, drink from this fountain of life." (St. Columbanus).
Those who do not read and meditate assiduously on the Word of God become irremediably worldly, they remain in the dark, with a false, materialistic and reductive perspective; they lose the vision of faith, which the Lord's gaze gives us, and they are left without energy for spiritual combat. This is what happens to so many of the baptized who stop attending liturgical assemblies and separate themselves from Sacred Scripture. Without the divine Word, which is the nourishment of the soul, the soul languishes and withers. For "man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God". (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3).
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
At the same time, meditation on the Word of God provides various gifts of the Holy Spirit: joy and gentleness (cf. Ps 119:103; Ez 3:3), peace and consolation (cf. Rom 15:4), purity of heart (cf. Jn 15:3), fortitude (cf. Pr 30:5), salvation (cf. 1 Pet 2:2-3), wisdom (cf. Pr 4:5), truth (cf. Jn 17:17), faith (cf. Rom 10:17), charity (cf. Lk 16:29; Jn 13:34-35; 1 Jn 2:2-10) and hope (cf. Rom 15:4; 1 Pet 3:15-16).
For evangelization
St. Paul exhorts his disciple Timothy to profit from the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which confer the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus; moreover, he encourages him to teach sound doctrine (cf. 2 Tim 3:10-4:5). Therefore, the charity of Christ urges us to evangelize (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). The proclamation and witness of the Word of God constitute the heart of evangelization.
Only the Word of God-as divine seed (cf. Mt 13:1-9; Mk 4:1-9; Lk 8:4-8), soaked in the blood of Christ and in the grace of the Holy Spirit-is capable of fertilizing the cultures of peoples; only it can bring about an authentic humanism, a true civilization of love.
The purpose of the proclamation of the Gospel, the center of divine revelation, is the confession of faith in Christ Jesus and full adherence to him, in order to obtain the salvation and eternal life that he offers us. The acceptance of the Word of God in the communion of his ecclesial body constitutes a fundamental and indispensable element for living in Christ.
For all these reasons, the Church, mother and teacher, urges everyone to become more familiar with the Word of God, seeking through it to encounter the Lord. "Let us explore this magnificent garden of Holy Scripture, a garden that is fragrant, soft, full of flowers, that gladdens our ears with the song of manifold spiritual birds, full of God; that touches our heart and comforts it when it is sad, soothes it when it is irritated, fills it with eternal joy." (St. John Damascene).
