APRIL PERMANENT FORMATION STUDY GUIDE (2011)
Word of God and Ministry of the Word
On the feast of St. Jerome, last year, Pope Benedict XVI signed the Apostolic Exhortation entitled Verbum Domini, summarizing the 2008 World Synod of Bishops on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” It is a lengthy document in three parts. For us Dominicans, whose charism is the ministry of the word, this document has immediate interest and great importance, and I propose that we study a major section of the third part that addresses the proclamation of the word. The entire document is available on line at www.vatican.va (more info at the end). It is also printed in its entirety in Origins 40:27 (Dec. 9, 2010).
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Attachments: |
Attached here is a brief descriptive article by Richard McCarron from New Theology Review that puts our selection from Verbum Domini into its larger context. Part One discusses the interpretation of Sacred Scripture in the Church. Here are a couple of interesting points: “authentic biblical hermeneutics can only be had within the faith of the Church” (29), interpretation arises out of the same source in which Scripture was originally written, viz., the Christian community; and the study of Scripture is “the soul of theology” (31). Part Two concerns the word of God received by the Church; it affirms Christ’s presence in the Church through his living word, discusses the liturgy as a privileged setting for the word, and explores the sacramentality of the word. Perhaps at some other time we can study this second section.
Part Three, which is reproduced in the attachment (n. 90-116), concerns proclamation, evangelization, and engaging culture with the word of God. I hope that your study of this section will lead you to helpful insights and to a rich sharing of your experience of the ministry of the word with one another in community discussion.
Questions for Individual Reflection
1) A rich “doubleness” runs throughout the document: the God’s incarnate Word is God’s very Son; further, the word proclaimed in the Church is the sacrament of God’s living voice. N. 91 explores the theological theme of our divinization in this way: “The Word of God has bestowed upon us divine life that transfigures the face of the earth, making all things new. His Word engages us not only as hearers of divine revelation but also as its heralds. The one whom the Father has sent to do his will draws us to himself and makes us part of his life and mission.” Can you see how your identification with the word draws you in as a preacher to become intimately related to the divine Son; how, in other words, does your becoming the sacramental voice of the word root you profoundly in the Word? How do you experience this in your own ministry and prayer?
2) No. 97 links word and witness as follows: “On the one hand, the word must communicate everything that the Lord himself has told us. On the other hand, it is indispensable through witness to make this word credible lest it appear merely as a beautiful philosophy or utopia rather than a reality that can be lived and itself give life.” And later: “Christian witness communicates the word attested in the Scriptures. For their part, the Scriptures explain the witness that Christians are called to give by their lives.” How do you experience this? What about the following: the responsibility to preach only what we actually live and strive to live, the need to pray for the grace to exemplify the practical truths we preach, the hope of promoting a witness to the truth we preach in the lives of the faithful?
3) In the section, “The Word of God and the Poor” (n. 107), we read: “In her proclamation of God’s word the church knows that a ‘virtuous circle’ must be promoted between the poverty that is to be chosen and the poverty that is to be combated; we need to rediscover moderation and solidarity… This entails decisions marked by justice and moderation.” Can you appreciate the suggestion here that preaching justice requires a praxis that becomes the source of our effective preaching – that we have to live the solidarity we talk about? What you we need to do to make that happen?
Questions for Group Reflection and Dialogue:
1) Verbum Domini (n. 93) explains that “the proclamation of the word has as its content the kingdom of God.” Then it goes on to explain that “[it] is not a matter of preaching a word of consolation but rather a word that disrupts, that calls to conversion and that opens the way to an encounter with the one through whom a new humanity flowers.” What challenge does this identification of the content of the word’s proclamation with the kingdom of God offer you? How does it link your own mission more closely with that of Christ?
2) The following paragraph (n. 94) affirms that the entire people of God are “sent” to proclaim the word of God. “The laity are called to exercise their own prophetic role that derives directly from their baptism, and to bear witness to the Gospel in daily life wherever they find themselves.” What does promoting the “prophetic role” of the laity through your preaching mean to you? How do you see this happening already? How might you dream of this becoming a powerful leaven in the Church today?
3) Pope Paul VI coined the phrase “the new evangelization” in Evangelii Nuntiandi (a document drafted for him by the French Dominican Pierre-André Liégé); this phrase also became a key element in several encyclicals of Pope John Paul II. Liégé spent his life advocating adult faith formation for the laity, something still woefully missing in most parishes today, as n. 96 suggests when it says: “Many of our brothers and sisters are ‘baptized, but insufficiently evangelized’.” What are you doing to cultivate adult faith formation for the laity? What do you think should be done in this regard? Have you ever heard of Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, the pastoral plan for adult faith formation published by the U.S. Bishops’ Conference in 1999?
4) N. 100 addresses the link between evangelization and commitment to justice. “The synod recalled that a commitment to justice and to changing our world is an essential element of evangelization. … [W]e must reach and as it were overturn with the force of the Gospel the standards of judgment, the interests, the thought patterns, the sources of inspiration and lifestyles of humanity that are in contrast with the word of God and with his plan for salvation.” Take each of these phrases and analyze what it means to “overturn” standards, interests, thought patterns, sources of inspiration, etc. What are these things, and what needs to be overturned?
5) What other elements of this section of Part Three of Verbum Domini struck you and seem to be fruitful or helpful for your ministry and preaching?
A Word About the Study Program
In response to my request for feedback about this monthly permanent formation study program, I received only one practical recommendation. It was that these monthly study guides offer too much material for an average community to process, and therefore it might be better to present this kind of a study guide every other month, rather than monthly. If you would like to weigh in on this suggestion, drop me an e-mail. This study program is also available online at www.opraleigh.org/permanentformation.htm and I encourage you to make it available to your Dominican Laity groups or to other interested parties who might profit from using it.
A more precise link to Verbum Domini online is the following:
I wish you a blessed and refreshing journey to Easter.
Paul Philibert, O.P.
Promoter of Permanent Formation