Welcoming the Word

So can we welcome the Word as he comes, so that God, who cannot be contained within any bounds, be contained within us... ~ From a Palm Sunday sermon by St Andrew of Crete

What can it mean, to welcome the Word? We can imagine ourselves welcoming the Word when he looks like how we picture Jesus... even though we might uncomfortably know just how easily we too could turn from waving palms to lying low, or shaking fists. This week especially, we know how fickle we can be, even as we yearn to be faithful.

But yes, of course; when the Word looks like Jesus, we welcome him with delight.

But the Word often goes unrecognised, just as he did when we dwelt among us. Maybe not on a donkey, but he certainly comes among us in humble, hidden, unprepossessing guises; in people and circumstances and events I don't always want to welcome. And yet it is here, in these moments and encounters, that grace slips in, often unheralded and unexpected, though always bringing growth, and new life. 

And yesterday, as I was pondering all this, I logged on to a zoom call with RSCJ sisters from around the world, to reflect together on living in a discerning way. And here, again was the Word, moving among us, and present especially in the opening reflection, which used some extracts from our 1976 General Chapter. This is a document I rarely look at: as the words appeared on the screen I felt as though I was seeing them for the first time, even as there was a familiarity about them which also meant I felt as though I had known them all my life... 

Christ is present in our world, and he draws us to discover him, in his Word, in reality and within ourselves... We want to seek and find Christ's presence in his Word, in events and situations, in ourselves and others; we want to let ourselves be moved and transformed by this Word and this presence at the heart of the world... 

Here is the Word, Love timelessly made flesh, at the heart of our world and of calls which have deepened and intensified over the decades, in response to a world in pain and profound transition. And this is the Word I want to welcome: not in order to contain him - that could never happen, not even in death! - but so that from within me he can flow forth, as life-giving love and hope; an essential antidote for all the darkness and anguish in our world.

Blessings on your Holy Week, and on your seeking and finding and welcoming of the Word...