Archbishop speaks to UMD men

Yesterday at our monthly "Vianney Dinner" at the Catholic Student Center, his excellency Archbishop Donald Wuerl (of D.C.) came and spoke to young men discerning vocations. One thing he told us a little about was his very recent involvement with the Synod on the Word. 264 bishops gathered in Rome over the past month to discuss the Word. He had just arrived back, and was eager to share some of his experience with us. In his grandfatherly way he recounted with delight that the Word not only refers to Scripture but much more. The Word is the Son, second person in the Trinity. It is God's image of Himself. It is the actual words Jesus used while on earth. God became man and used our own language to speak with us. It is indeed Scripture, but it is also, as pondered by the Metropolitan of Constantinople at the Synod, God speaking to us through everything we encounter in our daily lives. This was one of the encounters with God that I personally discovered on my walk with the contemplative Community of the Beatitudes in Africa. God communicates with us constantly. He uses everything. It is only our business and distractedness that prevents our listening. If we but took time to consider our surroundings, we would hear God's voice, His Word, speaking through it all. This flower, that co-worker, my car that uses too much gas, a plain table.
The Archbishop remarked on Lectio Divina, or Holy Reading, an ancient method of prayer with the Scriptures. Faithful of all walks of life are taking this up as a way to pray to God through His Word.

Let us take time to ponder God's majesty and love through the small things, considering His Word to us in our everyday life. I pray He converts your heart more and more that you fall deeply in love with Him. Peace be with you!