Commentary on the Gospel of
An exhortation: Creatively Preach the Word!
- Live the Word, preach the Word
- Bringing my creative thinking into communicating the Word
- Urged on by the holy Spirit
Our today’s reading provokes a fascinating question: where does one consider the proper place to preach the Word of God? The obvious places of worship – the church, temple, crusade centres, etc. obviously do not attract this question. Our ancestors in faith give us other varying instances. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness; our Lord Jesus Christ preached to the Samaritan woman by the well, and to Cleopas with his companion on their way to Emmaus! The disciples follow the footsteps of our Lord and Master: we recall that Philip preached to the Ethiopian Eunuch while on the road; and today Paul and his companions preach to the women beside the river. By the way, they were searching for a quite place to prayer, and then met with the women there. Sparing no time, they engaged them in conversations about Jesus Christ. God blesses the apostolate; the response was positive. A new mission has begun! What a boost of their apostolic morale!!
These days many devise different ways of communicating the Word of God! The media is one interesting means – just open the websites, YouTube, the links, face book, etc.! another example is the sight of the Holy Family basilica in Barcelona - very lovely! Much more thrilling is the thinking behind the architectural design: preaching from outside!! Since many no longer go into the church to worship, Antoni Gaudí, decided that preaching the Word of God must continue! What does he do? He pictorially presents the salvific history and the lives of the saints from outside! The exhortation is that, as one admires his ingenuity, one copies his creativity too by continuing to challenge oneself: how am I preaching the Word today? Where, and with whom, do I talk about Jesus Christ?
The fire of the Holy Spirit is around us; He comes to urge us on so that our lives keep bearing witness to the risen Christ, in season and out of season. And so, we keep building up our closeness to the Spirit of God by calling upon Him to grant us the boldness, without postponement, of preaching the Lord always: anytime and anywhere, amen.