The Word Going Forth…

In case you’re wondering, the Great Big Continuous Public Bible Read instigated by Pope Benedict XVI is still going on, and they’re up to Ezekiel 14. It’s in Italian, but still awesome to check in on from time to time. There are musical interludes between books.

I’m loving it. As I wrote here, this will bear fruit!

It doesn’t really matter if no one listens. Some will, some won’t. The major portion of the Word will be read to no audience at all. But by the very act of reading it – of sending those words forth, on the air – the power of the Word is unleashed, and will still be efficacious. Just as a prayer said when one is tired, distracted and woebegotten is as much a prayer as one said fervently, there is power in this act of Benedict’s, as the prophet Isaiah foretold: So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Pop in and watch the reading, hear the Word being sent forth by the breath of man – upon which rides the Holy Spirit – it is marvelous to behold, even if you don’t understand Italian. It is marvelous to ponder that something this simple is being released into a busy, oblivious world. This Word, this act, this co-operation between God and man, is going to rock the world, and the world may not even realize what has rocked it, as the fruit is born.

There is nothing I love more than being right smack dab in the middle of a Holy Mystery.

No matter how badly I feel – and right now, for purely personal reasons, I feel very bad, very unloved and unlooked-after in ways not worth going into here, because they’re silly – I do well for myself by clicking onto that site (and then hitting the top red box on the right-hand side) and listening, and wondering, and thinking, Hey, God and Father? You are the coolest!

Yesterday, I added my little voice to the air, and gave my breath to the Holy Spirit, for his use if he wants it – I went to a local park and pond and sat among the Canada geese and read my breviary aloud to the water fowl and the birds of the air and the chipmunks and other woodland creatures. I went out into the world and prayed aloud; gonna do it again, this afternoon.

Try it. It’s actually kind of neat. The geese all walked over and listened!