Hearing the Gospel: At Mass and in Personal Prayer

“Since no one can be saved who does not first believe, priests, as co-workers with their bishops, have the primary duty of proclaiming the Gospel of God to all.” – Presbyterorum Ordinis (1965 Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests)

In the next 19 days, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel of God to a wide variety of audiences. I will proclaim the Gospel of God at two Catholic weddings. I will proclaim the Gospel of God to youth and adults from around our Diocese at Extreme Faith Camp. I will proclaim the Gospel of God (in English and Spanish) to children, college students, and the elderly in Colón, Mexico.

Praying, studying, and preparing one’s heart and conscience to proclaim the Gospel is an extraordinary duty and one that has the power to literally transform lives and save souls. In a unique way as an ordained minister I am called to proclaim the Gospel in the liturgy and in other settings of prayer and teaching, but this is a call that we all share from the day of our baptism. At our 10:30 a.m. Mass last weekend we had a baptism which concluded at the font with the “Ephphatha” blessing, a blessing of the child’s ears and mouth. The words of the blessing are as follows:

“May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, grant that you may soon receive his word with your ears and profess the faith with your lips, to the glory and praise of God the Father.”

In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, the 11^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear in Mark 4:34 that, “With many such parables, he [Jesus] spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.”

We can hear the Gospel proclaimed at Mass every Sunday through the Scriptures and the homily which often includes parables or stories. Let us also remember that we can hear the Gospel that Jesus speaks to us in private, in our life of prayer and communion with him in the Sacraments. 

A question and a challenge for this week.

Question: How are you receiving the Gospel in your daily life, through the Mass, through reliable Catholic resources, through your life of prayer, through faith-filled friendships?

Challenge: Offer a prayer from your heart when you finish reading this article for someone in your life who has not been living a life in accord with the Gospel of God. Pray that God would open a door for you or for someone close to that person that they might encounter a messenger of the Gospel between now and the end of this month. 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…

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