The missionaries participating in the ongoing formation course in Rome dedicated the day of Tuesday, May 6, to listening to the Word of God. The retreat was led by the biblical scholar and professor Father Antonio Magnante, IMC, who in his meditation invited them to encounter the living and life-giving Word.
By Peter Njoroge and Vilson Jochem *
With his profound biblical knowledge and ability to meditate, rooted in the Word of God, the fruit of many years of study and teaching experience in the theological faculties of London and Nairobi, Father Magnante used various biblical texts to motivate the Jubilees to live the day of spirituality.
“In the beginning was the Word, and was with God, and came to his own” (Jn 1:1-2) to draw us to Him and speak to our hearts (cf. Hos 2:16), to make us fall in love and passionate about the Word to the point of being able to continue in total consecration to God and configure ourselves to Christ following his example, making our own the sentiments of Christ (Phil 3), as the apostle Paul teaches”, recalled Father Magnante.
According to the biblical scholar, to live this progressive identification with Christ, it is necessary to be in assiduous and constant contact with the Word present in the Scriptures, which must become an inexhaustible source of life, the object of our passion and a point of reference in every moment of life, making us obedient to the will of God. Furthermore we must be docile to the Word, a gift to others, serving following the example of the Lord who came to serve and not to be served, living forgiveness, thanksgiving, feeling like servants.
Another aspect highlighted in the meditation is that everything we communicate is a revelation of our life, of our being. But this revelation is given in trust, in friendship and in love. In the same sense it happens in our relationship with God. God makes himself known through his Word and creates with each of us this relationship of closeness, friendship and love in which he comes to meet us, becomes one with us.
“God so loved the world that he sent his only Son” (Jn 3:16) so that we can constantly live this friendship with him; and it is in reading, meditating and praying the Word that comes from the mouth of God, and that does not return to him without producing its fruits in us (cf. Is 55:10-11), that we build this true friendship with God and of God with us.
According to Father Magnante, “this journey with the Word leads us to the encounter with our brothers and sisters on the street, with whom we must be a reflection of Christ with whom we are called to configure ourselves, capable of attracting others to the encounter with God who becomes Word also for the man of this time and to recognize him on the road and in the breaking of the Bread, following the example of the disciples of Emmaus” (cf. Luke 24:13-33).
The dynamic of the encounter with the Word is takes place in daily life, from the prayerful reading that leads us to meditate, contemplate, pray and live this experience with others; in the Eucharist, in which we gather and celebrate what we have experienced and set out on a journey to continue recognizing the Lord, as well as in the liturgy of the Church that is centered on the Word and that makes us pilgrims of Hope.
The day ended with the celebration of the Eucharist, where the Word and the breaking of the Bread were at the center of the scene.
* Father Peter Njoroge, IMC, missionary in Kenya. Vilson Jochem, IMC, missionary in Venezuela.
