The Word comes home

By Wendy Ann Jones

Principal, Catholic Bible Institute

Once a year, the Church pauses to do something both radical and obvious: she listens. Sunday of the Word of God is not a celebration of ink and paper, nor a pious nod to biblical scholarship. It is a summons.

The Word of God is not meant to sit politely on shelves or remain safely framed within church walls. It is meant to be heard, welcomed, wrestled with, and obeyed.

This year, the Church gathers around the theme “The Word of Christ Dwells Among You” (Col 3:16), a phrase that sharpens the challenge.

The Word is not meant to visit us briefly; it is meant to dwell, to take up residence, to shape the household of faith from the inside out.

Scripture is not primarily about God; it is from God. More than a religious reference, the Bible is a living address. When the Word is proclaimed in the liturgy, it is God speaking now into fractured families, weary parishes, anxious nations, and searching hearts.

That claim is unsettling, and it should be. If Scripture is truly living and active, then it cannot be reduced to inspirational quotes or moral slogans. The Word questions us before it comforts us. It exposes our evasions before it offers healing. It interrupts business as usual.

In every age, the Word of God has been disruptive: calling Abraham out of certainty, Moses into confrontation, the prophets into danger, Mary into surrender, and the disciples into a way of life that would cost them everything.

Sunday of the Word of God also confronts a quiet contradiction in Catholic life. We profess deep reverence for Scripture, yet many Catholics remain biblically undernourished.

We hear the readings at Mass but rarely stay with them. We quote Scripture selectively but avoid its tough demands. We love the Word, at a distance. This Sunday insists that reverence must become relationship, and that familiarity must give way to conversion. That relationship is neither private nor sentimental. The Word of God forms a people. It shapes conscience, corrects injustice, and sends believers outward in mission.

Genuine witness

Scripture is never an end in itself; it exists so that Christ may dwell richly among us, reshaping how we speak, decide, forgive, and hope. A Church that listens deeply to the Word becomes a Church capable of genuine witness, because it is no longer speaking only its own ideas.

Here in Trinidad and Tobago, this call takes on resonance as the Catholic Bible Institute marks its 40th anniversary, as it celebrates Sunday of the Word of God on Saturday, January 24.

For four decades, the Institute has quietly served the Church by forming lay Catholics to read, pray, teach, and live the Scriptures with depth and confidence. Its enduring contribution has been simple and demanding, helping the Word of Christ move from the page into the life of the community, so that the Word may truly dwell among God’s people.

As noise dominates public life and truth is treated as negotiable, the Church’s fidelity to the Word is not optional. It is her credibility. To enthrone the Scriptures is to declare that our lives, our ministries, and our future are subject to a voice greater than our preferences and fears.

Sunday of the Word of God, then, is not a once-a-year observance. It is a rehearsal for daily discipleship. The real question this Sunday places before us is simple and demanding: once the Word has been proclaimed, will it be allowed to dwell among us, and to change us?

The Word of God does not ask to be admired.

It asks to be lived.