The Blessings of “Breaking Open the Word”
God calls and invites all to know Him in a deep and profound way. With the help of the Holy Spirit - opening, pondering, and immersing ourselves in Sacred Scripture touches hearts and souls – converting, forming, and transforming lives. This teaching/reflection calls us to recommitment ourselves to spending time in the Word of God.
Reflection and Teaching for the Cenacle on October 22, 2026
Title: The Blessings of “Breaking Open the Word”
My dear brothers and sisters of Love Crucified. We are at the end of the liturgical church year. In a little more than five weeks it will be Advent. Can you believe it?
The stores have already begun to prepare for Christmas shoppers and commercials are regularly found on television and other media.
As people of faith that is not our task in Advent. Advent is a time of preparing in two ways;
1. The coming of Christ a second time which speaks clearly and directly to many the messages that we have heard as the Love Crucified community.
2. The second way we prepare in Advent - is to prepare to celebrate that Christ came! The Incarnation took place and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!
It is the WORD in capital letters which I feel called to speak to today.
I feel it’s important to set a base, some groundwork before going forward with this evening’s reflection:
First, from John’s Gospel chapter 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Then, in verse 14: the Word became flesh – the Word became Incarnated, at Christmas we celebrate this Incarnation of our God. We can say this because everything that was preached, prophesized, promised, or proclaimed is fulfilled in Jesus.
The Gospel for Mass on Christmas Day is taken from John chapter 1 which contain these words I just shared. Yes! Jesus is the fulfillment of the Word that Word made flesh. Thus, Word of God is much more than just significant. It is beyond our understanding, grasp, or even our imagination. The Word is eternal, the Word is God
God is present in a radical way in his Word. Take a moment and consider the following:
Do I believe this? Do I really believe God’s radical presence in his Word?
Second, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 133:
· “The church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn “the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,” by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
· It was Saint Jerome who said, “Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
Ponder this for a moment:
How well am I committed to spending time in Sacred Scripture? Do I approach the Word of God each day seeking to grow in faith, and, in my relationship with God?
Third, in the fifth paragraph of the Love Crucified covenant, following is stated:
I promise full ascent and obedience to all the Catholic Church teaches and to treasure the Eucharist, the Word, Reconciliation and all the Lord provides for our sanctification.
For those who have made their covenant, this would sound familiar and be integrated into one’s life. For those discerning to make a covenant, this is a promise that needs serious reflection in the discerning process.
In this fifth paragraph we promise obedience to what the church teaches and to treasure along with the Eucharist and reconciliation, the Word. We, the community of Love Crucified have been called, and, many among us have already promised, to treasure the Word.
How does one treasure the Word of God in one’s life? How do I treasure the Word of God in my life? What steps do I take to honor and treasure
Sacred Scripture?
Fourth, the following is taken from a message of May 16, 2022:
· “My Words spoken to each of you are a continuous reminder that God is with you, present in your individual lives. My Words are the power of God to transform you so that you can live the Scriptures in the way I desire. Many read their Bibles and study Scripture, yet few are transformed by my Word. The way of My Simple Path to enter the Scriptures requires humility, simplicity, docility of heart, and much perseverance. Those who persevere will be transformed into new men and women of the kingdom of God.”
Do I approach Sacred Scripture with humility, simplicity, and docility of heart? Have I firmly committed to regularly breaking open my Bible, persevering in being transformed by God’s Word?
I share these four points with you:
1. The gospel of John, the first chapter beginning with verse one
2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 133
3. The Love Crucified covenant paragraph five
4. The message of May 16, 2022
Because they affirm and challenge us in our spiritual journey in several ways:
1. For those whose prayer life regularly include - a well invested time in Sacred Scripture, this is affirming.
2. For those whose lives may not include regular time with Scripture, perhaps these words strike our hearts.
3. Either way, we are all encouraged to ponder deeply and assess what place Sacred Scripture has in my prayer life?
4. What bold or new steps can I take to help me go deeper into Sacred Scripture, the Word of God?
In chapter 2-A of “The Simple Path to Union with God” – we are invited to go to the foot of the cross, to kneel next to Mary, and, in the depths of our heart we
· humbly kiss and adore the feet of our Lord, asking for the gift of knowledge which is twofold: knowledge of GOD and knowledge of SELF
· Seek true sorrow for our sins, the “gold of precious repentance”
My dear brothers and sisters of Love Crucified by genuinely seeking to immerse ourselves deeper into the Word of God, we see a natural connection to going to the foot of the cross seeking knowledge of God and knowledge of self. The Word of God grant us knowledge of him as well as knowledge ourselves. Breaking open the Word of God is intimately connected, as well as strongly supports this critical initial step of the simple path going to the foot of the cross seeking the gift of knowledge of God and self.
My dear brothers and sisters how do we even know and come to know even more of Jesus without Gospels? How do we know of Jesus being Incarnated except through the Bible? My dear friends, how do we, as church, come to know the Passion of Christ but through his Word? How do we know the suffering he endured but through Sacred Scripture? How do we know that Jesus was crucified but through the words of the Gospel evangelists? My dear friends it is through the word of God we come to know Jesus as Love being crucified, as Love Crucified! My dear brothers and sisters, how do we know anything of the life of Jesus, except for through Scripture?
My dear people, from the documents of Vatican II, we have the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. In paragraph 24 it states the following, “therefore the ‘study of the sacred page’ should be as it were the very soul of sacred theology.”
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 132 it states, “the ministry of the Word is… nourished and … thrives when it is rooted in the Eucharistic mystery and the text of Scripture.”
What is this telling us? The soul of theology is rooted in Sacred Scripture. That catechesis, that growing in the faith, which includes knowledge of God and knowledge of self, thrives when rooted in the Eucharistic mystery and the text of Scripture. My friends, Eucharistic adoration, has been, is, and will continue be a fundamental aspect of our little community, Love Crucified. And, we believe wholeheartedly that is what the Lord has called us to do. Eucharistic adoration has changed lives and communities and dramatic and holy ways.
Sacred Scripture, the Word of God, to those who opened their hearts, minds, souls, to the Sacred text have no less been deeply touched, moved, and transformed by the power of God’s word.
When one studies the words we use and pray at the Holy Mass, we can easily see how deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture the Mass truly is. Think of this, what is the last prayer we say before we go to Holy Communion? “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed.” This is taken from the Gospel of Matthew 8:8.
It is a Roman centurion who makes this declaration. The words of a pagan, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reflecting his faith in Jesus, speaks simple words. In doing so, his words are captured for all time in Sacred Scripture and thus, prayed by every Communicant for centuries who have attended, have participated in the Mass.
Even the structure of the Mass itself is easily seen in the gospel passage story from Luke’s Gospel chapter 24, the Road to Emmaus. First, it is all about the Word, then second, it is all about the “Breaking of the Bread.”
Two discouraged disciples are walking to Emmaus. Jesus joins them and opens up their minds and hearts to the words of Scripture. Then the same disciples invite Jesus to have a meal with them. Again, he joins them and takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them.
Suddenly he vanishes and their eyes were opened. But even before they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, they declared to the other disciples “were not our hearts burning within us” as he opened the Scriptures?
Our hearts too can burn within us when the words of the Bible are opened to us. Perhaps some of us have already experienced our hearts deeply touched in reading the Scriptures or even having them explained to us. When one sincerely seeks guidance from the Holy Spirit before spending time in the sacred text, God honors and blesses deeply that soul. I am reminded of the words Lourdes shared at our retreat as she recalled a message from November 16, 2010: “I will remove the veil that covers the eyes of your soul so that you can see what few are able to see.”
As we seek to go deeper in scripture, God does remove the veil that covers our eyes.
History has recorded powerful stories of saints who converted from reading the Scriptures. Perhaps the most famous is Saint Augustine of Hippo whose life altering conversion was triggered by reading the scriptures while sitting in a garden in Milan in 386 AD, he heard a child chant “take and read, take and read,” he opened the Bible to Romans chapter 13 verses 13 and 14 and immediately turned away from a life of moral confusion to become a great Father of the Church.
What did he read? “..put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
Saint Anthony of the desert walked into a church and heard the gospel reading where Jesus tells the young rich man to sell everything and follow him. He took those words literally on the spot and gave away his wealth and became the Father of Christian monasticism.
My dear friends these are only two examples of the many other saints who have been deeply impacted by the Word of God. Yet even more numerous are the stories of the lives of people transformed over the centuries by the Scriptures.
Sadly, sometimes our hearts and minds can slowly and unconsciously close to the Word of God. We may not even be aware of it. In fact, we can sometimes go through Mass deeply distracted, just going through the motions, mouthing the words without intentionally lifting our minds and hearts to God.
Or, we hear the words of the Gospel proclaimed – but since we are familiar with the words that are being expressed, knowing how the story or the parable ends, we may wrongfully assume nothing new can be taught to me about this passage. Thus, I quietly and unconsciously have already closed my heart to the Word of God. Does familiarity breed contempt in my heart?
Many of us have fought these temptations. But God’s Word is alive and sharper than any two-edged sword. However, we must be open, and humbly recognize our need for God’s Word in our lives every day. A little prayer shared with me many years ago by a holy priest was simply to call upon the Holy Spirit before we pray, before we open the Scriptures, before Mass begins.
The prayer is simple: Come Holy Spirit, (pause) come Holy Spirit, (take a breath and repeat) come Holy Spirit.
First, we need, according to St. Paul, the Holy Spirit to pray. – Paul explains in his letter to the Romans 8: 26-27:
“In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.”
We need the Holy Spirit to pray, to teach us how to pray, to show us what to pray.
Second, all of Sacred Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is critical to ask and seek the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance when approaching God’s Word. To sincerely and genuinely seek the Holy Spirit and to approach the words of Scripture in humility is the posture we, as people of faith, must take.
My dear brothers and sisters of Love Crucified let us renew our efforts to regularly spend time in Sacred Scripture. Let us seek the Holy Spirit help and guidance in our efforts. Let us humbly and with open hearts approach Scripture and in doing so, fully trusting in the power of God’s word to touch and transform our minds, hearts, and souls in deep and profound ways we could never imagine. He will remove the veil that covers our eyes!
With this in mind I’d like to share with you an insight I believe God bless me with over the recent retreat. Some of which I spoke of during the homily I gave at the closing Mass for the retreat.
For the past four Sunday Gospel passages how come from Matthew’s Gospel during Passover week. These past four Gospel passages and the next four Sunday Gospel passages are all from Matthew.
These teachings by Jesus take place in the temple in Jerusalem. And, because it is Passover tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims have come to Jerusalem. The temple is packed. By law, a Jewish male adult must come to the temple at Passover. Historians estimate at the time of Jesus that several hundred thousand pilgrims would pour into Jerusalem during Passover.
Jesus has already cleansed the temple of the money changers and the various vendors selling animals and other items. By doing this he has grounded the temple worship and animal sacrifice to a stop. By his presence, as the lamb of God, in just a few days he will be the new and eternal sacrifice.
Jesus then tells three parables. The first is the story of a man who had two sons both sent to work in the vineyard. The first son said no but later changed his mind and went to the vineyard. The second son said yes. But he never went.
Jesus asks the religious leaders which one did the will of the father? They answered the first son, the one who initially said no. Jesus responded by telling them that tax collectors and sinners will enter heaven before them because they heard the words of John the Baptist and repented.
The second parable Jesus tells is about the land owner and his vineyard in which land owner builds and turns over to tenants to produce fruit for wine. The land owner goes away. Later he sent servants to collect the produce. The servants are beaten and killed. He even sent his son but they killed him also. He asked the religious leaders what should the land owner do? They answered that the land owner should put those wretched men to a wretched death. Jesus responds that the vineyard will be taken away from them and given to new tenants who will produce fruit.
We have now heard Jesus telling the religious leaders of the temple, through the first parable, that they’ve not done the will of God. Through the second parable, Jesus has told the religious leaders they’ve not been good stewards of what was given to them. They produced no fruit for the land owner.
Two Sundays ago, we heard the third parable of Jesus. Catholic scripture scholars tell us all three of these parables were most likely told one after another. Jesus spoke these parables in response to the religious leaders asking Jesus by whose authority did he cleanse the Temple?
This third parable was the story of the king holding a wedding feast for his son. When the feast was ready, he sent out his servants to gather the invited guests.
But these first invited guests refused to come, and, some even mistreated the King’s servants and killed them.
The king declared these first invited guests were not worthy to come to the feast.
So the king sent out his servants again with the order to gather all from the roads all they could find the good and the bad.
The king wanted the banquet filled. And when he entered the banquet he saw a man not dressed with a wedding garment. The king asked the man why he did not have a wedding garment? The man was reduced to silence. The king then ordered the man to be bound and cast into the darkness outside.
A number of commenters on this passage see the first group who refused to come to the wedding feast as the religious-leaders who refused to believe in Jesus. They refused hi invitation come to join him.
Other scripture scholars and commentaries saw the man not dressed with the wedding garment is being unprepared, not taking the necessary steps needed to join the wedding feast.
But St. Augustine saw this differently. In his sermon on this Scripture passage #90, Saint Augustine points out that the guests were pulled straight from the street corners and crossroads. Because they were poor, they were beggars, they were travelers, they could not possibly afford a wedding garment worthy of a king.
Therefore, according to custom, Saint Augustine points out that it is the king who provided the wedding garment at the door. It is the king who provides the robe appropriate for the wedding feast.
Yes. It was the king provided the clothing. It was not because of poverty that the one guest lacked a wedding garment. Rather it was an act of open defiance. This guest in open defiance of the king, had refused the gift of the king. He refused the wedding garment.
In reflecting on this passage on Saturday night of the retreat, I could not help but recall the mystical robe that Lourdes had referenced in her fifth and final retreat presentation earlier on Saturday.
Over the retreat Lourdes was breaking open the Word for us - the Word of God as articulated in the Song of Songs. She spoke of how “the bride has matured through the dark night” of suffering. The bride’s love has been tested and tried through the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit, and, she’s remained steadfast and true. She comes out of this dark knight radiant in the light of her beloved… she is adorned in the splendor of God, radiant in virtue.”
“Being adorned in the splendor of God” references this wedding garment, this mystical robe, a gift of our great king who has called us the poor, the little, the beggars, the outcasts, the marginalized, and the weak to God’s wedding feast. As his little ones, in our poverty, we could never afford a wedding garment worthy of the king. But it is our king who clothes us in our mystical garment, our mystical robe.
This mystical robe is the mystical bridal garment spoken of in the message of August 15, 2012: “I desire to see you dressed in the splendor of all the virtues, clothing and purity. I desire to smell your fragrance of sanctity. Meditate on your mystical bridal gown.”
God has been clothing his people with robes and garments for centuries. A white garment is given to the newly baptized as a sign of their new life in Christ. When one enters a religious order, one is often vested in a robe, in the habit of that order. In ordination, priestly robes, priestly investments are given as signs of their new vocation has priests of God’s Church.
Yes! The mystical robe God has given to us as His gift. We are to humbly accept and wear faithfully in our journey of faith.
For, what was expected of those invited from the crossroads to the wedding feast? What was expected of the poor, the little, the beggars, the outcast, the marginalized, and the weak? They were to simply come to the wedding feast, to simply make the journey to the king, to faithfully follow the path to the King. For us it is taking the simple path to the feast, taling the simple path to the wedding feast, the feast of the king. We are called to take “The simple path to Union with God.”