Psalm Reflection: The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

“Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.” - Psalms 19

Stephanie has been one of my very best friends for the past ten years. We live in different states, and have only seen each other in person about five times during those ten years. I pray every day that her family moves to California.

So, how has our friendship lasted and endured over a decade, when we have barely been able to see one another?

Scripture.

When we first met ten years ago at a ministry conference, we made a commitment to help keep one another accountable with a daily commitment to reading Scripture. Every day, we read the daily readings and text each other our reflections, usually a single word or a short phrase that struck us and why. And without fail, we have been faithful every single day for ten years, even in the midst of travel, a pandemic, busyness, family, loss, and every possible change or transition you can imagine.

There are few friendships that have impacted me as much as my friendship with Stephanie, and I wholeheartedly believe it is because we have been able to share in the daily experience of, as the Psalm this week says, the Word bringing the Spirit and new life to both of us.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down in 2020 and we were scrambling to find new and creative ways to minister to our parishioners, I called to mind the life-giving practice of sharing Scripture with Stephanie, and I started a Bible Study. We met every week on Zoom to study the upcoming Sunday Gospel, and I witnessed the Word of God bringing the Spirit and new life to so many others in the midst of a very difficult time. 

When the world opened back up we moved our Bible Study to meeting every week in person, and even more people came to experience the beauty of the Word being broken open and connecting to their lives.

Today, that weekly Bible study has 300 members, with 50-75 attending in person every week, and hundreds more who watch the recording online to stay connected to the Lord in the Word.

When we open the Word, we encounter Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. As the Gospel of John so beautifully articulates, the light of the Word can overcome every darkness:

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be through him was life,

and this life was the light of the human race;

the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it

(John 1:1-5).

There are so many voices competing for our time and attention. We can exhaust ourselves listening to them all and trying to satisfy each one, but we will end up worn out and completely unfulfilled. We need to give priority to the voice of God in Scripture and surround ourselves with those who lead us there. We need brothers and sisters in the faith to speak the truth of the Word into our lives every day.

When we allow that time for the Word in our daily lives, it will ripple and overflow in abundant ways. My blessed friendship with Stephanie has affected my life in such abundant ways, and it has led to hundreds of people being drawn more deeply into God’s Word every single week.

God wants that abundance for you too. So, if you are hungry for the Holy Spirit and new life today, look no further than God’s Word. Find a resource, a small group, a ministry, or a friend to keep you accountable, and watch how the Lord completely changes your life. Before you know it, others' lives will begin to be changed too.

I am praying for you, please pray for me, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Thank you for being my friend, Stephanie.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, January 26th, 2025, The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C: Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 15.