word-work
"Humbly welcome the word that has taken root in you, with its power to save you." —James 1:21
God our Father promised that He would "bring us to birth with a word spoken in truth" (Jas 1:18). This word is implanted in us as a baby is implanted on the uterine wall of his mother. To "humbly welcome" this word instead of aborting it, we must "act on this word" (Jas 1:22). The food that nourishes us and the word implanted in us (Jas 1:21) is to do the will of the Father (Jn 4:34). God's word in us reaches full term, is born, grows, and matures when we do God's word. For example, when we are "looking after orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself unspotted by the world" (Jas 1:27), God's word is "at work within" us who believe (1 Thes 2:13).
After you hear God's word at daily Mass, are you going to abort the word or give birth to it by doing it? After you read this book, One Bread, One Body, will you keep doing God's word until the implanted word is born, and the birthed word bears a hundredfold harvest? (see Mk 4:8) On Judgment Day, we will be judged not on how much of God's word we have read but on how much we have done (see Mt 25:31ff). Accept God's grace by faith and the work of doing His word (Eph 2:8; Jas 2:24).
Prayer: Abba, in this Great Jubilee, may I learn, love, teach, defend, do, and suffer for Your word.
Promise: "A second time Jesus laid hands on his eyes, and he saw perfectly; his sight was restored and he could see everything clearly." —Mk 8:25
Praise: Judy gave her mother a Bible and a copy of One Bread, One Body. She rejoiced to see her mother come out of depression and enter into a deeper relationship with the Lord.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, July 28, 1999
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 3, 1999