Opening the Word is a series of prompts from The Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies to help focus our minds and hearts on the Sunday Mass Readings. After Jesus revealed Himself to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord desires to enflame our hearts also by revealing Himself to us in His Word. Take this opportunity to pause, and allow the Lord to make Himself known to you through the opening of the Scriptures which will ready your eyes to see Him in the breaking of the bread.
Step 1: Begin in prayer, asking the Lord to open your heart to receive how He wants to make Himself known to you. Then, attentively read the Scriptures.
Step 2: Consider these meditation prompts that follow from the readings:
- In Hebrew (the original language of the Old Testament), if you wanted to describe something as tall, you would say ‘that is tall.’ Something taller would be described as ‘that is tall, tall.’ The tallest thing would be described as ‘tall, tall, tall.’ Consider now what the prophet Isaiah sees in the heavenly sanctuary and how the Seraphim describe the presence of the Lord: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” God is not just holy (meaning “other; different; removed”, nor he just holier than others. God is supremely holy—the holiest—to whom no one else can compare. Allow this to inform how you come to worship this Sunday when we sing with the angels, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!”
- Reflect on the words given to Simon: “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Just after toiling a whole night with nothing to show for it, Jesus calls Simon to go back out into the deep and cast his nets. Jesus wants to act in Simon Peter’s life, but not where Simon is expecting it. Jesus wants to perform this miracle for Simon, but Simon must participate with an act of faith, trusting that Jesus has a better plan than his own. Where is the Lord calling you to “put out into the deep?” What faith will it require to answer that call?
Step 3: Conclude with a prayer of gratitude and ask the Lord to keep these Words in your heart.
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