My aunt loved to read to me. As a small child I would be fascinated with words and would repeat them, and at every opportunity she would read me a story. Even today in our electronic age when you can pop in a DVD or play a game, children still love to be read to. There is a wonderful connection between the listener and the storyteller, and since early times storytelling was a way to convey messages of how to live and how to love. It is not a surprise that I was attracted to the ministry of proclaiming the Word.

It was pretty scary the first time I had to stand up at Mass and proclaim, but I do it because I love the Word.

As I prepare to read I think of the many others who have heard the Word before me. I imagine the Israelites around their fires. It is the end of the day, they are tired from the day of work and travel, and someone is asked to tell the story of how they became travelers, wandering from place to place seeking the kingdom of God. The people hear the story of how God created the world and how He loved His people. They hear of the prophets who warn them that they are getting detoured off the path and they need to change their ways. They hear of kings who lose sight of the sovereignty of God and how the psalmist after losing his way seeks God as his comfort and the source of life.

The people heard and knew God in these stories. But sometimes they just didn't get it and they needed more. And the Word was made flesh John 1:14. And Jesus learned about God the Father in the same way, at His mother's knee listening to the stories around the table or around the fire. We hear how Jesus prayed using the psalms, just as we pray today using the psalms. He reminds us of the Beatitudes that have been spread throughout the Bible stories. His disciples continued to spread the Word in the same way that the Israelites did throughout time. This continued throughout the middle ages when the Monks who lovingly copied the Sacred Writings were replaced by the printing press. Today we have Bibles on ebooks and audio books but as you listen the message is the same, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son and we are called to live the Good News of the Son. John 3:16

If you would like to reflect on the Sunday readings, you can go to the RCIA Message Boards. For information about the Catholic Faith and RCIA please contact Karen Heaphy at 727.726.8477 x310 or Tom Heironimus at 727.726.8477 x325.

Are you a seeker?  Looking for something, but don't quite know what, yet you keep reaching out.  Why not stop by the John Bosco Center on Monday nights and meet other seekers.  It is said that God has formed us with a yearning for Him that is represented in many different ways as we look in all the wrong places.   We look to success or money to fill that longing in our hearts, but it just doesn't click for us.   What finally clicks is developing a relationship with God.  But we ask, how do we do that?  I invite you to come and see, and experience it for yourself.  You are not alone, there are other seekers traveling the same road.  If you have any questions please call Karen Heaphy at the Church office 727.726.8477, x310 or Tom Heironomous, x325.   We meet at 7:00 pm in Room 1, John Bosco Center.  Come a little early for some coffee, we will be waiting.