| Margaret Duncan - The Power of the Word |
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As a life-long Catholic, I went to mass every week and mumbled a few prayers most days as a kind of ‘insurance policy’. However, this had little impact on everyday life and although I believed in God, I was sure he was only interested in the ‘good guys’ and I certainly was not one of them!
Although I was materially comfortable, my life was actually pretty empty. I felt dead inside, as though I had a stone where my heart should be which prevented me from really loving my family. I was astonished one Sunday at mass to hear: ‘I will take away their hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh’. (Ezek. 36:26): I began to pray in earnest and on the 17th February 1985, whilst praying at home, I had a powerful inner vision of Heaven. I sensed the presence of Jesus and heard these words: “This is your Father and he loves you”. For the first time I knew without doubt that God is real and that He truly does love me just as I am and I don’t need to ‘earn’ His love. There and then I asked Jesus to take charge of my life as I had made a mess of it so far. I started to read my bible every day and developed a hunger for prayer and the things of God.
God’s word says: Does not my word burn like fire …. is it not like a hammer shattering a rock?’ God’s Word certainly shattered the hard shell that surrounded my heart and brought me new life and healing. Scripture is always fresh like the manna God sent daily to Moses and the people in the desert. Just recently I noticed for the first time, the beautiful words in Psalm 107:19-20 - ‘Then they called to the Lord in their trouble and he rescued them ……sending his word and healing them… In addition to changing us, scripture has the power to heal us also.
It has been said that Catholics tend to be ‘sacramentalised’ rather than ‘evangelised’ and for many of us, outside the context of the mass, the scriptures are regarded as something which Protestants read! I know now that God desires a living relationship with us, and in addition to the sacraments, daily scripture reading forms an essential part of my prayer life if I am to hear what God wants to say to me. I pray that more parishes will have scripture study groups so that the transforming power of the Word of God will continue to spread. Come Holy Spirit, come!
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"No need to remember past events, no need to think about what was done before. Look, I am doing something new, now it emerges; can you not see it. Yes I am making a road in the desert and rivers in wastelands." (Isaiah 43:18-19)
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