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IV. The Word in the Liturgy of the Church

A. The Scripture Fulfilled

Jesus' participation in the synagogue liturgy at Nazareth marks a turning point in salvation history.

In effect, we see being played out what the Letter to the Hebrews later described: "In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, He spoke to us through a Son" (see Hebrews 1:1-2).

Notice what happens at Nazareth.

Jesus reads a passage written long ago to Israel's ancestors by the prophet Isaiah. And not just any passage from Isaiah. But Isaiah's promise of the Messiah - who would be anointed by the Spirit and bring freedom for the oppressed, eyesight for the blind.

After reading Isaiah, Jesus says, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (see Luke 4:21).

What God had once spoken through the prophets, was now being spoken by His Son. And in hearing the Son's Word, all the Scriptures of old were fulfilled – that is, God was now making good on the promises of Scripture. Notice that He says the promises of Scripture are fulfilled "in your hearing."

Until this moment at Nazareth, Israel's liturgy had been one of expectation and hope: the congregation heard the words of Moses and the prophets, and prayed that the Messiah might come soon.

In Jesus, what was hoped for and anticipated has come to pass. Jesus, as He taught His disciples on that first Easter night, is the fulfillment of the Scriptures of Israel (see Luke 24:27,45).

And this reality of fulfillment is what we experience of the Liturgy of the Word in the Mass. In the Mass, all the promises of the old covenant are brought to fulfillment in our hearing, as we share in the blessings of the new covenant.

Notice, also, that our readings each Sunday follow the pattern of salvation history – beginning with the Old Testament and showing how the promises of that particular Old Testament reading are fulfilled in the New Testament of Jesus.

We are intentionally made, in each Mass, to re-read and re-live the great events of our salvation, the salvation we give thanks for in the Mass.

Sometimes the connections between the readings we hear at the Mass can be subtle. But the readings are always connected so as to reveal the unity of God's saving plan from the Old Testament to the New, and how that plan continues in the Mass.

To illustrate this point, let's take an example from a typical Sunday in "ordinary time" (that is, those weeks in the Church year that fall outside of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter).

Let's look at the readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time in Cycle A. (The Church's readings follow a three-year cycle in which Matthew's Gospel is read in Year A, Mark's Gospel in Year B, and Luke's Gospel in Year C).

The Old Testament reading for that Sunday is a prophecy from Isaiah, in which Isaiah promises that the "key" to the kingdom of David will be given to a new prime minister. He will be a father of the people of Israel and what he opens no one shall shut and what he closes no one shall open (see Isaiah 22:15, 19-23).

And in our hearing of the Gospel on that Sunday, Isaiah's promise is fulfilled.

The Gospel selected by the Church is that of Jesus giving the "keys to the kingdom" to Peter. Further echoing Isaiah, Jesus says that what Peter binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and what he looses on earth will be loosed in heaven (see Matthew 16:13-20).

In the liturgy, the Church is showing us that Peter is the one prophesied by Isaiah, who will rule over the Kingdom of David's Son – the Church.

If we listen carefully, we will hear these kinds of connections in each Sunday liturgy. (For more help in hearing these connections week-to-week, see our Sunday Bible Studies.)

B. Meeting Christ in Scripture

But Catholics do not come to Mass for Bible study.

The Liturgy of the Word is not simply a history lesson or an occasion for drawing moral and practical ethical lessons from Scripture.

In the Mass, through the readings, the Lord is truly with us, speaking to us, calling us to renew our covenant with Him, the covenant first entered into by our baptism.

So in our Liturgy of the Word, we continue the long tradition that goes back to the time of Moses, but now with the knowledge that Christ is with us.

From the Old Testament through the New and up to the present day, the people of God have always revered Scripture as the living and powerful Word of God.

From Moses on, we have always encountered that Word in a liturgical setting, as the centerpiece of our public worship. There we learn not only what God has to tell us, but also how the Word of God is still alive and working in our world today.

Christians recognize that the Word of God "became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (see John 1:14) in the person of Jesus Christ.

When we encounter the Word in the Liturgy of the Word, therefore, we are doing more than hearing the story of our faith and the wisdom of its teachers. In a very real way, we are encountering Christ himself.

This is why we show such profound reverence for the Word of God in our Liturgy of the Word. We bind it in beautiful books that are works of art in themselves; we carry it in processions with candles and incense; we proclaim it loud and clear in front of the whole assembly; we meditate on it and hear it interpreted for us by the wisdom of the Church.

We do these things because we know we are encountering Christ, the Word Who "was in the beginning with God" (see John 1:2).

It is this encounter with the Word in Scripture that prepares us for the miracle of the Eucharist, in which we will come face to face with the Word made flesh.

In the Word proclaimed in the Mass, we re-live the mystery of salvation. In the bread and wine consecrated on the altar, we enter that mystery of salvation.

God addresses us in the Liturgy of the Word, telling us today all that He has done for us and for our salvation since the beginning of the world.

All of that salvation history was intended to lead us to participation in the new covenant remembered and represented in every Mass.

In the Mass, at the moment when the bread and wine are consecrated using the biblical words of Jesus, the liturgy delivers to each of us in the here and now, all that was promised in the sacred pages. Through the liturgy we take our place in the history of salvation.

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