Sr. Ronnie Rafferty OP

Fourth Sunday of Easter – 11th May 2025

Usually I would go straight to the gospel text when asked to do the Sacred Space reflection, but the passage from Acts grabbed my attention today.  Perhaps because of the constant use of the phrase “Word of God” and the efforts of Paul and Barnabas to preach it echoed loudly and strongly in my Dominican ears and heart. The phrase occurs in our Mission Statement and in our General Chapter 2025 prayer. A similar phrase that appears and also struck me anew is the “Message of God”.

They did face fierce opposition from some of the Jews who were jealous of their success in getting so many converts from among both Jews and pagans.  Nearly the whole town turned out to hear them on the following sabbath.  But they bravely insisted on sharing the message, the Good News, and called out the Jews for resisting the truth.

A great claim indeed it is for Paul to say that what he was sharing with his audience was the Word of God!  A Message from God!

They were eventually thrown out of Antioch in Pisidia. Of course, this meant they moved on and continued their itinerant preaching in Iconium, setting up a model for Dominic and his followers.

What a challenge for us today to reach ears that are tuned out or turned off by the traditional preaching of the Word!  Are we missing the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit as we preach? Maybe we could get help from the text of Isaiah 50:4-9   

The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
That I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;

We are so blessed to be in the habit of opening our ears daily in community and personal prayer to the Word of God, knowing that He really wants to communicate with us, and wants us to keep on sharing His message.