
Families read Scripture passages together during a Bible Breakfast at Holy Family Parish in Davenport last year.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
Reflecting on the Word of God as a community and in the home will help families, couples and individuals to respond as pilgrims of hope to their neighbors in need in this Jubilee Year of Hope and beyond. Theologians Matthew Coomber and Ella Johnson of St. Ambrose University in Davenport shared that message during their Jan. 26 presentation for the annual Sunday of the Word of God celebration at the St. Vincent Center in Davenport.
Pope Francis instituted Sunday of the Word of God in 2019 to emphasize the significance of Sacred Scripture. This year’s theme is “I Hope in Your Word,” taken from Psalms. Listening to and cherishing God’s Word offers the “world a witness of hope that allows one to move beyond the difficulties of the present moment” (Liturgical and Pastoral Handbook for Sunday of the Word of God 2025).
Coomber, a biblical scholar and Episcopal priest, provided participants, most of whom were online, with a historical perspective of Jubilee and its role in serving the common good. Jubilee is an ancient Jewish tradition that occurred every 50 years as a time for forgiveness and a reminder of God’s providence and mercy. It provided “the community with a time to come back into right relationship with one another and with God” (https://tinyurl.com/3vdx74mw).
“The idea of hope permeates the Old Testament,” Coomber said. “The methods of the common good balance economic life with the good of my community.” The common good ethos “causes us to stop and ask, ‘In what are my economic goals rooted? How do my economic choices affect my neighbor? Do my ambitions eclipse my spirit of care for my neighbor?’”
Coveting was a trap to avoid. “It is not just a prohibition against actions but against a destructive mindset,” Coomber said, citing examples from Genesis 3 (wanting to be like God), the Pharaohs’ paranoia (Genesis 41, Exodus 1), stealing land (Isaiah 5) and Jubilee Laws (Leviticus 25).
Jubilee Laws alleviated coveting by ensuring that every family had what they needed, Coomber said. “God created resources for all, as long as some don’t take more than their fair share. Jubilee worked to regulate this.”
People who had more ensured that their neighbor had enough, through the sale and redemption of land. In the 49th year, all lands returned to their original holder. This prevented cycles of poverty and stopped a minority from gaining control over access to land and livelihood. Life is not perfect. Coomber said some clay tablets unearthed about 50 years ago revealed the ways in which people circumvented Jubilee law.
Johnson, whose specialties are ecclesiology, sacraments and spirituality, emphasized the place of Scriptures in the life of the Church today. Sunday of the Word of God asks the faithful “To reflect on how we ‘listen’ to the Scriptures and how we are called to listen to one another ‘listening’ to the Scriptures.”
The 2025 celebration calls the faithful to listen to the needs of their neighbors and to respond as members of their local Church and the universal Church. Catholics in the Davenport Diocese are called to respond to the diocesan synodal process and its focus on youth and family engagement,” Johnson said.
“How are we listening in a way that is attentive to youth and family?” she asked the online audience. “How is the Living Word rooted in community? How does the Living Word lead us to actualizing hope in our communities? How are we as families, couples, deacons, priests and pastors encouraging families to listen to the needs of others?”
The “Word of God is a person,” she said, in whom believers find hope. “The psalms help us to foster and kindle this hope,” she continued. “How are we becoming agents of the common good?”
In response to her question about needs (from local to global), participants identified immigration, food, shelter, mental illness, loneliness, peace, an end to wars, an appreciation for ethical living (and the need to live it), and care for creation.
She shared a synopsis of the 2010 movie, “Of Gods and Men,” based on a true story of a community of monks in Algeria in the mid-1990s, martyred after choosing to remain among the people they served in the midst of civil war. They arrived at their decision after spending time listening to one another and praying together the Liturgy of the Hours, the universal prayer of the Church.
Johnson encouraged families to pray the Liturgy of the Hours — psalms, canticles, readings, intentions and hymns — prayed at various hours of the day. “The psalms witness a turn to God in every situation in life …” she said. Start with Night Prayer, which is short and takes about eight minutes to pray, she recommended.
She also recommends praying Lectio Divina, “an ancient monastic way of reading the Scriptures to open up the treasures of God’s word and bring about an encounter with the Risen Christ, the living word of God.”
You can learn more about these forms of prayer here:
Liturgy of the Hours: https://tinyurl.com/4dwk9wud
Lectio Divina: https://tinyurl.com/ypfkejdu