Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Ezekiel 2,8-3,4

But you, son of man, are to listen to what I say to you; do not be a rebel like that rebellious tribe. Open your mouth and eat what I am about to give you.' When I looked, there was a hand stretch- ing out to me, holding a scroll. He un- rolled it in front of me; it was written on, front and back; on it was written 'Lamentations, dirges and cries of grief '. He then said, 'Son of man, eat what you see; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the House of Israel.' I opened my mouth; he gave me the scroll to eat and then said, 'Son of man, feed on this scroll which I am giving you and eat your fill.' So I ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey. He then said, 'Son of man, go to the House of Israel and tell them what I have said.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The prophet receives his mission from God through a kind of sacramental Liturgy. First of all, the Lord asks Ezekiel to listen and obey: "But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious." He does not yet know what task the Lord will give him, but the necessary condition is listening to the Word of God. In front of the Lord, we are first called to listen because only those who listen can live the Word. This is the meaning of faith, which "comes from what is heard" as the apostle Paul will say (Rom 10:17). All can become believers when we start trusting in the word of the Lord that is first of all found in the Bible. As if to indicate the sense and truth of what was just said, the Lords invites Ezekiel to be nourished by a scroll, the symbol of the Word that the prophet must hear and read. At that time in fact people wrote of scrolls of parchment. The scroll contains that which the Lord wants to be communicated and which must go down into the depths of the prophet's heart and flesh, because the Word of God is his and our food, that which nourishes our life and which can also nourish the life of others. That is why the prophet is the one who is first of all called to communicate this Word so that it may feed the hunger of all those who will have the grace and joy to hear it and feed on that scroll. He must nourish himself to such an extent with the Holy Scriptures that he himself becomes a living word, that is, he communicates it with his words, his existence, his actions.