EVERY WORD THAT COMES FORTH FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD

~ Brother Thomas Paul ~

The Holy Trinity dwells in us. It is the Holy Spirit who unites the Holy Trinity in our souls. In the Sacrament of Baptism, we stand outside the church with the child and the Priest welcomes us to the church. Then the psalm is sung: Psalm 42.

“As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, the living God.

When can I enter and see the face of God”?

This has been the case with the church since the beginning. Person who comes to receive Baptism comes with great thirst. Like the deer longs for streams of water. There is an appetite in the Christian life. The soul has a thirst and hunger just like our physical thirst and hunger. Church rings bell three times a day, just as we eat three times a day. It is the hunger of the soul. When we hear that bell, we pray. There is a rhythm to our lives – “remembering God throughout the day”. Only with God our soul’s hunger and thirst will be satisfied. Just as we feed the body, the soul must be nourished. That is what makes our lives successful. We know that Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights. Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’ “Thus, the devil left him. This is the Word written in the Old Testament. That is what Jesus fulfills in the New Testament.

So, what is Christian life like? Jesus is speaking at the beginning of the Gospel. There is a physical hunger and thirst in man’s life and there is a need to quench spiritual hunger. Its foundation is in Word of God. Eat Word of God. Listen to the Word of God and you should strive to live by it. The mysteries contained within the Word of God must be uncovered. Remember! ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’ “Every word”!

In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 8 there is a Centurion approached Jesus for his servant’s healing by saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully. “He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion was a Gentile. Not Jew. The Jew should not go to the house of a Gentile. That’s the common rule. Jesus breaks that rule and show His ever-merciful love. Jesus said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.[Matthew 8:8] When Jesus heard this, He was amazed. The people who followed him were Jews. Jesus said to those following him “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. The centurion only said so much: “only say the word and my servant will be healed”. God’s salvation is a gift and this gift flows wherever it pleases as “the wind blows where it wills” [Matt 3:8]. Here, the sick man is a gentile. He is not a Jew. For him, his centurion has come a long way to see Jesus. Centurion said, “only say the word”. How did the centurion receive this faith? I have explained all these to describe the depth of the meaning of “The Word”.