Knowing the Word

One of the brethren asked: “how does one become a better person, a real disciple of God, without being guided by the elders in the Church to the path to the new life?”. He was asking about the role of the priests in conveying the mind of the Lord, particularly about preaching. It slips most brethren’s attention that preaching, generally carried out by bishops and priests, is communal work. This is our ethos. The ecclesiastical preaching would not be truthful, that is, serving its purpose, unless every believer devoted himself to the Word, every day, in a personal way, that is, unless the Word was, for him, essential for his day, such as his food and his drink. There are two dimensions for knowing the Word, the collective and the individual. Any dimension that eliminates the other, eliminates itself as well. The Word here, if I mention its being dispensed out in preaching, does not actually achieve its effect, unless it moves us to listen to God at all times. Learn from the pulpit that there is no renewal for us without our hungering, all of us, to the Word. This is the source of every newness.