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The God Who Speaks - Photos from around the Diocese

The God Who Speaks

One initiative for The Year of The Word involves people taking a photograph of what they see from their window, door or on their walk and match it to a verse in the Bible. This is a great opportunity to reflect on the God Who Speaks in our everyday lives. Take a look around at the beauty and share it with us all. So, get that phone out and take a photo of what inspires you and send it, along with your Bible passage, your area and name (if it is to be published) to adult.formation@dioceseofnottingham.uk for it to be uploaded onto the website for us all to view.

NATIONAL YEAR OF THE WORD WEBSITE FOR RESOURCES AND UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION

THE GOD WHO SPEAKS

Catholics have a richly different way of hearing the Word of God. God's Word is for everyone, not just for educated individuals. We see this regularly at Mass, where the Word is read to us as an assembled body, including people who cannot read or write.

Our God speaks to us, and we can reply - and be sure of a hearing. Listening to the Word together, we become a strong community, which grows by celebrating the Sacraments and constant prayer.

The Canon of Sacred Scripture (Catechism 120)

The Pentateuch (the Torah)

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

The historical books

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Maccabees

Traditional literature

Tobit, Judith, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), the Song of Songs

The prophets

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi

The Gospels

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

The later history

the Acts of the Apostles

The letters of S. Paul

Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the Hebrews

The letters of the Apostles

the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude

The epilogue

Revelation (the Apocalypse)

Fr. Joseph O'Hanlon's commentaries on Sacred Scripture (Lectionary year A)

Useful links

Diocese of Nottingham Information

March 2020 Booklet

DIOCES OF NOTTINGHAM INFORMATION BOOKLET

The God who Speaks: prayers

The God who Speaks: Advent - Encounter Booklet

Nottingham Diocese Spirituality Network Days of Prayer: Year of the Word - Encounter Jesus and be Missionary disciples through St Mathew's Gospel


THE NATIONAL SCRIPTURE TOUR 22nd February 2020 - Newark. Pete Codling, the artist for the year, talked about his spectacular commission made of glass, each piece cut individually - the piece is still unfinished.

The Church is built on the groundworks of Scripture; we listen to what our God is saying to us before we take action. Such listening may be achieved by a few companions who gather regularly to hear the Gospel of the upcoming Sunday Mass and share their prayerful responses to it. The Seven Steps are a good tried and tested way of doing this. A network of Seven Steps groups is growing across the Diocese. If you are interested in setting a group up, please contact the area re below.

The Seven Steps

  1. Invite. Remembering that the Risen Lord is present with the group, somebody present invites Jesus in a prayer and welcomes him.
  2. Read. Everybody opens their Bibles to the arranged place and somebody present reads to the group.
  3. View with wonder. The group picks out words or short phrases, reads them aloud prayerfully and repeates them three times, silence being preserved after each repetition. The texts are then reread aloud by somebody present from a different version of the texts.
  4. Listen. Silence is maintained for five minutes, to allow God to speak to the group.
  5. Share. The group members now share, without discussion, which word has touched them personally. The group may decide together which word may be chosen as their Word of Life for the coming week.
  6. Plan for action. The group discusses what task they may be called to do in their neighbourhood, or parish.
  7. Pray. Anybody present who would like to may pray spontaneously. The group ends with a prayer or a hymn known to all.

Regional representatives for the Seven Steps:

"The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God's word and of Christ's body. She has always maintained them, and continues to do so, together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of faith, since, as inspired by God and committed once and for all to writing, they impart the word of God Himself without change, and make the voice of the Holy Spirit resound in the words of the prophets and Apostles. Therefore, like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life."

- Dogmatic constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, paragraph 21.

Fr. Joseph O'Hanlon's commentaries on Sacred Scripture (Lectionary year B)

Downloads

For more information, please contact the Rev. Fr. Anthony Pateman.