"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke. 11:28)

"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke. 11:28)
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We wish our dear ones with the words,  "God bless you."

We wish them to be blessed by God.

Jesus says that those who hear the word of God  and keep it!" are blessed by Him.

I wished a boy who was going to write a public exam, 'Wish you all success!"

But the boy gave a curious laugh and said, "If I should succeed some miracle should happen."

"Why?"

"I am going to write the exam  completely unprepared. I am not worth even a zero!"

Here my wish has become a mere formality, with no effect.

Those who wish show their good will, but the receivers must be worthy of it.

Otherwise it will be like watering firewood.

Now coming to the point, who are blessed, according to Jesus?

Those who hear the word of God and keep it.

First they must hear God's word.

Then they must keep it.

In this context, Jesus was preaching , so He used the verb 'hear.'

"And he said to them, Go out all over the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation;" ( Mark.16:15)

Jesus asked His Apostles to go and preach.

They went to different parts of the world and preached the word of God.

Now the same work is done by their successors.

Moreover the word was put into writing to be handed down to posterity.  

So it is our God given duty to hear and read the word of God.

In short we must know the word of God.

It is not enough to know the word of God.

It should be kept, put into practice.

Unless we eat the food placed before us, the food is useless.

Knowing God's word is of no use unless we live according to it.

We must make an examination of conscience to see if we are practicing what we know.

We may read the Bible daily.

We may listen to the readings from the Gospel and the sermon given by the priest during Mass.

But what do we do with the word received?

Have you ever heard of the story of a calf?

One man had a cow.

It gave birth to a male calf.

The man grew up the calf into a bull and sold it in the market.

The buyer was a merchant and he sold it in the same market with profit.

That buyer too was a seller and he sold it with profit.

It was sold and bought, sold and bought, sold and bought; the selling and buying continued for years, until it became old and every buyer-seller earned a profit.

The bull was only a market-commodity throughout its life and was used for no other purpose.

One day it died of old age and only after its death it was sold to a butcher.

The same thing should not happen to the word of God.

It is not meant just for receiving and giving.

It is meant for receiving, living and giving, the most important purpose being living.

For instance, suppose we read in the morning, ,"And the King will answer them, Believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here, you did it to me." (Matthew.25:40), we must do some service to our neighbours, before giving the message to others.

Read, live and give.

Lourdu Selvam.