Fr. Serge Maniba Shows The Way to Become Effective Proclaimers of the Word

The LeCom Liturgical Ministry’s last General Assembly was held last October 20, at 10 am.

The first part of the assembly was conducted by Mel Novales, Leila Banico and Trix Deleña who alternated in introducing the newly-inducted LeComs, discussing the remainder of the 2018 liturgical calendar, reviewing the requirements for the November 18 commissioning, as well as conducting a post-mortem on the recent ‘retraining’, conducted by the mass and village coordinators. The invocation and opening prayer were delivered by Rissa Kawpeng.

‘Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.’

John 14:28

This passage from the gospel of John opened the talk of former CTK guest priest Fr. Serge Maniba during his address at the LeCom General Assembly entitled, ‘Becoming More Effective Proclaimers of the Word’. He stated that during the Eucharist, we behold Jesus come alive as ‘word made flesh’ on the ‘table of the Word’, which is the lectern, and the table of the Eucharist, which is the altar. He said that since the ‘Word’ has the power to attract people and transform their lives, the proclamation of the Word by a lector to the believers becomes the most beautiful job! In light of this, he encouraged the LeCom group to study the bible, know God’s Word, love it, and be inspired by it. He proposed that when a lector effectively proclaims the Word, he participates in saving souls because he brings to the believer the Mystery of God – that He dwells in our hearts and that we have a fellowship with Him.

Fr. Serge suggested that the lectors also read Verbum Domini, a post-synodal apostolic exhortation issued by Pope Benedict XVI which deals with how the Catholic Church should approach the Bible, the Word of God. Recognizing that a person’s encounter with the Word is actually an encounter with Jesus, it emphasizes the proclamation of the Word as a parish priority. It is not only the listening believer who benefits.

When a lector allows the Word to affect his own spirituality and prayer life, he develops a life with depth and he allows the Word to bring him closer to sainthood and fullness of life!

He cautioned, the group, however into believing that life in Jesus will be free from suffering. He points to an image of our God who bears a cross, implying that the process of conversion can be a painful one as God needs to break through our hard-heartedness to transform us. Paraphrasing from Pope Benedict’s book, Fr. Serge says that tears, like water, soften the ground of our being, helping the seed of the Word to grow and take root in us until we become the flesh of Jesus in the world.

In conclusion, he reminded the lectors and commentators that they can discern the extent of their transformation by observing the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives. (Galatians 5)