While emerging from the Christmas season into Ordinary Time, the Church takes one Sunday in late January for a special focus—the Word of God.
Beginning in 2020, Pope Francis decreed that “the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God,” emphasizing the essential nature of Scripture for Christian life and in the work of the Church. In 2025, the third Sunday in Ordinary Time is January 26, and readings for that day’s liturgy focus on the power of Scripture.
Pope Francis proclaimed “Word of God Sunday” on September 30, 2019, in an apostolic letter Motu Proprio, titled Aperuit Illis, Latin for “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” The title of the apostolic letter alludes to an account in the final chapter of Luke’s Gospel when—shortly before His Ascension—Jesus opens the apostles’ minds to the meaning of the Scriptures to prepare them for their mission to proclaim and carry out the Gospel.
“With this Letter,” Pope Francis said, “I wish to respond to the many requests I have received from the people of God that the entire Church celebrate, in unity of purpose, a Sunday of the Word of God.”
In this apostolic letter, Pope Francis called upon Catholics to be mindful of the Second Vatican Council’s document, Dei Verbum, which “deserves to be read and appropriated ever anew” for helping Catholics rediscover Scripture. He refers to the document’s noting the performative and sacramental nature of Scripture, which not only teaches of God but offers an encounter with God.
To mark Word of God Sunday, Pope Francis leaves it up to parish communities to decide how it will be observed, but he noted that Masses should “highlight the proclamation of the word of the Lord” and the honor that it is due. Pope Francis explained: “The relationship between the Risen Lord, the community of believers, and sacred Scripture is essential to our identity as Christians.
Without the Lord who opens our minds to them, it is impossible to understand the Scriptures in depth. Yet the contrary is equally true: without the Scriptures, the events of the mission of Jesus and of his Church in this world would remain incomprehensible.”
