On September 30, His Holiness Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter motu proprio entitled Aperuit illis, which establishes the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as a day devoted to the celebration, study, and dissemination of the Word of God. Recalling the importance given by the Second Vatican Council to rediscovering Sacred Scripture for the life of the Church, Pope Francis indicated that he wrote this Apostolic Letter in response to requests from the faithful around the world to celebrate a Sunday with a particular focus on the Word of God. Pope Francis invited local communities to find ways to “mark this Sunday with a certain solemnity.” For example, he suggested that the sacred text could be enthroned “in order to focus the attention of the assembly on the normative value of God’s Word. Pastors can also find ways of giving a Bible, or one of its books, to the entire assembly as a way of showing the importance of learning how to read, appreciate and pray daily with Sacred Scripture.”
In response to this papal initiative, the following resources have been developed and assembled by the Liturgy Office to assist parishes in keeping this new observance; these may be accessed by clicking on the following links:
Enthronement of the Word of God Service
Liturgical suggestions, including homily notes and choice of liturgical texts