Faith awakens always finds in the Word suggestions that enrich their Christian experience. It is the way the Father has of accompanying us in our daily walk.
For their part, the prologue of the Gospel of John, which we already read on Christmas Day, is inexhaustible. It says that those who receive the Word HAVE BEEN BORN OF GOD. What is it to be born of God?
It is to have in life a different perspective, the one that the same God has who is compassionate and accompanying. It is to learn to live with forgiveness and generosity activated, because God forgives and gives life to all. It is to have another look at reality, one that goes beyond usefulness and economics; to look at ourselves with the love with which God looks at us. Something like that.
More concretely, we say that we are born of God, being born from the Word. The Word of God teaches us to be born of God. Let’s take three very interesting phrases from a book of Pharisaic spirituality from Jesus’ own time (it’s called *Pirqué Abot*: Writings of the Fathers). Jesus knew and perhaps prayed with these thoughts:
· “Do not say: ‘When I have time, I will read the Word,’ because perhaps you will never find time’”: do not postpone reading the Gospels. Pick up the little book and start reading today if you are not already doing so.
“Don’t say: ‘The important thing is to read the Word’; no, the important thing is the facts”: we don’t read the Word to learn things, although we may learn something. We do it, above all, to change our behaviors a little, to be more human and fraternal.
“Don’t say: ‘The Word doesn’t accompany us because where two or three are reading the Word, God is in their midst’”: the Gospel will also say so (Mt 18:20): reading the Word in community, God is present in a living way. Let us ask ourselves at night: What Gospel have we read in the Eucharist? If we remember it, it would be a good sign.
We see, then, how the ancient texts of Jewish spirituality encourage us to read the Word and, above all, to live it, and with that, to be born of God. It is true what Saint John says: to receive the Word is the way to be born of God. Therefore, it is so important that we encourage ourselves, even personally, to read the Gospels each day. Thus, the Word will soak the soil of our life and make it more fertile, more believing, and more human.
These proposals may seem to us subtleties without foundation. But if we could put flesh on this spirituality, it would be seen that John is right: we would be born into a new way of life. Why not desire this for the new year we have inaugurated? The Word read daily (in the booklet of the gospel of each day) can work the miracle of making us born into a new faith. It is an effective way to give birth to the new believer we desire. New year, Word read with novelty.
Fidel Aizpurúa Donazar
January 4, 2026
English version translated with AI