God’s Word in The Bible and in The Mission to Evangelize: fifty years after Dei Verbum

Abstract

At the 50th. anniversary of the constitution Dei Verbum of Council Vatican II, we perceive its working in Catholic thought of the last decade, especially in Verbum Domini of Pope Benedict XVI, in the “document of Aparecida” (CELAM) and in Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis. Starting from the consideration of the dialogic word as space of creative “letting-be” for the other, we highlight the human-divine character of God’s Word as creative and “humanized” in Christ. The living Tradition of the Church, that configures in his womb the Christian Scripture as fundamental rule of its faith, keeps the memoria Christi, the Word present in celebration and announcement, not only to those who stay outside, but, urgently, in the permanent formation and mystagogical accompanying of those who are considered Christians. The memoria Christi is guarded and interpreted also in the Christian life praxis. So we evoke the complex interaction of human and divine, memory and presence, word and praxis of faith, in order to value specially the human word, if authentic and dialogic, at the service of the humanatio of God’s word, that is also divinization of human word.

Keywords

• Palavra de Deus. Bíblia. Dei Verbum. Evangelização. Vaticano II