Fr, Tony, as students fondly call him, addressed the question "what is the word of God?" According to him, the word of God is the revelation of God himself and the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Emphasizing the point, Fr. Magnante said that the word of God was ultimately Jesus Christ, who revealed not only the plan of salvation, but also God himself, a plan which had been hidden for a long time, but had been made known in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Fr. Magnante also explained that behind the self-revelation of God was the love of God for the world (Jn 3:16). On scripture, the speaker said that what we read in the Bible becomes the word of God after we have meditated on it, such that it becomes something living in us, something that influences our lives and something that manifests a Christ we have met through the scripture. In this way he maintained that the scripture becomes the word of God to an individual when he/she is able to communicate and dialogue with Christ through and in the reading(s). Fr. Tony therefore was categorical that we become true missionaries only when we are able to make other people meet the Christ we have witnessed ourselves, a Christ who has touched our lives in a profound way.
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Fr. Magnante talk was followed by another one by sister RoseMary, MCCJ, who talked about the word of God in her life and ministry. The sister, explaining her missionary experience from Uganda, to America and Sudan, coloured her talk with the psalms, manifesting how the word of God can be integrated into our lives, to make it another Gospel for other people. It was interesting to hear the sister quoting from one psalm to another, and intermingling everything with the prophets and other verses from the gospels.
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Finally, the talk of the day was completed by a Tangaza College student, Perpetie Kikola from Comboni missionaries, who gave his experience of the word of God in the pastoral work. Describing how he had been touched by the faith of many young people in the slums where he was working, he maintained that the word of God remained a key factor in the formation of pastoral agents, and in ensuring that their work in human promotion and evangelization was effective. The talk ended minutes after five, sending home an enthusiastic community of Tangaza.
