I
In 1979 I received my First Communion
and, as a communion gift, my first Bible, the Illustrated Children’s Bible.
I cherished this present and the stories never left my memory, even
after I lost the Bible, many years ago.
The
Word of God is eternal and omnipresent; it remains imprinted on our souls from
our Baptism. When Saint John the Baptist
preaches a “baptism of repentance,” he is the bearer of the message of
conversion for a new wilderness generation.
The Word of God draws us into the Church and prepares us to receive the
baptism of John. Once we have received
this sacrament, the Word of God remains forever imprinted on our heart. It cannot be removed or defiled and even the
soul retains its memory of God’s story.
Today
the message of renewal proclaimed by John has itself been renewal. In Great Britain they celebrate Bible Sunday
with the help of the social media like Twitter and Facebook. The Word of God can be proclaimed with a
tweet or a post, empowering the hearer to become the preacher to cyberspace, a new frontier.
II
In the Year of Faith which commemorates
the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th
Anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, bishops, priests, deacons,
all the lay faithful, and soon even the pope can make use of technology to
evangelize. Social media is a useful starting
point for encouraging the reading of the Bible and the Second Vatican Council
documents.
In
the United States the Church celebrates Bible Sunday on November 19, venerating
in a special way the Word of God even as she worships the Lord. “The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of
God, and because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God” (CCC No.
135; cf DV No. 24). God and Christ and
the Spirit are the Word. God speaks. Christ lives.
The Spirit unifies. We receive. Then we must proclaim.
Divine
Revelation then is rightly called the Word.
We are a people of the book, but one that must never become a dead
letter; it must remain “living and effective” (Hebrews 4:12). Twelfth-century mystic and abbot Bernard of
Clairvaux wrote: “It is not a written and mute word, but the Word which is
incarnate and living.”
III
It should go without saying - but I will
anyway - that Bible reading is for Catholics.
We must increase our interest in the Word of God, so ancient and
valuable to civilization. Our faith
encourages, demands even, the study of the Bible. The study of the Sacred Page provides grace
from God who speaks to us from eternity.
Whatever we think we know, God, who has been around a lot longer, knows
better and the Bible is how he teaches us to live on earth before heaven (see
John 14:6).
We
are closer to the Word than we might think.
The USCCB in a article on its website put it like this:
· We listen to the
readings from the lectionary at Mass.
· There are good
Samaritan laws (Luke 10).
· We welcome home
the prodigal son (Luke 15),
· And look for the
Promised Land (Exodus 3, Hebrews 11).
· “Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you” and “Love your neighbor,” are popular maxims,
automatic responses to life’s challenges.
The Word of the Lord is always near to us
and all his ways are holy and true (cf Psalm 119).
But
reading isn’t enough. We must take the
words our Savior gave us into the streets and into cyberspace. Faith without works is dead (Jas 2:16). Only then can the words be renewed.
IV
The Bible is not one book but an
anthology of 73 books, composed by numerous (mostly anonymous) authors over
thousands of years. This collection is
held together by a theme: the Revelation of God in Jesus Christ. “In times past, God spoke in partial and various
ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken
to us through a Son, whom he made heir of all things, and through whom he
created the universe,” the anonymous author of Hebrews wrote (1:1-2). Today that collection can be downloaded onto
an IPhone or a flash drive.
Imagine,
the Gospel at the touch of a button, right in the palm of your hand.
To
show that God is the center of our lives, many families enthrone the Bible in a
visible place in their homes. By placing
Scripture in a prominent place, we show that the Lord remains living and active
through the Word.
The
Bible I enthroned in my office belonged to my grandparents. I found it in a box in the basement of my
sister’s house, the binding cracked, the pages stained with mold. So I had it restored. Apparently her house became a depository for
old Bibles because in the closet in a spare bedroom I found my Illustrated
Children’s Bible. The stories haven’t
changed.
V
In this Year of Faith, may we give thanks
to God for his Word. Over the millennia
the Holy Spirit has enabled communities and individuals to encounter God through
reading and praying with the Bible texts.
One of the aims of Bible Sunday in the U.S. and internationally is to
encourage believers to deepen their knowledge of the Bible for service in the
Church. Then will all see the salvation
of our God (Isaiah 40:5).
In
Verbum Domini the Holy Father writes:
“I express my heartfelt hope for the following of a ‘new season of
greater love for sacred Scripture on the part of every member of the people of
God, so that their prayerful and faithful reading of the Bible will, with time,
deepen their personal relationship with Jesus.”
We
don’t have to be religious scholars to enjoy the stories in the Old and New
Testaments. God reveals himself to us if
we approach him with prayer. He is the
author, Christ is the Word, and the Holy Spirit is the interpreter. Prayer must always be the beginning and the
end of our relationship with God through the saving Scriptures. He teaches us the truth we need for
salvation. He has the final Word.
The
Bible: B.I.B.L.E. - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
QUOD SCRIPSI SCRIPSI
QUOD SCRIPSI SCRIPSI
Welcome to a new Blog, Father.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.