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Last weekend we celebrated Word of God Sunday in the Church. It was instituted by Pope Francis in September 2019 to remind all Catholics on the importance and the need “to grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures.” For the longest time in the history of the Church, this was not a focus. It was only in the last century, especially after the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), that the lay faithful were encouraged to read and study the Bible. Even 60 years later, there is still a great need to promote and encourage Catholics to make the reading of the Bible a daily part of their prayer life. As I mentioned in my homily, I need to be better about my disposition in studying and praying with Scripture even though I engage it daily.
When I study Scripture and read certain commentaries, I come across amazing insights and facts they I had not considered just like what I read to everyone in my homily. I read an insight from St. Jerome (342 to 420 AD.) that Pope Benedict quoted in a document on the study of sacred Scripture. Here is what I read to everyone:
“For me, the Gospel is the Body of Christ; for me, the holy Scriptures are his teaching. And when he says: whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood (John 6:53), even though these words can also be understood of the [Eucharistic] Mystery, Christ’s body and blood are truly the word of Scripture, God’s teaching. When we approach the [Eucharistic] Mystery, if a crumb falls to the ground, we are troubled. Yet when we are listening to the word of God, and God’s Word and Christ’s flesh and blood are being poured into our ears yet we pay no heed, what great peril should we not feel?” (Hebrews, Healy) This demonstrates to me the issue of not valuing Sacred Scriptures is nothing new, even 1600 years ago. However, we should reverence it just as much as we do with the Eucharist. St. Jerome is also known for saying that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” It is a challenge I need to embrace and I hope you do as well.
I know that there is a great tradition of Bible studies here at Immaculate Conception which I am very grateful for. If you have the time, I encourage you to try to attend one. However, I know many will not be able to attend due to time, availability, and the current pandemic. An option I encourage you to consider is to try one of the programs on Formed.org, which we promote in each bulletin. It is a great online resource that we pay for that has numerous Scripture studies. Another option would be to join many others who are using Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” podcast. The beauty of this is that you can start anytime! Finally, I would encourage you to start using your Bible to read the daily Mass readings. You can find those readings on the bottom left of page 6 in each bulletin.
Finally, I have recently received some questions on which Bible to buy. If you have been online or to a bookstore, there seems to be an overwhelming amount of options. Here are the translations I would recommend: NABRE, RSVCE, NRSVCE, and New Jerusalem Bible. There are many companies producing Bibles with these translations. The CE at the end of some of the translations stands for “Catholic Edition” which means it is an approved translation and has all 73 books of the Catholic Bible. I hope this is helpful!
My main encouragement for everyone is to start using your own Bible often, if not daily. We, as Catholics, need to see the importance of the Scriptures, not just at Mass but in our prayer, so that we may come to know and experience our Lord in a more deep and profound way.
Through the Alliance of the Two Hearts,
Fr. Matthew