U.S. Bishops' Top 10 List for the Scriptures

I know it sounds silly, but the Bible is making a Catholic comeback!

Now, for 2,000 years of standing firm & holding fast to the traditions by word & by letter (c.f., 2 Thess 2:15), the Church has drawn its very breath from the abiding presence of Christ Jesus in the Scriptures, but the average Catholic of the past few generations perhaps has not. Catholics need to learn their Bible, & when the Faithful - who alredy possess the fullness of the truths of the Faith - are further energized with the Word of God in the Scriptures, what a force for spreading the Gospel will they be!

The Church has provided us with wonderful resources & tools for immersing ourselves faithfully in the Holy Writ. On the U.S. Bishops' web site is this helpful list of points to more fully engage the Scriptures, where Christ Jesus himself waits to meet us:

1. Bible reading is for Catholics. The Church encourages Catholics to make reading the Bible part of their daily prayer lives. Reading these inspired words, people grow deeper in their relationship with God and come to understand their place in the community God has called them to in himself.
2. Prayer is the beginning and the end. Reading the Bible is not like reading a novel or a history book. It should begin with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds to the Word of God. Scripture reading should end with a prayer that this Word will bear fruit in our lives, helping us to become holier and more faithful people.
3. Get the whole story! When selecting a Bible, look for a Catholic edition. A Catholic edition will include the Church's complete list of sacred books along with introductions and notes for understanding the text. A Catholic edition will have an imprimatur notice on the back of the title page. An imprimatur indicates that the book is free of errors in Catholic doctrine.
4. The Bible isn’t a book. It’s a library. The Bible is a collection of 73 books written over the course of many centuries. The books include royal history, prophecy, poetry, challenging letters to struggling new faith communities, and believers’ accounts of the preaching and passion of Jesus. Knowing the genre of the book you are reading will help you understand the literary tools the author is using and the meaning the author is trying to convey.
5. Know what the Bible is – and what it isn’t. The Bible is the story of God’s relationship with the people he has called to himself. It is not intended to be read as history text, a science book, or a political manifesto. In the Bible, God teaches us the truths that we need for the sake of our salvation.
6. The sum is greater than the parts. Read the Bible in context. What happens before and after – even in other books – helps us to understand the true meaning of the text.
7. The Old relates to the New. The Old Testament and the New Testament shed light on each other. While we read the Old Testament in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, it has its own value as well. Together, these testaments help us to understand God’s plan for human beings.
8. You do not read alone. By reading and reflecting on Sacred Scripture, Catholics join those faithful men and women who have taken God’s Word to heart and put it into practice in their lives. We read the Bible within the tradition of the Church to benefit from the holiness and wisdom of all the faithful.
9. What is God saying to me? The Bible is not addressed only to long-dead people in a faraway land. It is addressed to each of us in our own unique situations. When we read, we need to understand what the text says and how the faithful have understood its meaning in the past. In light of this understanding, we then ask: What is God saying to me?
10. Reading isn’t enough. If Scripture remains just words on a page, our work is not done. We need to meditate on the message and put it into action in our lives. Only then can the word be “living and effective.”(Hebrews 4:12).

Next Scripture Study?

Following on the heels of Fr. Mueller's parish mission, the AFF team is considering a Scripture Study on St. Paul's writings, perhaps the Epistle to the Galatians, beginning this June. We would likely finish the lastlof the Genesis series in the Fall.

What are your thought on the next Scripture Study? What would you like to see?

In Principio...

New Advent provided the link to this intriguing essay on the exegesis of Genesis 1 by Fr. Jaki at the Homeletic & Pastoral Review website.

I found Father's comment on creation as being ordered like a big Jewish tent or tabernacle very interesting & worthy of much more consideration. His comment on the the Exile & the contrast between the Jewish cosmological view & that of the pagan nations seems to me to be the fundamental key to gleaning understanding from Genesis 1.

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, seems to agree. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he wrote a book called In the Beginning, in which he makes heavy reference to this contrast of cultural world views as the canvas on which the Jewish epic of creation is painted. Soon, I will give a review of this brief, but dense book. It will also be interesting to see what comes from the recent ecumenical gathering in Rome (I believe) to study & discuss Genesis.

However, I am a bit befuddled by this bit of the concluding paragraph, almost certainly because I haven't taken the time to re-read the article & given the appropriate thought that serious writing requires. Nevertheless...

"No theological defense of the strict createdness of all can, however, be made without a defense of Genesis 1. It should not be defended under any circumstances as a cosmogenesis, with any reference, indirect as it may be, to science. Its genuinely biblical meaning can, however, be fully defended by that reason whereby, as Genesis I tells us, man is created in the image of Almighty God."

Now, I thought the point Fr. Jaki was making was to invoke "logike latreia," to find the harmony of the truth of Scripture (which comes from the hand of God) with the truth of the observed universe (which comes from the hand of God), though obviously not to explain the scientifically observed universe specifically by means of the scriptural texts. Still, at some level, the two truths have to coincide with or compliment one another, as they both come from the author of Truth. So the specific comment proscribing any reference to science in interpreting the passage seems oddly limiting of something that inherently defies limitation.

...

With some hesistation, I mention Fr. Jaki's observation that Creationists - those who believe in a literalistic, day-bay-day account of creation - inadvertently drive people away from the faith to which they desire to bring them. People may not know about particle physics or cosmic background radiation, but people do know that if physicists & cosmologists are wrong about matter & its behavior, then their computers, wristwatches, microwaves, nuclear power (& bombs) & cell phones wouldn't work either. The same science that indicates a universe 14 billion years old simply cannot be dismissed out of hand. One discredits himself on the spot to demand that either an error of the magnitude 6,000 versus 14,000,000,000,000 has been commited or that there is a universal conspiracy among all members of techincal professions & institutions.

...

I hesitate to mention it, because I know there are many tremendously committed Christians out there who love Scripture, love Christ, & want to share that love with the world. Unfortunately, in rejecting the Church & its guarding Magesterium, they are left to their own devices to find meaning in Scripture. To prevent being totally lost in a sea of opinions, no one of which can have any greater claim to validity than the other without the Spirit-guided Magisterium, they opt for no opinion & simply shut off their brains, taking a word-for-word approach that leaves them standing on the sidelines of the eternal quest for man to come to greater understanding of himself, his world, & his God. They keep the Word of God incarcerated in the words.

Finally, I find it curiously gratifying that everyone who approaches these texts seems to recognize that the Truth is there, but no one has been able to solve the mystery. I've always thought that God will not allow himself to be figured out. Since their inception, man has seen within these text a key to grasping the fundamental meaning of all the exists, including himself. However, it lingers just barely out of reach. Not ever the Bride of Christ, the Church, can claim to fully grasp the meaning. She can only give an approving nod to those interpretations that are in accord with the truth that she knows, loves, & holds deep in her being, but cannot articulate.

The Tradition of Scripture

I'd wager the average Evangelical Protestant knows the content of his or her Bible far, far better than do John or Mary Catholic. Why is this (the former), & why is this (the latter)?

Well, from my Catholic point of view, besides general acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity espoused in the Apostle's Creed, the biggest piece of vestigae ecclesia that Protestants retain is the Scriptures, or rather, some of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, Jesus did not establish a list of writings to ensure his teaching abides among his followers, but he did establish a Church. This Church, then, accepted what had been handed on to them in the way of sacred writings of the Old Covenant, & proceeded to write additional material & collect various apostolic letters to form the sacred writings of the New Covenant.

Why I am I writing this? Well, it's vitally important to know & understand that 1) the Church preached the Gospel & established churches throughout the Near East & the Mediterranean basin long before any New Testament writings were penned, & 2) the New Testament writings were written by the Church for the Church.

Taken these 2 ideas together, we can say that the Bible contains the Gospel, but the Gospel is not wholly contained in or constrained by the Bible. It is a part of what was handed on "either by word or by letter." You may know that "to hand on" in Latin is "tradere", from which we have the word "tradition". It also means that the apostolic preachers & their successors passed on everything they had received, some of which they later found useful to put into written form. Being from the start a missionary faith, Christians prefered the small-format codex to keep the Scriptures portable, rather than the large scrolls that resided in synagogues. It also fit the nature of their somewhat secretive character in the early days, especially when persecutions were rampant.

My point is that the fullness of the Faith resides in sacred Tradition, received from Christ by the Apostles & handed on to their successors. Sadly, in rejecting Holy Mother Church, Protestants have sawn off the branch on which they sit from the tree. While I do not doubt their zeal, sincerity, or even their desire for truth & love for the Lord, what I do doubt is any particular interpretation of any particular group or person, & the doctrinal & ministerial positions that arise from them. Protestants cling to the letter of Scripture, repeating & memorizing, but without any way of knowing whether an interpretation is valid or inspired, or if it is simply human. To paraphrase then-Cardinal Ratzinger, we must not imprison the Word of God in the text.

The Scriptures are fantastically varied & complex, as you would expect of a document assembled piece by piece by various groups over a period of about 1,300 years. Can anyone now really just pick up a Bible, read it cover to cover, & have a clear & full understanding of everything it contains? Well, I imagine such a person would gain a great deal, but more than likely, would come away with far more questions than answers. And what if more than one meaning arises, either in the same inquisitor or among different parties? Further, why would one believe anything written in the Bible if it had either no idea or a faulty idea of how the Scriptures came to be in the first place, what they were intended for.

The Church, in her divinely-guided wisdom, reserves to herself the judgment on what are appropriate interpretations of Scripture & which are not. Those holding the office of discernment don't do this arbitrarily according to their own wishes, but look deep into the Tradition - what the Fathers, Doctors, Councils, saints, popes, & theologians have proposed throughout the ages & what the Spirit of God may be whispering to the Church now. She reflects on her own practice of worship. She prays for the guidance of the Spirit that was promised her. Here she finds the meanings; everything else is just some man's opinion. It is only within the bosom of the Church that anyone can ever hope to find these truths of Scripture, as well. One cannot claim to know & love Christ whilst kicking his beloved bride in the teeth.

Still, the Church has always realized that Tradition lives. It works itself out in the life of the Church, in the lives of the faithful, & on the battlefields where souls are won & lost. She can never know the entirety of the meanings of Scripture, because as the Word of God, it is beyond the view permitted her by God. Still, she recognizes the Truth when she sees him, as surely as a bride knows her groom.

So, the Church continues to ponder the Scriptures & is continuously taught by her Lord. What she learns, she puts into practice. The Church feeds her faithful through both the Word & the sacraments, ultimately with the Body & Blood of the Lord Jesus himself in the Eucharist. Everything necessary for salvation is contained here. She is not hoarding the treasures of the Scriptures, but reveals them throughout the liturgy on behalf of the faithful. The Church knows the power of the Bible, & how easily human pride can twist its writings to one's own destruction & that of others. It is a not gift to be cheaply & carelessly strewn about, but lovingly & carefully revealed. This is why Catholics often do not know the Bible well, but can know the Faith very well. They hear vast swaths of the Scriptures proclaimed throughout their lifetimes in the Church's liturgy, with - God willing - faithful exposition of them by the Church's ministers leading them deeper into God's truth, leading them toward holiness & salvation.

Yes, individuals both laos & cleros may study the Scriptures & related topics to uncover amazing things - the Church strongly encourages this - but it can only be fruitfully done within the bosom of the Church, according its precepts & in its own time. I believe it was St. Pope Pius X that said that Catholics did not need to study the Bible, because everything needed for salvation was to found in the Church, though he added that it may be beneficial to do so. Nevertheless, it is an exercise of our baptismal office to ponder the Word of God in prayer in order to become more like him & to bring others to him, as well.

I sincerely hope that one day all faithful Catholics will well know the Scriptures & that our Protestant brothers will quit their protest & return to the arms of the Church, for ultimately in denying her, they only protest Christ himself. In order to guide the faithful in the right understanding of the Scriptures, the Pontifical Bible Commission periodically meets to inquire into some aspect of the Scriptures, often selecting topics that cut to the root of thorny issues that separate the Church from other Christian groups. The current topic is: Inspiration & Truth of the Bible. I look forward with great anticipation to the publishing of the findings.

The Higher Path

Generally, if I write or find an article about the Scriptures for my other blog, I will copy a link to it here, as well, rather than reproducting the whole thing. This is one of those times.

My post includes commentary & the link to an article at First Things (click here).

Leading Us Home

The entire message of Scripture might be summed up as this: The God who is love created us to bring us to a perfect union of love with him. I would argue that every other aspect of the Faith is somehow supportive of that underlying premise.

Thus, the Anagogical Sense of the Scriptures, that which leads us forward to our eternal homeland, is perhaps the most important point. The Allegorical Sense can lead to a reduction of God's revelation through the Scriptures & the history of the people of Israel to a mere intellectual exercise akin to "Biblical matching", such as, "Oh, Moses is like Jesus, Pharoah is like the devil, Miriam is like Mary, the Israelites are like the Church, the serpents that bit them are like sin, ..." These cranial gymnastics are interesting, but by themselves may become a distraction that isn't that helpful in moving one toward salvation.

Likewise, the Moral Sense alone could lead one to just try to be a good person, a mere human effort to earn God's favor through "being good." Well, my Pelagian friend, the problem is that salvation is a pure, unmerrited gift from God, which we gratefully accept.

So, you see, it's easy to get the whole Catholic system of Scripture study out of whack if first things aren't put first. The absolutely overriding desire of every human life should be this: to get to Heaven. Thus the Anagogical Sense helps us to get our Biblical priorities straight, and - to paraphrase a certain Cardinal Ratzinger - to keep from imprisoning the Word of God in the letters themselves.

Over at First Things, Mark Shea has another installment in his series about Catholic Scripture study called Coming to Our Senses, dealing specifically this time with the Anagogical Sense. God bless him for taking on this noble task.

Transforming Pain into Love

Our Why Catholic? group met to discuss the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, but it seemed that before we could do that, we had to understand something about sickness & death in themselves first. We discussed our various personal experiences & also more public ones, such as Terri Shaivo & Pope John Paul II. Obviously, man has searched for ways to deal with sickness, injury, suffering, & death since the beginning, yet these days, men's minds & laws are increasingly tending toward the avoidance & elimination of any pain or suffering at all costs, with the predictable consequences making the headlines daily.

While the context of the excerpt is unknown, following is a lovely meditation from the Tueday, March 24 evening entry in the Magnificat magazine:

.....Everything we suffered appeared to us as a countenance of Jesus forsaken to be loved & wanted in order to be with him & like him, so that in union with him, by loving that suffering, we too might give life to ourselves & to many others.

.....Upon entering this path of unity we had chosen him alone. In a burst of love we had decided to suffer with him & like him. Well then, we have experience that God, who is nothin but love, cannot be outdone in generosity, & through a divine alchemy he transforms pain into love. In a word, he was making us into Jesus, whom we experienced in ourselves through the gifts of his Spirit, gifts which are summed up in love.

.....We realized that as soon as we were glad to endure any pain - so as to be abandoned like him who re-abandons himself to the Father - & we continued to love him by doing God's will, the next moment, the pain, if it was spiritual, went away &, if physical, became a yoke that was light.

.....Our pure love, that is, our gladness to suffer, transformed any pain we encountered into love. In a certain sense, suffering was divinized through Jesus' divinization of suffering, if we dare say so, continued in us.

.....After every meeting with Jesus forsaken, & we had loved him, we found God in a new way, more face to face, in a unity that was more complete. The fruits of the Spirit, light & joy, returned, & so did our peace - that special peace Jesus promised, & for which we felt it necessary to turn all torments, anguish, agonies of the soul, disturbances, & temptations into an occasion to love God.

.....Chara Lubich

The Moral Sense

Continuing his series on the Senses of Scripture as outlined in the Vatican II document Dei Verbum & the Catechism (109-119), Mark Shea investigates the Moral Sense. The Church teaches that we be attentive to the Literal & Spiritual senses of Scripture, with the latter subdivided into Allegorical, Moral, & Anagogical senses.

He does a nice job of tying the whole subject to common current day objections that there is no moral authority outside of the individual, & certainly not within that collection of perhaps edifying, but nonetheless fictional stories called the Bible.

There's a lot to consider about this, as in American, the conscience is routinely considered the supreme authority - even in matters of faith - over either Church teaching or decisions. But all that will have to wait for later. For now, just ponder the article (see here).

The Historical-Critical Let Down

Mark Shea is at it again (see here). He is one of the very few Catholic authors I know that is intentionally seeking to advance the state of Catholic scripture scholarship by tackling what the Council actually said about studying the Holy Writ (see here, esp. Art. III), instead of just regurgitating the same old theories, guesses, & attendant errors. Well, him & the Pope, I suppose.

A releated must-hear: Fr. Zuhlsdorf's excellent website has a wonderful podcazt (see here) that includes, among other things, John Cleese reading from the Screwtape Letters regarding the historical-critical method.

Book Review: Lovely Like Jerusalem

by Aidan Nichols, O.P.

A lovely book that shows how the longings of the people of God of the Old Covenant - ancient Israel - find their fulfilment in the person of Christ Jesus in the New Testament. Click on the image for the entire review at my blog.

I sense a true resurgence in Catholic scriptural scholarship & spirituality.

...

What great times are these!

The Literal Meaning

You can't possibly know what something means if you're not even sure what it says.

So, thanks to Mark Shea over at Catholic Exchange for saving me the trouble of writing an article on this particular aspect of studying the Sacred Scriptures according the methodology outlined in the Catechism:

110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time & culture, the literary genres in use at that time, & the modes of feeling, speaking, & narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented & expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical & poetical texts, & in other forms of literary expression."

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture & discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."

Good stuff. Can't wait to see the rest.

Why Catholic?

I was thinking perhaps this blog site could also be used as an online resource for Why Catholic?.

Is that a good idea? I was thinking that the more people we can get using this site for any AFF activities, the more known it will become & the more feedback we can get on how to make it work better.

I was thinking about putting the WC? bulletin summaries on here for starters. Comments?

Scripture Study Tips

[Since one would not normally go straight to the writings of the Fathers when pondering a scriptural text, we will back up, & - as Glenda the Good Witch of the North famously advised - start at the beginning...]

The Second Vatican Council’s document on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum (DV), proposed some guiding principles for the study of Sacred Scripture according to the mind of the Church, which we will discuss in a future post. For now, we propose these 7 basic techniques that will make anyone’s study of the sacred texts more fruitful. Do you have some methods that you find useful? If so, please share them.

1. Ask the Spirit to help you pray the text

Scripture is extremely compelling; every verse courses with the power of God. He wants to teach you, but you must come to the sacred texts humble & empty of pre-existing notions to receive the graces of knowledge & wisdom. Ask guidance & understanding from the Spirit of God who authored the text in the first place. Quiet yourself as in prayer to be able to hear the Spirit speak to you. Approach the sacred texts as Adoration instead of an academic exercise. Yes, there is intellectual knowledge to be gained, but the main purpose of reading, studying, & praying the Scriptures is to encounter God in Christ Jesus.

2. Select a larger passage

DV notes that the sacred texts must be read as a whole to understand them properly. Similarly, do not read just a verse. Read all of the surrounding verses, up to & including the whole chapter, or if necessary, the entire book! Taken a verse at a time, any argument whatsoever can be defended or defeated. Reading a larger passage will help put the verse of interest in the context that the author intended.

3. Read the passage 3 times

At least. The Bible was written over a period of more than a thousand years in distant lands by peoples of various languages & cultures in a variety of literary styles under a myriad of historical circumstances. Thus, the writings themselves may be a bit disorienting. The more you familiarize yourself with the language of the texts themselves, the more comfortable you will be with the customs, history, literary forms, etc. of these ancient, Near-Eastern people called the Israelites. So read, read, & read again.

4. Compare different translations

Are you saying that I should buy a bunch of different Bibles? Not at all. A surprising number of translations are available on-line for free. While the New American Bible (NAB) is the translation used in the Church’s lectionary in North America, there are many other Church-approved translations (listed with a link to its online source, if available) :

New American Bible - US Conference of Catholic Bishops & the Vatican
Revised Standard Version & New Revised Standard Version
Jerusalem Bible & New Jerusalem Bible
Douay-Rheims with Vulgate (Latin) - New Advent
New Vulgate (Latin) - the Vatican
Spanish - the Vatican

We will review all these various possibilities & discuss their merits in another posting. For now, just find a few good Catholic translations & compare passages between them. Different word choices or even a completely different literary style may open up new meanings for you in the sacred texts.

5. Don’t skip the notes or cross-references

Most Bibles are full of information of which most people never take advantage. Besides the usual maps, glossaries, & timelines, many Bibles contain useful introductory notes, commentaries, footnotes, & cross-references.

While not part of the sacred text itself, these resources can certainly help to clarify the meaning of the text. Introductory notes often give the historical or theological background of the book in question. Varying from brief to extensive, commentaries & footnotes may explain passages in light of Church teaching, often with reference to the Fathers, saints, popes, or Church documents. Others may give technical information, like historical background, word meanings, alternative translations, or other text-critical information.

Verse cross-references (usually in the margins or page bottom) will show where words, phrases, or meanings are used elsewhere in the Bible. Since the Old Testament is fulfilled by the New & the life of Jesus gives way to the life of the Church, it’s not surprising that the authors point back & forth to one other.

Similarly, a concordance - a word usage reference - may also be of value. Some Bibles include a limited one of the most commonly-used words; although a separate volume will be more thorough. There are a few online concordances, including a great, new one for the NAB at the Vatican website.

6. Attend to the Readings at Mass

A reading from the second letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians is not a good time to skim the bulletin. God speaks to his people through the Scriptures proclaimed in the sacred assembly. In other words, he is speaking directly to you. Are you really listening? A good way to prepare yourself to receive his message is to spend some time with the readings before you actually arrive at Mass. Doing so may give a new orientation the rest of your week, with Sunday - the Lord's Day - as the promary focus.

There are a great number of sources available for daily Mass readings, both in print & on-line. They are available on the USCCB website, even in Podcast form. Highly recommended is the monthly Magnificat from the Dominicans – an all-in-one missal, breviary, prayer book, & even sacred art commentary. This extraordinary, pocket-sized publication comes in Spanish (among other languages) & there's even a kid’s version!

7. Listen to Jesus

As a follow-up to point 5, if Jesus references the passage under consideration, it goes without saying that it is important & you should see what he has to say. Further, seek him in any passage of scripture you may be considering. Jesus is the Father’s eternal Word that became man for our sake. He is the Father’s message to us. Everything in the sacred texts prepares for him & is fulfilled by him.

So, sit at the feet of the Lord a while & listen to him speak. Choose the better part.

Grace & Truth

The name of this web log is taken from chapter 1 of the Gospel of John.

And the Word became flesh & dwelt among us, full of grace & truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father... And from this fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace & truth came through Jesus Christ.

St. John wants us to know that these two spiritual realities - grace & truth - are an inseparable couplet. It is also something beyond our natural abilities, for v.17 says, "the law was given by Moses; grace & truth by Jesus Christ." So not only are they inseparable, but they come exclusively from Christ Jesus.

Further, since chapter 1 opens with frequent reference to St. John the Baptist (vv. 6-8, 15, & 19+) & Jesus' baptism begins later (v.29+), we can conclude that these gifts are related to baptism. Baptism is the beginning of the life in Chirst: a death, but also a resurrgence. With baptism, through the Spirit, comes a spritual gifts of knowledge, the ability to recognize the truth, & fortitude, the conviction to act on it.

There is much more to ponder here, but for now, simply "Welcome to the blog!" Feel free to comment or make suggestions about how this site may serve you better.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever."