Embedded Files
We are in Pillar 1: What We Believe
We are diving MORE DEEPLY into DIVINE REVELATION
We are speaking specifically now about THE REVELATION OF GOD
Article 3: Sacred Scripture
How Jesus Christ is THE UNIQUE WORD of Sacred Scripture
We are going to hear about the motive of God who wants to speak to us like a FATHER SPEAKS TO HIS CHILDREN
We are also going to hear what is the Church’s stance towards Sacred Scripture
The Church has always venerated Sacred Scripture as she venerates the Lord’s Body
There is this POWERFUL POWERFUL note about how we esteem Sacred Scripture in such an INCREDIBLE WAY
If you’ve ever wondered what it is that Catholic Christians believe about the Word of God
How is it transmitted to us?
In what way is it God’s Word?
In what ways is it true?
How does it come to us?
We’ve talked about the transmission of Sacred Scripture for the past few days
For the next couple of days we are going to look at WHAT IS SACRED SCRIPTURE?
Ok it’s God’s Word, but what does that mean?
How do we read it in light of knowing that it is God’s Word?
How do we understand it?
We are going to hear even more clearly what it is that the Word of God REALLY IS
How do we approach the Word of God?
Why does the Word of God come to us like it does?
So let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you so much. Thank you for loving us to a point where you want to reveal yourself to us. Thank you for loving us in such a way that you've given us your Word, your only beloved Son, your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Your Word made Flesh and how Jesus Christ has revealed you, fully, to humanity. And how your Holy Spirit has continued to operate. How your Holy Spirit has continued to move in the people of God. How the Holy Spirit has continued to guide us. We ask you to, please, send that same Holy Spirit to renew in our hearts a love of your Word, to renew our hearts and understanding and desire for your Word, and to enlighten our minds so that we can understand you and understand your Word all so that we can follow you more closely. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
THIS IS SO GOOD!!
Are you experiencing this like Fr. Mike is? (raise your hand if you are 🖐🏾!!)
This particular section of The Catechism is SO POWERFUL!!
It reminds us of the MOTIVATION that God has in revealing Himself to us
Paragraph 101 says, “In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness God speaks to them in human words…”
That is SO IMPORTANT for us to establish
That might be overly obvious
OF COURSE God speaks to us in human words!!
BUT…
Not really…
Because God could reveal Himself in ANY WAY HE WANTED
IN ANY WAY HE COULD IMAGINE
Which is probably 1,000 different ways more than WE could ever imagine
BUT…
He speaks to us in HUMAN WORDS
IT IS SO POWERFUL!!
Dei Verbum uses this image, “Indeed the words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men.”
Here is the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, who BECAME ONE OF US
BUT…
Also, God’s Word spoken to us is spoken to us in HUMAN WORDS
THAT IS SO POWERFUL!!
Here is God’s Divine condescension
The condescension of His goodness
He stoops down and SPEAKS TO US as a FATHER SPEAKS TO HIS CHILDREN
THAT IS SO POWERFUL!!
Paragraph 103 says, “For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body.”
That’s an interesting thing
Almost every time Fr. Mike has his Bible, he always kisses it before he sets it down
It’s a little devotional thing that he does
It reminds him that this is the SACRED TEXT
It reminds him that this is the WORD OF GOD that has been HANDED TO HIM not only by his parents and their parents and generations, handed to him by The Church, but also GIVEN TO HIM BY THE LORD HIMSELF!!
So venerate your Bible!!!
Fr. Mike was at a youth conference once upon a time
There was an Eastern Catholic Priest
As Catholic Christians we have Eucharistic Processions
We have the Consecrated Host, Jesus Christ Incarnate in the Eucharist
We have processions with the Eucharist in the Monstrance
We ADORE the Lord and WORSHIP the Lord in the Eucharist
This Eastern Catholic priest also had a procession with the Word of God
He had a large, ornate, beautiful Bible
It is the Word of God in Scripture
He blessed the people with the Word of God
It was just SO COOL to see!!
This was a really tangible way that Paragraph 103 happens
Paragraph 104 says, “In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength…”
THAT IS TRUE!!
For any of us who journeyed through The Bible in a Year, we were fed EVERY SINGLE DAY!!
Even if we didn’t understand EVERYTHING out of that day’s reading
Even if it didn’t really pertain to our lives that single day
WE WERE NOURISHED!!
WE WERE FED!!
WE WERE STRENGTHENED!!
THAT IS SO SO IMPORTANT!!
We MUST realize that The Church, and we as Christians, have to constantly go back to the Word of God
If you were to ask the question, “Ok who wrote The Gospel of Matthew?” and you were to answer, “God did.”
YOU WOULD SAY YES!!
“Ok who wrote The Gospel of Matthew?” and you were to answer, “Matthew did!”
YOU WOULD SAY YES!!
THIS IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!
Paragraphs 105 and 106 are making it VERY VERY CLEAR
Paragraph 105 says, “God is the author of Sacred Scripture.”
SO YES GOD IS THE ONE!!
HE IS THE ONE!!
IN FACT…
Dei Verbum states, “For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.”
GOD IS THE AUTHOR!!
Paragraph 106 says, “God inspired the human authors of the sacred books.”
SO GOD IS THE AUTHOR!!
HE INSPIRED THE AUTHORS OF THE SACRED BOOKS!!
So what did that look like?
As God was inspiring Matthew to write the Gospel of Matthew
There is a painting of what that looked like by Caravaggio (my favorite Renaissance painter and I was going to paste an image of it here but then Fr. Mike said that image was wrong so sorry, no picture hahaha😁)
Matthew had his quill out and some parchment in front of him
There is an angel whispering in his ear
This isn’t necessarily what is endorsed by Paragraph 106
Another image is that someone goes into a trance, their eyes roll into the back of their head, and they just start writing
“Ok, I guess that’s what God wants written.”
The BETTER IMAGE is given in Paragraph 106, “To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more.”
God is the INITIATOR
God was GUIDING THEM
The idea here is GRACE and FREE WILL
How is it possible that God is the author of Matthew’s Gospel and that Matthew is the author of Matthew’s Gospel AT THE SAME TIME without violating the FREEDOM OF MATTHEW or without violating the POWER OF GOD?? 🤔
The answer is: WE DO NOT KNOW!!
The answer is: IT IS A MYSTERY!!
The answer is: WE EXPERIENCE THIS EVERY SINGLE TIME WE COOPERATE WITH GOD!!
We cooperate with God FREELY
BUT…
In that FREEDOM, God gives us His Grace TO DO WHAT WE COULD NEVER DO WITHOUT HIS GRACE
This is EXACTLY what is happening when God employed the use of the Sacred Writers of the Scriptures
That is one of the reasons why Matthew’s Gospel sounds DIFFERENT from Luke’s Gospel
That is one of the reasons why The Book of Maccabees sounds DIFFERENT from The Book of Isaiah
Different people wrote them using their own different skills, different faculties, and different ways of writing
IT IS SO POWERFUL
Especially when we went through The Bible in a Year
We can HEAR the difference!!
The Book of Genesis sounds and reads WAY DIFFERENTLY than the Book of Sirach
BUT THEY ARE BOTH INSPIRED BY GOD!!
THEY ARE WRITTEN BY DIFFERENT HUMAN AUTHORS!!
SO POWERFUL!!
SO POWERFUL!!
This next part is SO IMPORTANT
Paragraph 107 says, “The inspired books teach the truth.”
THIS IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!
What do we believe?
WE BELIEVE THAT THE BIBLE IS TRUE!!
Paragraph 107 continues, “Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that the truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.”
So when we say TRUTH, what do we mean?
We mean TRUTH as it comes to REALITY
TRUTH as it comes to OUR SALVATION
So keep this in mind…
We talked about this in the past when we went through The Book of Genesis
The first few chapters talk about the CREATION OF THE WORLD
IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE READ AS A BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK!!
IT IS NOT A CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOK!!
IT IS NOT A PHYSICS TEXTBOOK!!
IT IS A TRUE STORY!!
IT IS A TRUE ACCOUNT OF CREATION AND THE FALL!!
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HISTORICALLY AND LITERALLY TRUE TO STILL BE TRUE!!
Hope that makes sense!!
There is NO ERROR in it
BUT…
We have to understand WHAT KIND OF BOOK WE ARE READING!!
The example Fr. Mike always gives is, “It would make no sense for me to pick up a geometry textbook and read through it and say, ‘Oh my gosh! This is ridiculous! This is the WORST poetry book I have ever read! It doesn’t even rhyme!’”
IT IS NOT A POETRY BOOK!
IT IS A GEOMETRY TEXTBOOK!
So we need to read the Scriptures AS THEY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN!!
We need to read the Scriptures FOR THE PURPOSE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN!!
We will talk more about this tomorrow
SO POWERFUL!!
The Christian Faith is NOT a religion of The Book
The Christian Faith is a religion of the WORD OF GOD
Word with a CAPITAL W
That Word is INCARNATE
That Word is LIVING
That is the Word that comes to us
When we pick up Scripture, we are NOT ENCOUNTERING A DEAD LETTER
We are encountering The Word who is ALIVE
When we hear Scripture proclaimed to us, we are hearing the Word of God ALIVE
ALIVE IN OUR LIVES
ALIVE IN THIS WORLD
ALIVE IN OUR HEARTS
Pray that we all continue to walk in this Catechism in a Year
Pray that we all continue to find our NOURISHMENT through The Scriptures
Pray that we all continue to find our NOURISHMENT through The Bible
Because EVERY TIME we read The Bible
EVERY TIME The Bible is proclaimed
The Word of God COMES TO US AND MEETS US WHERE WE ARE AT
As a Father speaks to His children, God LOVINGLY COMES TO US!!
Pray that you and I can be the type of people who are listening to our Father’s voice!
Fr. Mike is praying for YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
Scripture References & Reflections
- compiled by Andrew Adamany
Bible Translation - RSVCE
CCC 102 "Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:"
Hebrews 1:1-3
"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high"
You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time."
John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
2 Peter 3:8
"But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
CCC 103 "For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body."
John 1:14
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth"
John 6:32–35, 51
"my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst…
and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Matthew 26:26
"Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Acts 2:42
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
CCC 104 "In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God". "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."
CCC 105 "God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
2 Timothy 3:16–17
"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."
John 20:30–31
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."
2 Peter 3:15–16
"And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures."
2 Peter 1:19–21
"And we have the prophetic word made more sure. You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."
Titus 1:7–9
"For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled; he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.
CCC 107 "The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."
Acts 17:10–12
"and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men."
CCC 108 "Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book." Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, a word which is "not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living".If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures."
Hebrews 4:12–13
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do."
Luke 24:32
"They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?”
Luke 24:45–48
"Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
1 Thessalonians 2:13
"And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers."
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