Day 19: Summary of Sacred Scripture (134-141)
We are at the end of Section 1: Divine Revelation!!
Today, we are going over the IN BRIEF section at the end of Section1, Chapter 2
For the next couple of days we will go over OUR RESPONSE to Divine Revelation
What is OUR RESPONSE??
FAITH!!
What do we know about the IN BRIEF day?
They are the McNugget day!! (mmmmmm…..mcnuggets 😋Fr. Mike calls them NUGGET DAY but I am going to call them McNugget day because my wife-to-be is of Irish heritage and also because McNuggets are scrumptious 😃)
Today we have 8 Mcnuggets (they need to add these to the $1 menu 😉) at the end of Chapter 2: The Revelation
What we have been reading through or listening to has been JUST SO POWERFUL!!
SO BEAUTIFUL!!
We know that even though there are 73 books in The Bible, IT IS ONE BOOK!!
THAT BOOK IS JESUS!!
We are not a religion of THE BOOK
We are a religion of THE WORD
THE WORD IS A PERSON!!
THE WORD IS NOT A DEAD LETTER!!
The Word of God, who took on human flesh, became ONE OF US and dwelt AMONG US
We also know that even though there are human authors of Scripture, there is a Divine Author as well
That is NOT a contradiction
It is a PARADOX
It SEEMS to be a contradiction
BUT…
IT IS NOT!!
IT IS A MYSTERY!!
We are also reminded that we are called to VENERATE, HONOR, and GET NOURISHED by the Divine Scriptures
In the SAME WAY that we VENERATE, HONOR, and are NOURISHED BY the VERY BODY OF OUR LORD IN THE EUCHARIST!!
Let's say a prayer!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we thank you. Thank you for bringing us through another chapter. Thank you for bringing us through this revelation of you, the revelation of who you are, the revelation of your heart, and revelation of how you've come to us in time, in reality, in history. Lord God we know that our times are not easy to live in, but there are no easy times in which to live. We know that our own personal histories are not clean and not perfect, but there are no histories that are clean and perfect. And so, just as you have entered into time, just as you have entered into history, we ask you to enter into this moment in our time. We ask you to enter into this part of our story in our own history and do what you will and help us to do your Will. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.”
And there it is!!
We are reminded of the FACT that EVERYTHING in God’s Revelation is about revealing WHO HE IS
HIS VERY HEART!!
IT IS TRUE!!
THE SACRED SCRIPTURES ARE TRUE!!
SO SO IMPORTANT!!
Paragraph 136 says, “God is the author of Sacred Scripture because He inspired its human authors; He acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error His saving truth.”
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!
THE BIBLE IS INERRANT!!
THE BIBLE IS TRUE!!
We know that there are such things as SPIRITUAL TRUTHS
There are such things as ONTOLOGICAL TRUTHS
There are such things as BIOLOGICAL TRUTHS
There are such things as CHEMICAL TRUTHS
There are such things as HISTORICAL TRUTHS
Paragraph 137 says, “Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation.”
THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!
REMEMBER…
We have the LITERAL SENSE
We have the SPIRITUAL SENSE
Remember, that is how we look at the Scriptures (Do you remember this lesson? Go back to Day 16: Senses of Scripture for a refresher!! 😃)
The Spiritual Sense is ALWAYS BASED OFF OF the Literal Sense
Part of that Literal Sense is, what did the human authors INTEND TO COMMUNICATE?
WHAT WERE THEY TRYING TO SAY?
We can do EISEGESIS where we READ OUR OWN STUFF into Scripture
We are TEMPTED to do that
FR. MIKE DOES NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT!! 😡
We are SUPPOSED to do EXEGESIS
We read OUT OF SCRIPTURE
EXO- is taking OUT of Scripture
WHAT THE SCRIPTURE IS TRYING TO TELL US!!
Exegesis is taking OUT of Scripture, bringing it OUT of itself and applying it TO OURSELVES
That is VASTLY DIFFERENT from eisegesis
What was the human author’s original intent?
What was the Divine Author’s intent?
We need to pay attention to those things ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE
Paragraph 138 says, “The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.”
That’s a total of 73!!
Fr. Mike has talked to so many people who don’t know how many books are in the Bible
They know that there are a bunch of books in the Bible
Maybe they know there are 73
BUT…
The CHALLENGE for all of us is to remember that there are 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New
Come up with a MNEMONIC device
Why?
Who knows??
Maybe it’s because we get a little more credibility when we know stuff
So remember 46 in the Old, 27 in the New, and 73 total
That’s all Fr. Mike is asking for (TODAY!!! 😉)
We also want to NEVER EVER FORGET Paragraph 140, “The unity of the two Testaments…”
People want to NEGLECT
People want to IGNORE
Maybe people even want to REJECT
THE OLD TESTAMENT!!
Paragraph 140 says, “The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God’s plan and His Revelation.”
THEY ARE SO SO IMPORTANT!!
BOTH ARE THE TRUE WORD OF GOD!!
Lastly, the Church has ALWAYS venerated the Divine Scriptures as she venerated the BODY OF THE LORD
Are you like Fr. Mike?
Do you love the Eucharist?
Do you ABSOLUTELY LOVE Jesus in the Eucharist?
How He GIVES HIMSELF TO US
How He COMES CLOSE TO US
How we treat Him with such AWE AND REVERENCE
This is a POWERFUL WORD
This is a POWERFUL REMINDER
We HAVE to draw near and VENERATE the Words of Scripture
SO POWERFUL!!
Psalm 119 is the LONGEST PSALM
Right in the middle is v. 105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Way back in the day Amy Grant had a song called Thy Word Amy Grant - Thy Word (Lyric Video)
Fr. Mike realized the lyrics were from Psalm 119!!
YOUR WORD IS A LAMP TO MY FEET AND A LIGHT TO MY PATH
GOSH!!
SO GOOD!!
SUCH A GIFT!!
To know that at ANY GIVEN MOMENT, maybe even RIGHT NOW that you can pick up Scripture…
You can press PLAY in The Bible in a Year…
Just ALLOW the Lord to SPEAK TO YOU
Just ALLOW Him to REVEAL HIS HEART TO YOU
THAT IS WHAT HE WANTS!!
That is what Fr. Mike wants for us too!!
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 141 "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord" (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life.
Psalm 119:105
"Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
John 1:1–5
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 8:12
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Revelation 21:23–24
"And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it"