By Paul Dion, STL
Editor's Note: This is Part 1 of our series on the Bible. It is an offshoot of the Bishop's Synod being held at the Vatican from October 5-26. Please follow this blog series and be enlightened on why the Bible needs to be part of our ongoing Christian life and experience.
The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church
"But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known (the) sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy, 14 - 17)
The Bishops of the world are going to Rome to discuss the topic as it appears above. Click here to read about the Bishop's Synod on the Word of God.
As you know, the Word of God is none other than Jesus. He is the one who brings God to us through His humanity. It is Jesus Christ who brings the life and the mission of God to us. It is Jesus who brings the fullness of the meaning of the Old Testament to us.
Jesus assured the continuation of His presence among us through the Church. The Holy Spirit the continuation of Christ's presence among us through the inspired written Word of the New Testament which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scripture. The Sacred Scripture serves as a source of enlightenment (revelation) concerning what we understand about God through Jesus and His Church. ParishWorld.net is offering its readers the opportunity to state their opinions about their personal Bible reading habits. It is our goal to give you all some insight into the importance of the Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church and in our personal lives as well.
The first topic of importance is:
Do you own a Bible? If not, why not?
If you do own a Bible, do you read a part of the Bible on a daily basis? If not, why not?
If you do own a Bible, do you read a part of the Bible on a weekly basis? If not, why not?
Are you familiar with the parts of the Bible that you may hear on a weekly basis? Which are they?
We will stand by and react to your answers as they arrive.
Please post your comments and aanswers below. God bless.
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I've been lurking for 8 months now in parishworld and this question got to me. I'm a cradle Catholic. I own a bible. But I haven't opened it in decades. But I do try to read the Mass readings from your breakfast with God section. To me that gives me a dose of scripture when I need it. But I just can't seem to open the bible because I do not know where to start. I've been quiet but I've been reading you. And I really appreciate the great job you folks are doing.
ReplyDeleteMelinda:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all let me assure you that you are not alone. The worldwide poll that the Vatican did on this subject found an overwhelming number of Catholics who have the same habit that you have. In fact, you are ahead of many because you prepare the readings for the Mass, and you know that they are from the Bible.
So you don't know where to start. If you are a prayerful person (it appears that you are)you might want to familiarize yourself with the psalms. They are poetic prayers and they talk about the human condition. If you start there you won't feel as though you have to read the whole book all at once. In fact, you'll perhaps find yourself going back to one or maybe even two favorite ones that resonate with you.
You might want to look at the book of Proverbs. That's another one that won't tempt you into reading the whole thing from start to finish. The proverbs you read will surely make you shake your head and say to yourself, "God sure knew what He was talking about there!" You can then close the book and reflect on what you just read.
Remember, the Bible is a Library, not a cover-to-cover novel. Just relax. Use it as a prayer book to start.
One final comment. Don't forget to follow the footnotes. Slowly but surely you will find the wonderful relationships that exist from part to part of the library and you will come to understand the unity that exists therein. This unity comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for reading ParishWorld.net. There will be a lot more about the Bible this month, most of it coming from the Vatican.
Paul Dion, STL Theology Editor
ParishWorld.net