Word to the Wise
Friday, November 20, 2015 - Friday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Macc 4:36-37, 52-59 and Luke 19:45-48]The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words. [Luke]
Once in awhile a translation piques my interest and I go looking at the original language to make sure of what was written. The expression that caught my attention was "hanging on his words." To my amazement, the Greek verb means exactly that: "hanging." One newer translation (the New Revised Standard) uses the word, "spellbound," which catches the meaning but not the letter. Since today I am giving a day retreat for the staff of the diocesan chancery of the diocese of Lubbock (including the bishop), I wanted to be sure of my scripture. The theme of the retreat is "Hanging on his words - Thinking Biblically."
At one time in the cultural history of the U.S.A., a Christian person would most likely have been brought up in a Protestant environment and would know a fair amount of scripture! Although Abraham Lincoln did not identify with any particular denomination, he frequently quoted the Bible. He would not have been unusual in his time. If one could read then, one would read the Bible. This had a formative effect so that in serious moments of moral decision-making, biblical expressions were likely to supply the response. The gradual loss of thinking of oneself and society in biblical terms has been noted. How many of us on Sunday (or at daily Mass) would find us "hanging on Jesus' words?"
Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have highly recommended the practice of lectio divina, an ancient monastic practice of reading scripture prayerfully and thinking about it. This can be done individually or in groups. But before we even come to this very good practice, there is the simple question, "What do Jesus' words mean to me?" Does any of the Bible have any attraction? Have we Catholics, especially, substituted other devotional practices for God's Word? When praying the rosary, do we give any thought to those "mysteries," which almost all come from the gospels? In short, if we don't find ourselves "hanging on" Jesus words, or, if you will, "spellbound" by them, who ARE we listening to? AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
86 ms
4
