Word to the Wise
Tuesday, August 11, 2020 - Tuesday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
[Ezek 2:8-3:4 and Matt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14]It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll which he unrolled before me. It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe! He said to me: Son of man, eat that is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.......He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. [Ezekiel]
AUGUST 11 ST. CLARE, osf
I once gave my father a small wall plaque that said: "Lord, help my words to be gracious and tender today, for tomorrow I may have to eat them!" The prophets Ezekiel (in today's first scripture) and Jeremiah 15:16 speak of eating the words of God! The book of Revelation 10:10 also refers to this. The words are sweet to the stomach but they cause the prophet to speak words of woe and lamentation!
Before the Second Vatican Council, Catholics were generally woefully behind Christians of the Reformation who had turned to a sola scriptura approach to worship, rejecting sacramental and liturgical expressions and emphasizing individual interpretation of the scriptures. The result was an attitude on the part of Catholic church authorities that only they could say what the Bible means. Ordinary Catholics were actually discouraged from reading the Bible. The sacraments were emphasized to the exclusion of Bible study. The Second Vatican Council, in its document Dei Verbum (The Word of God) turned that attitude away and encouraged Catholics to immerse themselves in the Word of God. Indeed, one of the images one hears is that of "hunger" for the Word of God.
The Word of God can bring challenges of all kinds when we read it (devour it?). The field of "hermeneutics" came into being - how to interpret the Bible! Nevertheless, it is worth the effort. I have always felt that the best thing I ever did for my Catholic faith was to follow the advice of my novice director and read the Bible cover to cover during my novitiate year. That gave me a rather surface appreciation which was deepened by study over the next six years of initial formation, followed by 49 years of preaching! I know, I know! Most folks don't have the luxury of that kind of study, but a diet of steady reading will have a great impact. Abraham Lincoln taught himself to read using the Bible!! We can do better than that. We can teach ourselves how to be better Christians! The scroll has been handed to us now. Can we bite? AMEN