The other morning, I started doing Lectio Divina on the Second Letter of St. Peter and nearly fell out of my chair when I read this: Since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. And I will see to it that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. (2nd Peter 1:14-15) St. Peter is preparing his audience for his death and promises his solicitude for them.  As I was praying with these verses, the Communion of the Saints came to mind, and as repetitive the topic was, I was delighted to read these words of St. Peter.  In Mass that morning we were reminded about the great cloud of witnesses who continually watch us run the race to Heaven. 

While these readings brought into focus the beauty of the Communion of Saints, it also reminded me how easily the Bible can be misread.  One popular misconception is that what one believes has to be explicitly found in the Bible, but yet that belief itself is not explicitly in the Bible. Nor can we cherry pick verses or even string them together in an attempt to justify something we either believe or wish to disprove. The bible has to be read as a whole and in light of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council confirmed this in its Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum as it quoted the Letter to Hebrews that God the Father’s last revelation was His Divine Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The teaching of the Apostles, including their writings in Sacred Scripture can only clarify what our Lord revealed in His public ministry and His life. 

Because all Divine Revelation is rooted in our Lord, the Old and New Testaments are two parts of the greater story which is salvation history. We cannot, therefore, dismiss the Old Testament as obsolete or an incomplete revelation of God This was condemned as a heresy called Marcionism. Knowledge of the Old Testament informs our understanding of the New and vice versa. Whatever book of the Bible we read, in the end must be read in light of our Lord and His gospel of salvation. 

As I close my thoughts on the Sacred Scripture, I am reminded that we cannot approach the word of God as if it were a textbook or manual, rather the Scriptures are meant to be treated as an encounter with the living God, with respect and with reverence. A helpful way for this is to become familiar with how we read Sacred Scripture in the liturgy, especially in the Holy Mass. Certain passages are read during certain seasons or for certain feasts. Our hymnals give us the Sunday readings but a person can purchase a daily missal which is hardbound and gives us the vast majority of the Mass readings. 

Perhaps these ponderings are more like academic ramblings, but to quote St. Jerome, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” The more we immerse ourselves in Scripture, the more we encounter our Lord, the more we love Him.
Your Father in Christ
Fr. Estrella