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I. How A Catholic
Reads The Bible
http://www.salvationhistory.com/studies/lesson/genesis_how_a_catholic_starts_t
o_read_the_bible
S
A. Divine Revelation: How
God Speaks to Us
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
#1) CREATIVE WORD
(GEN 1:2)
FORMLESS WASTE
LAND
CREATION
FATHER
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
#1) CREATIVE WORD
(GEN 1:2)
PEOPLE OF GOD #2) CALLING WORD
FORMLESS
CREATION (GEN 11:30, 12: 11)
WASTE LAND FATHER
BARRENESS
& ISRAEL
HUMANITY
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
#1) CREATIVE WORD
(GEN 1:2)
PEOPLE OF GOD #2) CALLING WORD
FORMLESS
CREATION (GEN 11:30, 12: 11)
WASTE LAND FATHER
BARRENESS
ISRAEL
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
M
#1) CREATIVE WORD
(GEN 1:2)
PEOPLE OF GOD #2) CALLING WORD
FORMLESS
CREATION (GEN 11:30, 12: 11)
WASTE LAND FATHER
BARRENESS
ISRAEL
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
M
#1) CREATIVE WORD
(GEN 1:2)
PEOPLE OF GOD #2) CALLING WORD
FORMLESS
CREATION (GEN 11:30, 12: 11)
WASTE LAND FATHER
BARRENESS
ISRAEL
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
M
#1) CREATIVE WORD
(GEN 1:2)
PEOPLE OF GOD #2) CALLING WORD
FORMLESS
CREATION (GEN 11:30, 12: 11)
WASTE LAND FATHER
BARRENESS
ISRAEL
IS
GOD
SON
HOLY
JESUS
CHRIST
SPIRIT
PEOPLE OF GOD
#3) WORD MADE FLESH WAY OF LIFE
PRIESTS WORSHIP
(Mt 28:16,18 Lk 1:26-27)
LAWS
BISHOPS
VIRGIN SACRED SRIPTURE BY
POPE THE POWER OF THE
SACRED TRADITION
HOLY SPIRIT
M
S When God speaks and we listen
with a heartfelt YES and
AMEN in our inmost being,
S A New Reality is created!
A. Divine Revelation: How
God Speaks to Us
S He inspires Scripture,
S But more than that it points us ahead to the defining drama of all
salvation history
S the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.
S Since the earliest days, the Church has understood the Crucifixion
and Resurrection as "the Lords Passover" (see The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, nos. 557-559, 1174,1337,1364,1402).
S The Eucharist, in turn, is the memorial of the Lords Passover.
S Thats why during the Mass the priest presents the consecrated Host
to us and declares:
S Behold the Lamb of God, blessed are those who are called to the
Supper of the Lamb."
S But what made the New Testament writers talk about Jesus this way
in the first place?
S John explains that with a quote from Exodus, telling us that it was
because the legs of the Passover lambs werent to be broken (see
Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:21).
S For the New Testament writers, what were reading about here in
Exodus is a sign that points us to Jesus.
S In the Passover, Israel was spared by the blood of an unblemished sacrificial lamb
painted on their door posts.
S The lamb dies instead of the first-born, is sacrificed so that the people could live
(see Exodus 12:1-23,27).
S It is the same with the Lords Passover: the Cross and Resurrection.
S The Lamb of God dies so that the people of God might live,
S saved by "the blood of the Lamb" (see Revelation 7:14; 12:11; 5:12).
S "For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed," St. Paul says (see 1 Corinthians
5:7).
S On the Cross, St. Peter tells us, Jesus was "a spotless unblemished Lamb."
S By His "Precious Blood" we are "ransomed" from captivity to sin and death (see 1
Peter 1:18-19).
2. The Churchs Living
Tradition
S When we look at the historical facts that the 73 books that we call the
Old and the New Testaments were gathered together officially and
published for the purpose of reading and proclamation in worship,
S As you can also adore the Blessed Sacrament outside the Eucharistic
Liturgy
S That of course comes from the Mass and that leads us back into
deeper communion with Christ the next time we attend the
Eucharistic Liturgy.
S Likewise when we read the Scriptures in the morning for devotions or
in the classroom for a course or in an evening Bible study with a
group of friends, all of that is good and really important, and
powerful as well.
S But the Scriptures that we are reading are ultimately originating from
the Liturgy and leading us back so that we can enter into the mystery
of worship and we can recognize that we are surrounded with the
angels and the saints and we are ushered into the presence of God.
S We make the Sign of the Cross and say, "In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
S Do take note that the Sign of the Cross started with the Apostles, who
"sealed" the newly baptized by tracing this sign on their foreheads
(see Ephesians 1:13; Revelation 7:3).
S The words we pray as we make this sign come straight from the lips of
Jesus.
S When we beg "Lord, have mercy" - our cry for help and
forgiveness is one that runs throughout Scripture (see Psalm
51:1; Baruch 3:2; Luke 18:13,38,39).
S When we glorify God, we use the song
the angels sang that first Christmas night
(see Luke 2:14).
S Even the Creed and the Eucharistic
prayers are composed of biblical words
and phrases.
S As we prepare to kneel before the altar, we sing
another angelic hymn from the Bible - "Holy,
holy, holy . . . " (see Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).
S We join that to the triumphant Psalm sung by
those who welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem:
"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes . . . "
(see Mark 11:9-10).
S At the heart of the Mass, we hear Jesus' words from
the Last Supper (see Mark 14:22-24).
S We offer thanks with bread and wine (see Genesis 14:18;Matthew 26:26-
28).
S From the first Sign of the Cross to the last "Amen" (see Nehemiah 8:6; 2
Corinthians 1:20),
S the Mass is an aural and sensual tapestry woven with words and actions, even
accessories drawn from the Bible.
S We address God in words that He himself has given us through the inspired
writers of sacred Scripture.
S instructing,
S exhorting and
S sanctifying us
S in the Mass.
S He blesses it;
S He gives it.
S Now go ahead to the accounts of the Last Supper.
S He blesses it;
S Just as God fashioned Adam out of the clay of the earth and blew
the breath of life into him (see Genesis 2:7),
S God breathes His Spirit into the words of the human authors of
Scripture and makes them the Living Word of God.
C. Scripture is Divine:
Inspiration
Its meaning is wrapped up with the way the ancients looked at the world
and recorded history.
History was more than just politic, economics and wars - it had a deeper
significance.
The Prohibition not to eat from the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil (Gen 2:17)
D. Scripture is Human: The Bible as
Religious Literature and History
The word "religion" comes from the Latin, "religare," - "to bind
together."
S And what goes on in the Old Testament is all about preparing the
way for and announcing whats going to happen in the New
Testament.
S Christ and His cross, is like the "hinge" between the Old and the
New Testaments.
S All the covenants that God made in the Old Testament find their
fulfillment - their full meaning and purpose - in Jesus, in His "new
Covenant."