29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C
BIBLE SABOTAGE
How do you use the Bible?
…to prove that other religious groups
are on the wrong path?
…to support your own ideas and
beliefs?
…to shame and defame others’
lifestyles?
…too show off to your friends
that you are spiritual and more enlightened than they are?
…or to avoid any problems like
the above, just never use your Bible (that’s the Catholic way)!
We love the Bible yes, but we “sabotage”
the Word of God many, many times!
Our second reading today speaks
to us glowingly of how precious the written Word of God is.
…Inspired by God, useful for
teaching, refutation and correction, and for training in righteousness.
… we must be ready to proclaim
the Word and to be persistent in doing so.
Nowhere does St. Paul say that
the Word of God must be used to ignite feuds among fellow Christians, or with
other religions…
He did not say that the Word of God
must be used to condemn others for being divorced, sinners, gay or
non-conformist in the world…
And certainly Paul did not say
the Bible must be memorized and dropped like a bomb to impress other people
with your skill…
Instead St. Paul reminds Timothy
(and us) to be faithful to what he has learned and believed.
Be faithful to what you have
learned. So it means we have to read, study and take to heart the Word of God that
comes to us through the church.
Believe means that the written Word
of God must bring us to encounter the “Living Word” of God, our Lord Jesus Christ;
don’t stop with the book but meet its real Author!
A priest said in an interview
that Catholics are not a “people of the book” (like Muslims and Jews) and he is
right. We do not base our faith on a book, but on the living God.
Another theologian said we are
not a “people of the book” but a “people of the Living Word.” He too, is right,
for the Risen and Living Jesus is the center of our lives.
The Bible is God’s Written Word
but it must bring us to real conversion to God, not to pride and hypocrisy.
It must inspire us to reform our
lives and lead others to the Lord.
Its words must guide every waking
day so as to fill this world with hope through our kindness and humility.
The Bible is the Book of the
Church, and therefore every Catholic must love this book and read it.
But it’s difficult to read the
Bible! It’s boring! It’s so thick! – I hear your protest.
Start little by little. Try reading
the Sunday Gospel to guide your whole week (less than 5 minutes).
Try reading the daily gospel to
perk up your day (maybe 2 minutes).
Try reading a good commentary to
widen your knowledge (a couple of minutes).
Consult with your priest or
leader to understand things you don’t understand (that depends on you...!).
Now is that long… and hard… and
boring? Hardly! (FB, and chat time are longer hmmm)
Carry the Bible in your heart, as
the early Christians did (there was no printed book back then), rather than
display it for others to admire you! Yes, the way you speak and act is the
first Bible your neighbor “reads” through your life.
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