It was the feast day of St. Jerome on 30th September 2019 that Pope Francis instituted the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as the Sunday of the Word of God in his Apostolic Letter Aperuit Illis. This celebration does not in any way deny the fact that the Mass is already a celebration of the Word of God in the two-part Liturgy of the Word and Sacrament, and neither does it deny the fact that the whole liturgy is soaked with scriptures. However, this is a celebration strategically placed at the beginning of the year so that we; priests, religious, and indeed the entire faithful, are once again reminded of the place and the importance of the Word of God in our lives in order to better appreciate the gift of the Holy Scriptures. Recall that the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum, n. 24) calls the study of Sacred Scriptures the soul of sacred theology. Theology, from its etymological definition, is the knowledge of God. Hence, to attain the knowledge of God, one must (and necessarily so), study the scriptures. This, of course, stretches further St. Jerome’s aphorism that “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
The Word of God is also known as the Holy Bible or Sacred Scriptures. The word “Bible” is derived from the Greek word biblia, meaning ‘books’ (ta biblia – ‘the books’). We can think of the Bible as “a library of books.” We can also imagine further that Jesus, who was a ‘certified’ carpenter, constructed this library and the shelves within. Remember, the Bible refers to Jesus as a carpenter (Cf. Mark 6:3) or as the carpenter’s son (Cf. Matthew 13:55). This ‘divine library’ has two wings: the Old Testament wing and the New Testament wing. These two wings of the building are further divided into four smaller stack rooms. In the Old Testament wing, which is more than twice the size of the New Testament wing, we can find rooms dedicated to the Torah/ Pentateuch, History, Wisdom, and the Prophets. While in the New Testament wing, we can find rooms housing the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the Letters (Pauline and Catholic Letters), and Revelation. There is also a front desk in this library, more like a librarian’s desk, where you can get the catalogue so that you can navigate yourself around; that is the Table of Contents. The Bible has 46 books for the Old Testament and 27 for the New; totaling 73 books.
It is important to note that the ‘Catholic Bible’ (an odd expression since the bible does not need such adjective because it has always been catholic) is different from the ‘Protestant Bible’ which has 39 books of the Old Testament because of the absence of the ‘Deuterocanonical Books’ which are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees (some parts of Esther and Daniel inclusive).Why is that? Well, the ancient Jews handed down the Old Testament in two different forms. One form was in the Hebrew language often referred to as the ‘Tanakh or Hebrew Bible’ and that includes the 39 books which are in the Protestant Canon (or list). The other form is the “Greek Bible or the Septuagint,” which contains the 46 books which Catholics use. We use this form because there is strong evidence that the Septuagint was used during the time of Jesus. Also, the Septuagint was used and quoted by the Apostles who wrote the New Testament in Greek. This form was then handed to the early Christians as well. However, Martin Luther in the 1500s rejected those Deuterocanonical books because he saw that the Jews in his day, in their Hebrew scriptures only had the 39. To be honest, the Protestants are really missing out on the revelation of God from these deuterocanonical books.
Indeed, the Bible, in all its parts, is a divine revelation of God whose initiative it was to reveal himself. Therefore, the different books of the Bible have God as their author, and they come together to tell the one story of salvation, culminating in the person of Jesus Christ. The early church used various criteria to discern the list (called canon) of books of the New Testament. The text must be orthodox (sound doctrine), Catholic (used universally in the church), liturgical (used for worship), and apostolic (written by an apostle or a disciple of an apostle). In a sense, the Bible is like Jesus. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. And the scriptures also have a human and a divine dimension. The scriptures are human in the sense that they were written by human authors who were free to write, whatever they wanted to be written and yet the scriptures also have a divine dimension, and here’s the mystery that whatever the human writers consigned to writing was what God wanted written and no more. This is known as divine inspiration (Cf. 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:20-21). As Catholics, therefore, while reading the Bible, we must take note of the author’s intention, the literary genres employed, and the historical context in the modes of narrating that were common at the time. And when we interpret the Bible correctly in this way, we see that the Bible teaches the truth, that whatever the human author intends to affirm is affirmed by the Holy Spirit and therefore without error.
The “Word of God” in Hebrew is Dabar Yaweh. The Hebrew word Dabar can be translated as ‘a word’ or ‘a thing.’ In this case, not just a thing but a person. This is why St. John opens the gospel by saying Jesus who is the Word of God is equally God who became flesh in John 1:1 and 14 respectively. This means that Jesus Christ is the key to understanding the nature and message of the Bible. Jesus Christ, then, is the goal towards which the entire bible tends. He is the heart of the Bible, and He is the source of its life. This is why St. Jerome, having read the bible through and through and translated it to Latin (called Vulgate) concludes that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Scripture itself bears testimony to the truth and power of the Word of God. The Word of God is living and active (cf. Hebrews 4:12). It is creative (Cf. Genesis 1:3; Psalm 33:6). It is intentional and purposeful (Cf. Isaiah 55:11). It is the piercing sword of the Holy Spirit (cf. Ephesians 6:17), the reflecting mirror of life (cf. James 1:22- 25), full of the Spirit and life (Cf. John 6:63), the burning fire of conviction, and the pounding hammer which crushes the hardness of man’s heart (cf. Jeremiah 23:29). It is true (Cf. John 17:17), the nourishing food of the believer (cf. Matthew 4:4).
It is a blessing (Cf. Luke 11:28), our guiding light (cf. Ps.119:105), the cleansing water of sanctification (cf. John 15:3). It is flawless (Cf. Psalm 12:6), the measuring instrument by which one receives the approval of God (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15). This is why the Church, through the celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God, calls our attention to the need of a daily and personal meditation on the word of God. The following steps may be employed: Preparation: Get all the instruments for Meditation ready; the Bible, a notebook, a pen, an atmosphere of silence and an emptied mind. Introductory Prayer: Say a short prayer and/or hymn to the Holy Spirit. Lectio (The Reading): Read audibly the passage for meditation. You may read it a second and a third time. You may also read from different versions of the Bible. Meditatio (The Meditation): This requires a “focused silence” on the reading you just had. Allow God talk to you through those words. Oratio (Your Response): Pick a word, sentence, or idea that surfaces from your consideration of the chosen text. Is the reading reminding you of a person, place, or an experience? If so, pray about it. Compose your thoughts and reflection into simple words or phrases; these are what to write down in your notebook. Contemplatio (The Contemplation): Here, we rise above the physical to become intimately one in silence with God.
The Scripture is transformed in our hearing as we pray and allow our hearts to unite intimately with the Lord. Concluding Prayer: Thank God for the opportunity to meditate on his Word and become intimately one with him. The Catholic Church is completely surrounded by the scriptures. Everywhere we turn, we encounter the word of God – in all our prayers, in the mass, the rituals of the sacraments, the hymns we sing, and the art that decorates our churches. Ultimately, however, God wants to write his word on our hearts. In other words: he doesn’t want the Bible to be merely a book that sits on the shelf, but a word that shapes our entire lives. Indeed, Jesus is longing to speak to you personally through His scriptures. Will you listen to Him? Will you take time to open your Bible to study it? Will you mediate and pray with it? Will you hear the voice of Jesus Christ guiding your life? “O that today you would listen to His voice, harden not your heart…” Psalm 95:8 Happy Sunday of the Word of God!
•Rev. Fr. Toye Andrew Abiodun is the Assistant Administrator of St. Finbarrs Catholic Secondary school, Yaba. He is a Priest of Lagos Archdiocese.
