The Vatican Council II Document on Revelation (Dei Verbum) states the following from the great biblical scholar, St. Jerome:

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

The Catholic Church not only upholds the value of the Bible but was responsible for its writing in the first place. St. Paul is the most significant person in the writings of the New Testament. His influence is second only to that of the Lord Himself as far as Christian theology is concerned. Most of Paul’s Letters were written at least a generation before the writing of Mark’s Gospel, the first Gospel to be written. Matthew and Luke use Mark’s Gospel as well as the Old Testament in writing their Gospels. During this Year of Faith, we will study the Gospel of Luke on the Sundays of Ordinary Time. The word Gospel means Good News.

Where Did the Bible Come From?

The 27 books of the New Testament were written within a century or so after the death and resurrection of the Lord. It took centuries after the books were written which we consider canonical to be officially declared so by the Catholic Church. The books of the New Testament were written in Greek while the books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew. St. Jerome (340-420 A.D.) at the invitation of Pope Damasus translated the entire Bible into Latin. This translation was known as the Vulgate since it was now in the language of the people who lived in western Europe and worshipped according to the Roman Rite. During the centuries after St. Jerome until the invention of the printing press in 1453 A.D., Catholic monks were responsible for making copies of the books of the Bible that were used in the Mass.

The invention of the printing press was as significant for the people of that time as was the invention of the computer for our time. While the Bible was now more available for people, it presented a problem since the understanding of any book of literature such as Shakespeare or Chaucer required study as well as prayerful reflection in connection with the books of the Bible. Thus, some 60 years after the invention of the printing press, Martin Luther began the necessary reformation of the Church by attacking it from the outside instead of reforming it from the inside. The Catholic Church responded to him and the other Protestant Reformers by giving its teachings in the Council of Trent (1545-1563 A.D.) The Catholic Church focused on the importance of the Eucharist while the Protestant Reformers focused on the Bible.

As time progressed from the Council of Trent until the Second Vatican Council (1962-l965 A.D.), the Catholic Church became more and more defensive in its approach or relationship with the Protestants. Thus, when I was a young man before the Second Vatican Council, it was thought that Catholics should not even read the Bible. Leading Catholic scholars were forbidden to work together with leading Protestant scholars on the scholarly study of the Bible. Finally, thank God, Pope Pius XII wrote an encyclical entitled “Divino Afflante Spiritu” in 1943 in which he taught (1) the importance of the human author of a scriptural book, and (2) the importance of interpreting the words of the books aright in accordance with distinctions in the literary forms.

Thus, we read in the Document on Revelation from the Second Vatican Council:

“In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made us of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things He wanted. Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation. Since God speaks in sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of sacred Scripture in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writer really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words. Those who search out the intention of the sacred writers, must, among other things, have regard for “literary forms.” For truth is proposed and expressed in variety of ways, depending on whether a text is history of one kind or another or whether its form is that of prophecy, poetry, or some other type of speech.”

Today, Catholic scholars are, generally, in the forefront of biblical interpretation as they work together with Protestant and Jewish scholars.

How to Use the Bible in Prayer

Many Catholics, including myself, prefer to pray from the Scriptures in a prayer form known as Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a reflective reading of the Scripture. It is method of prayer that leads into a deeper meaning of Scripture and the transformation of our lives. Lectio Divina is a reading, reflecting, responding, and resting in the Word of God that helps one grow in relationship with God. My next post will go into detail about how you can utilize the practice of Lectio Divina. So stay tuned!