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Living God's Word
Charles Whitehead, the chairman of the English National Service Committee, reflects on the importance of making time to meditate on the Scriptures if we want to hear God's voice to us.
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A few weeks ago we had 10 days of uninterrupted holiday. This is very unusual for us, and one of the great blessings was that I had plenty of time to read my Bible, to pray, and to think about my life and its future direction. Reading the Bible always provides an oasis of peace and refreshment in the midst of my busy-ness, and it's a time when I often hear the Lord encouraging, challenging, and guiding me. I have recently returned to my old habit of keeping a daily prayer journal, so I was recording the things I felt the Lord was saying to me through my Bible reading and prayer, part of which involved making a list of all the things that fill up my life. I tried to prioritise them, and to reflect on how much time and energy each activity demands. It proved to be a fascinating exercise. As I meditated on the Scriptures, it very soon became clear that I spend time on things which are not central to the vision the Lord has given me, and I need to address this. I realised again how helpful it is to be familiar with the Bible - one of the most important ways God speaks to us and guides us. "God's Priorities" I know that God has a number of particular things he wants each of us to do - things for which he has prepared and gifted us, and which are part of our calling. The focus may shift from one to another at different times, and the ways in which we fulfil them will certainly change, but they will always make up a significant part of who we are and what we do. For me, there are three key areas: my work in the Charismatic Renewal; ministry to younger people, particularly leaders; and Ecumenism. Knowing this gives me confidence, because I have learned that there will always be enough time and energy for the things the Lord calls me to do, but I must be careful not to overburden myself with other things. I often have to remind myself that not all good things are necessarily the Lord's things for me, and one of the best ways I know of keeping in tune with him is a daily, prayerful reading of the Scriptures. "The Gift of Scripture" When I was baptised in the Holy Spirit in 1975, the immediate result was that I developed a great love for the Bible. For the next two years I devoted most of my free time to studying the Scriptures, and to go anywhere without my Bible was unthinkable. To help us appreciate the importance of reading the Bible, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has worked with the Scottish bishops to produce a short document entitled "The Gift of Scripture". This is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Dei Verbum", the document of the Second Vatican Council that explained the place of the Scriptures in God's revelation, and encouraged us all to cherish the Bible. In their introduction to "The Gift of Scripture", Cardinals Murphy-O'Connor and O'Brien explain the importance of this new teaching document: "It will help you to hear, understand, and live God's word. To read the Scriptures regularly and prayerfully is to live continually in the presence of Christ. To come to him, to walk with him, is to be his witnesses too in a world that, unknowingly, is searching for the hope that only he can give." The Cardinals encourage us to study the Bible with these words: "The anniversary year of Dei Verbum is a good time to turn to the Bible again, and to deepen our understanding and love for the Scriptures." "Ignorance of Christ" Sadly, many Catholics do not understand and love the Scriptures. We are not well formed or inspired by the word of God - but there's really no excuse for this. As St. Jerome reminds us "ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ". It's in the Scriptures that we encounter Christ just as we meet him in the Eucharist (Dei Verbum 21; Catechism 103-104). The two disciples on the road to Emmaus listened as Jesus taught them from the Scriptures, and recognised him at table through the simple gesture of the breaking of bread. Both Word and Sacrament will always reveal Jesus to us - we should be committed to both. We have just come to the end of a year in which we were encouraged to grow in our love for the Lord in the Eucharist. Now we have an opportunity to grow in our understanding and love for him through the Scriptures, as we respond to the bishops' invitation to turn to the Bible again. "The Deposit of Faith" "Dei Verbum" reminds us that Scripture and Tradition make up divine revelation, the "Deposit of Faith", protected and passed on over the centuries through the teaching authority vested in the Church. But this authority, The Magisterium, is not superior to the Word but is its servant (Dei Verbum 8,9,10,21). Tradition is a living transmission of the truth of the Word, lived and experienced by the Church, and discerned, protected, and taught by the successors of Peter and the Apostles. The Scriptures were always intended to guide the community, not just individuals, and they need to be interpreted in the light of the faith experiences of the community. So we have Scripture and Tradition bound closely together, communicating one with the other, and making up a single deposit of the Word of God, "alive and active" (Hebrews 4:12), and entrusted to the Church (Dei Verbum 9 & 10). That is why "the children of the Church can familiarise themselves safely and profitably with the sacred Scriptures, and become steeped in their spirit" (Dei Verbum 25). "Keeping a Balance" It's now thirty years since I discovered the Bible, and it remains one of the joys of my life. Reading the Scriptures is an essential part of every day, without which I find it hard to keep a proper balance between all the demands, activities, and people that fill up my life. St. Jerome expressed this beautifully: "If there is anything in this life that sustains a wise person and helps to maintain serenity amid the tribulations and adversities of the world, it is first and foremost, I believe, the meditation on and knowledge of the Scriptures". My experience on holiday proved this to me yet again, and I also know exactly what St. Paul meant when he wrote: "All Scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and teaching them to be holy. This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped for any good work" (2 Tim. 3:16). If I'm seeking God's guidance, I need to be praying
and living his Word.
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