In his book “A New Song for the Lord”, Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) shared the following reflection, “The fact that God’s words, something that God has said and is saying to us, are accessible in the world is truly the most exciting news I can imagine at all. [But] we are too dulled through everyday use to grasp the awesomeness of this statement.” (Benedict XVI, A New Song for the Lord, 169).

Many things make the news. From the stock market to the sports field, many of us eagerly follow the daily headlines. But too few of us think of God’s Word as exciting or newsworthy enough to be sought out every day. And therefore too many of us miss the most newsworthy event in life - the experience of God, the creator of the universe, speaking to us through His Word. But it is exactly the Word of God that is so needed for renewal, in our personal lives and in the culture around us. Renewal is usually the fruit of some type of recovery. Today we hear a lot of talk about economic recovery. We understand -- some of us from unhappy experience -- the need for data recovery when a computer crashes. Or when someone is ill, we pray for a speedy recovery. In all these cases, we seek a recovery of something valuable that was lost. So too, over the centuries, when God’s people strayed from Him, renewal was needed. Time and again, in the history of the Chosen People and God’s Church, renewal has come about by the recovery of God’s Word. God’s Word has the power to change hearts and history. And by recalling such periods of renewal in salvation history we can learn important lessons for our own day.

Renewal of God’s people through the recovery of God’s Word.

In the Old Testament, the most dramatic example of renewal through God’s Word is the story of Josiah, which is found toward the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Josiah was perhaps the greatest of the Davidic Kings of Judah; a man who, amazingly, is too little known by Christians today. The story of Josiah is a story of the renewal of God’s people through the recovery of God’s Word, at a time in which the leaders and the majority of God’s people had assimilated the worst elements of the pagan culture surrounding them. Josiah’s grandfather was King Manasseh, whose 55 years of leadership over Israel marked one of the darkest periods for the people of God. Scripture tells us that Manasseh “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” which not only included pagan idolatry but also child sacrifice. He offered up even his own sons in sacrifice in the valley of Hinnom, and since the word in Hebrew for valley is “Ge” it was known as the valley of Ge-henna, a name that the New Testament uses as the metaphor for hell.

To renew the Church and the world we have to begin with ourselves

It’s sobering that God’s own people could be so degraded by a pagan culture that they would sacrifice their own children. But obviously we don’t need to look far to find modern parallels. Manasseh’s son Amon continued the sins of his father, and was murdered by his own servants after only two years of rule. That left Amon’s son, Josiah, as the ruler of Israel at the very young age of eight years old. Josiah had everything going against him, a culture that had imbibed for almost two generations the worst of pagan culture, a family that was far from the Lord, and immense responsibilities and almost limitless power handed to him at a very young age.

Yet, Scripture tells us that “while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father” (2 Chron 34:3). Here’s the first lesson that I want to highlight. To renew the Church and the world we need to begin with ourselves. It’s tempting to see the moral problems of the wider culture and want to begin there, outside ourselves, focused on others. But all authentic reform begins within our own hearts.

Josiah purged the pagan altars from Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. Much of the Temple had been abandoned by his forbearers. Some of it had been adapted for various pagan cults. Josiah ordered that the Temple be cleansed and renovated. While cleaning out the Temple, the high priest Hilkiah discovered the “book of the law” (2 Kgs 22:8), referring to God’s Word, specifically Deuteronomy and perhaps the rest of the Pentateuch. When the book was read to the king and the people, it was the first hearing of the Torah for that generation. In other words, things had become so perverse that Israel had completely lost the Word of God, this last copy being found in the nearly abandoned Temple. When the “book of the law” was read, Josiah responded with humility and penance, and rent his clothes (2 Kgs 22:11). The people were moved by his example. They renewed the covenant and turned away from the paganism they had accepted. Josiah’s reforms succeeded. He destroyed the pagan shrines in the valley of Hinnom, “that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech” (2 Kgs 23:10), he restored the Temple and its worship, and by his leadership the rift between God and His people was healed.

Renewal happened because Josiah recovered God’s Word and made it available to everyone

Renewal happened because Josiah recovered God’s Word and made it available to everyone, as Scripture says he read Scripture to “all the people, both small and great” (2 Kgs 23:2). This is why in our own day Vatican II said that “The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.” (CCC, 133; DV 25).

We need to remember the lesson of Josiah’s witness; that is, that we need to hear God’s Word, not just one day a week but everyday, until it soaks deeply into our souls. This is what Josiah did, and any personal and ecclesial renewal requires that each of us recover the daily practice of praying with and hearing God’s Word. Another key lesson to draw from Josiah is the need for hope in the midst of darkness. The culture of Josiah’s day had capitulated to the worst forms of paganism. His personal pursuit of holiness flew in the face of his own family’s wickedness. The Temple of Jerusalem itself had been converted into a pagan shrine, and all of this profanity had gone on for more than a generation. The God of Israel was abandoned so completely that the book of the Torah was lost.

To put it simply, Josiah found himself in a black time. Yet, as Ben Sira observes, “He set his heart upon the Lord; in the days of wicked men he strengthened godliness” (Sirach 49:3). Josiah did all this “in the days of wicked men.” In other words, Josiah refused to despair in the face of the overwhelming task of reforming God’s people. Instead he put his trust in the Lord and pressed on against the odds. Thus the Old Testament can say that “The memory of Josiah is like a blending of incense prepared by the art of the perfumer; it is sweet as honey to every mouth, and like music at a banquet of wine” (Sirach 49:1). The sweetness of honey is typically compared to God’s Word, as is seen in Psalm 19 (Psalm 19:10), but since Josiah imbibed God’s Word so deeply into his heart the memory of him retains the flavor of God’s sweet Word. Our lives too must be infused with the sweet fragrance God’s Word and the bright hope that it brings us in the midst of our own dark times!

(Next issue final part)

Archbishop Charles Chaput is a Franciscan and the first native American archbishop in the USA.