Jesus Verb

“Every time I open the Bible I marvel at my ignorance when I see the vast ocean of richness, revealing and fortifying, that I have not yet drunk” F.K.

If St. John tells us that the “Word became flesh” (1,14), it is permissible to formulate that the Word became a letter, because He who became incarnate in the Virgin Mary became Enlethroned in the Holy Bible, the Word par excellence where much of what the Word of God has told us is written. The Bible is the Holy Book because it is the Word of God. It must be read in a sacred way, that is, not with profane curiosity, but with a sincere hunger for God. That is why the prophet says:

“The days are coming, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land- not a famine of food or a thirst for water-, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.” (Amos 8,11). For “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4).

We sacredly read the Bible:

• If we ask God to enlighten us: It is good to study the Bible, guided by prayer to the Holy Spirit: “Most important of all, pray to God to set your feet in the path of truth.” (Sir 37,15).
• If we are faithfully guided by the explanation that the holy Church gives us of Her. For as the Bible itself says, for example, of the epistles of St. Paul: there are in it “ In all his letters there are of course some passages which are hard to understand, and these are the ones that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3,16). The Bible must always be read in the light of faith and “in the measure of our faith” (cfr. Rom 12,6), as taught by the Infallible Church.
• If we study and know our Catechism of the Catholic Church well. Then we will read the Bible catechistically, and the Catechism biblically. In this way we will go from “faith to faith” (Rom 1,17), i.e. from an authentic to a clearer and deeper faith “ t is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who has faith” (Rom. 1,16).
• If we read it in the light of Tradition. Tradition is also the Word of God: “ Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thess. 2:15). Bible and Tradition are the Word of God, and the Church teaches and explains both to us. Guided by her we are on a sure path.

Daily, sacred and attentive reading of the Bible helps us to penetrate ever more deeply into the truth and to persevere in its practice. For Jesus himself promises us:

“If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8, 31-32)