October 25, 2008

How To Read The Bible

Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment. In his response he provides for us an answer to the persistent problem of how to understand the Sacred Scriptures. My homily for this weekend is posted here.

3 comments:

for narnia said...

beautiful and very inspiring homily, Fr. C! thank you! i agree that the way to interpret and read Sacred Scripture is exactly as you say in your homily: "if it leads to love of God and neighbor, then the interpretation is right; if it leads in the opposite direction, it's wrong and should be discarded."
personally, i have also found that when we really sit and meditate on Sacred Scripture, God really reveals so much to us and He definitely does point us in the right direction that leads to loving Him, others and ourselves, as we are supposed to. i feel we all have our own individual path to follow because we all have different gifts that come from the same Spirit of God. there are such a variety of ways to really love God, others and ourselves, that the possibilities are endless! (and we can do it in any circumstance we find ourselves in -even from a hospital bed! just the past few days when i was in the hospital, i was feeling a little down because i didn't have my bible or anything with me, but God really turned things around. He always seems to put the right people in the the right places at the right time! there was a really kind and gentle nurse named Martha(a black woman), who cared for me during the daytime on friday. she was so sweet and she and i had a chance to talk and shared personal stories of how God touches our lives. Martha even made a comment to me saying that she felt that she and i were "cut from the same fabric." also, my roommate was very kind, too, and told me the story of how a child she was caring for saved her life when when she was having an anurism attack - (the child called someone and got her help very quickly.) we, who are Catholic Christians have the power (God has given us the gift) to go out and be His discilples. we are all capable of brnging love, joy, healing, etc... and so much peace to a world that really needs it.
PEACE!
tara t

Brother Charles said...

Ironically enough, this post produced a few comments that made an effort to push exactly the kind of spurious exegeses we are safe from in the ancient and apostolic churches. Being unconnected with ancient tradition, much less peer reviewed Scripture study, I don't intend to print them. I will admit, however, that my excursus into my pet issue of being a Catholic creationist, was ill-founded and distracted from the point of this homily, not to mention the point of the Lord himself. When I gave the homily in church, it was much revised and less self-indulgent. Thanks folks for keeping me honest, in any case.

A Bit of the Blarney said...

The point, however, was well taken by me. We are to love God and one another. Anything else is superfluous. Thank you! Cathy