JESUS CARITAS

1969-2009: Our diocese at 40 years

Part six: Vatican II’s focus on God’s Word

By Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted | April 2, 2009 | The Catholic Sun 

Of the four major documents of the Second Vatican Council, the one on the Word of God, Dei Verbum, may have been the most surprising for Catholics when it was issued 44 years ago. Not a few felt that the Bible was what Protestants emphasized while Catholics built their lives more around the Sacraments, the rosary and the Catechism. Many had lost sight of how central the Word of God is to every dimension of the life of the Church (even the rosary is a Gospel-centered prayer). Not only did Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, dispel these misunderstandings, it brought about a whole new awareness of the dynamic presence and power of God’s Word.

God reveals Himself

The personal nature of divine revelation is affirmed repeatedly in Dei Verbum. The Bible is not a book packed with “do’s” and “don’ts.” Rather, Sacred Scripture is the communication of a God who constantly draws near and speaks to His people. Consider the following passages: “It pleased God, in His goodness and wisdom, to reveal Himself… His will was that men and women should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature” (#2). “By divine Revelation God wishes to manifest and communicate both Himself and the eternal decrees of His will” (#6).

Given this deeply personal quality of divine revelation, it is not surprising that the Word of God plays such a central role in the Sacred Liturgy, nor is it surprising that a close parallel exists between our veneration of the Eucharist and that of the Word. Dei Verbum expresses this in eloquent terms (#21): “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord, in so far as she never ceases, particularly in the Sacred Liturgy, to partake of the bread of life and to offer it to the faithful from the one table of the Word of God and the Body of Christ.”

When we walk into a Catholic Church and look at the sanctuary, this close connection is always evident in the prominence given to both the ambo and the altar. Of course, it is also evident in every celebration of the Eucharist, with the two complementary and essential parts of Mass: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Inerrancy: Is the Bible true?

Many Catholics have been hesitant to read the Bible “on their own,” afraid that they might interpret it incorrectly and be led astray, or frightened away by difficult passages such as those found in the Book of Revelation. Others are aware of disputes among scriptural scholars over the historical nature of the Gospel accounts or the meaning of apocalyptic passages. Did Vatican II have anything to say about these matters? Yes, considerable attention was given to them during the Council deliberations, and it led to some enlightening passages in Dei Verbum.

When addressing the question of whether we can trust the historical accuracy of the Gospels, something that had been strongly challenged by Rudolph Bultmann and other Protestant biblical scholars of the late 19th and early 20th century, Dei Verbum asserts (#18-19): “The apostles preached, as Christ had charged them to do, and then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they and others of the apostolic age handed on to us in writing the same message they had preached, the fountain of our faith: the fourfold Gospel, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy maintained and continues to maintain, that the four Gospels just named, whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while He lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation… they have told us the honest truth about Jesus.”

Just do it: Read the Bible

The Church highly recommends solid biblical scholarship since this offers many fruitful insights into the fuller meaning of the texts. Dei Verbum also offered clear guidelines on the way that biblical studies and exegesis should be carried out, while explaining the close bond between the Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Tradition and the living Magisterium of the Church (Cf. #9-12). But it also corrected the false notion that ordinary people should not read the Bible themselves but leave it to experts alone. Listen to these words of encouragement, “Access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful… since the Word of God must be readily available at all times, the Church, with motherly concern, sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into various languages” (#21).

In order to ensure that reading of the Bible not be reduced to a mere academic exercise, Dei Verbum (#25) advises, “…prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man.”

I encourage everyone to spend some time reading and praying the Word of God on a regular basis, whether alone or through the formation of study groups. We can confidently approach the Sacred Scriptures in study and prayer, without undue worry of being led astray, as long as we do so in faithful communion with Christ, who is with us always in the Church until the end of time.