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Click here to see the study guide, used in Ohio March 5,2006, in Microsoft Word format: Study Guide.

“Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.”

[Offer praise for their work on the Bible and their own continuing theological formation]

Navarre Biblical Commentary; Dz and Aberigo-Tanner Decrees of the Ec. Councils.

Exactly what should one do with the scriptures that present them to him? One reads the words of the Bible, but there are so many things that a student of the Word can do with what’s written on those pages, it’s easy to go in many different directions.

The lines I just quoted from Augustine of Dacia give us a general outline, but it is not the only thing said regarding Scriptural Studies. Other things that should be taken into account in a comprehensive scriptural study are the following principles, all founded on things the Church officially teaches here and there about the Bible:

7. The Church’s teachings, especially the Creed, infallibly interpret revelation.

8. Rationalistic and academic studies can be sterile; we need to read the Bible in conversation with God, in prayer, for it is his living Word.

The method I propose for our work tonight will apply two great principles: those of Augustine of Dacia’s verses on the one hand, and the fact that the Church is the infallible interpreter of divine revelation on the Other.

· The outline will have four sections: the allegorical parts, the eschatological parts, the moral parts, and the spiritual parts. [2]

· In each section I will draw heavily from the Deposit of Faith to shed light on the passages involved. Specifically, from Magisterial teachings of the Church such as councils or encyclicals, and from the writings of some of the saints.

· I will bring in the theme of the “meals,” which you here in Ohio have been referring to throughout the length of your Bible Study

That might sound a little abstract, but when all is said and done, when you look back on these two aspects (the four-part outline, and the reference to the Deposit of Faith), at the end it will be very clear how this all fits together.

“Critical.” Exegetes pride themselves upon being “critical.” By this they mean that they apply the most objective scientific criteria known to date when settling a question. It’s not critical in the sense of slander, gossip or nitpicking. The word was made popular in academic circles mostly by a generally communist group of philosophers called the Frankfurt Circle. Often the word can be abused to cover up the pride of rejecting the Church’s teaching on the basis that “my studies (or opinions) have led me to think the opposite,” which in fact is a very unscientific approach to theological science.

Deposit of Faith. “Guarding the Deposit of Faith is the mission which the Lord entrusted to his Church.”[3] It is the whole of Sacred Scripture and divine tradition.[4] It is an error to assert that, “since the Deposit of Faith contains only revealed truths, the Church has no right to pass judgment on the assertions of the human sciences,”[5] as revelation can contain some truths in it which are otherwise attainable also by means of human science, as, for example, that the soul survives the body. “The apostles entrusted the ‘Sacred deposit’ of the faith (the depositum fidei),[6]contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole Church.”[7]

Dogma. The definitive proposition from the Magisterium of a truth contained in divine revelation or of truths having a necessary connection with these, which obliges the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith.[8]

Exegesis. Exegesis is the branch of theology which investigates and expresses the true sense of Sacred Scripture.

Infallibility. “By a ‘supernatural sense of faith,’ the People of God, under the guidance of the Church’s living Magisterium, ‘unfailingly adheres to this faith.’”[9] It is possessed by the Supreme Pontiff (the Pope),[10] the college of bishops in union with him[11] and not by singular bishops taken individually. It was defined and promulgated formally for the first time at Vatican I in 1870, although it has always been an essential element of our faith.

Inspiration. We refer to the act by which God enlightened the authors of the sacred Scriptures to write down what He willed. This is what we refer to when, in the creed, we profess, “[The Holy Spirit] has spoken through the prophets.” It is not the same as artistic or literary inspiration. “The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

Lectio divina. The reading of a more or less long passage of scripture in such a way to allow for prayer, for meditation, for contemplation in a recollected way led by the Holy Spirit.

Magisterium. This Latin term has been assimilated into English with no permutation. It means. “teaching office.” “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living, teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.”[12] This office is exercised by the Bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, and is a service to, not a power over, the Word of God.[13]

Mystery. In the context of Catholicism, mysteries are those things which have been revealed but whose content can’t be comprehended by the human mind. For example, the mind cannot rationally comprehend, or fully understand, the Holy Trinity. Mysteries aren’t things that we don’t know, they’re things that we do know but exceed the natural object of the human intellect. “If any one say that in Divine Revelation there are contained no mysteries properly so called, but that through reason rightly developed all the dogmas of faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles, let him be anathema.”[14]

Sacred Scripture. Those divinely revealed realities which were written down by the prophets and Apostles, and which the Apostles have authoritatively handed on to the Church as authentically inspired by the Holy Spirit.[15]

Sacred Tradition. Those divinely revealed realities which have been handed on faithfully, with the help of the Holy Spirit who acts in his Church, to the world. Sacred Tradition is perhaps better understood when comparing it to sacred Scripture:

For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence.[16]

New Testament. Jesus formed a new covenant, an everlasting one, by shedding his blood and perpetuating his sacrifice in the Eucharist. The books of the canon that pertain to this new dispensation of God’s grace, this last period until the end of the world, form the NT. It is the message that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sent the Apostles to preach to the world.[17] The one God, the Holy Trinity, is the author of both Testaments.

Old Testament. “Testament” means the covenant. The OT is therefore the list of books in the canon that were revealed under the covenants previous to Jesus Christ. God truly spoke to Israel about himself and his plan of salvation, namely, Jesus the Lord; therefore these words still have value and are important today.[18]

We divide the content of Luke 13-16 into four parts, as we said above: allegorical parts, the eschatological parts, the moral parts, and the spiritual parts.

The aspects of “meal,” I have been thinking, fit very well with this four-fold division. (Not everything we discuss, however, will refer to the “meal” motif your study group has been focusing on; we will be more comprehensive than that.)

1. Allegorical. We will consider each meal as an “allegory” of the Last Supper. Every Mass is, in fact, a making present and real the Last Supper; there is no essential difference. It is a meal where we eat God himself; it’s not just bread we share, and we are made one less by sharing it as by becoming, all of us, one with God through Holy Communion. The Pope stresses this in his new Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est.[19] He says, “In sacramental communion I become one with the Lord, like all the other communicants. As Saint Paul says, ‘Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread’ (1 Cor 10:17).”

2. Eschatological. Heaven is described as a “banquet.” Jesus said to John, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”[20] The “banquet” image is not the only image with which heaven is revealed. For example, nuptials are also widely used in Scripture, and other images too.

3. Moral. Of course, here we think of the bread that we are to share with the “widow and orphan,”[21] reminding us in general of the good that we are to do in order to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.

4. Spiritual. The meal gives us new life in Christ. This reminds us again of the Eucharist, in which Christ is not only food, but sacrifice. The Real Presence is not just a static thing, but a dynamic event. By his sacrifice, that of the “one flesh,” [22]

Those parts preceded by an asterisk (*) refer to a “meal” or food, of interest to this study group.

“[Jesus] recalls often… that the Sabbath rest is not violated by serving God and neighbor.”[23]

Thoughts: Examination on the fruits of life. John of the Cross… “el amor”

Thoughts: Look at impact Christianity has had on history. Consider art, politics, women, economy, value of peace, human rights…

“All forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom.”[24]

Thoughts: Homily of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, and many others. Discuss Jacinta’s lament, “So many are dying, and almost all of them are going to hell!”

“On the threshold of his Passion Jesus announced the coming destruction of this splendid building, of which there would not remain ‘one stone upon another’ (Mt 24:1-2). By doing so, he announced a sign of the last days, which were to begin with his own Passover.” Here the CCC refers exactly to v. 35.[25]

Thoughts: German young man, “I don’t like to think about that… that time will end….”

“The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.”[26]

“During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God’s forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God.”[27]

“Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and sinners as familiarly as with themselves.”[28] “[Jesus] went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet.”[29] We see, then, the eschatological import of the “meal” with Christ.

“Jesus invites sinners to the table of the Kingdom: ‘I cam not to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Mk 2:17, cf. 1 Tim 1:15). He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but show them in word and deed his Father’s boundless mercy for them and the vast ‘joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.’ The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life ‘for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Mt 26:28)”[30]

[Regarding “And forgive us our traspasses” from the Our Father.] “Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him.”[31]

“With the help of grace, [human beings] grow in virtue, avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven. In this way they attain to the perfection of charity.”[32]

“The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: The fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father's house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father's generous welcome; the father's joy - all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. the beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life - pure worthy, and joyful - of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ Who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.”[33]

“ It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.

“It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.[34]

“When receiving true and Christian justice, they are commanded immediately on being reborn, to preserve it pure and spotless as the “first robe” (Lk 15:22) given to them through Christ Jesus in place of that which Adam by his disobedience lost for himself and for us, so that they may bear it before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ and have life eternal.”[35]

“[God] offers a remedy of life even to those who may after [Baptism] have delivered themselves to the servitude of sin, and to the power of Satan, namely, the sacrament of penance, by which the benefit of the death of Christ is applied to those who have fallen after baptism. Penance has indeed been necessary for all men, who at any time whatever have stained themselves with mortal sin, in order to attain grace and justice, […], so that their perversity being renounced and amended, they might detest so great and offence against God with a hatred of sin and a sincere sorrow of heart… The Lord also said: ‘Except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish’ [here quoting Lk 13:3].”[36] [Discuss parts as Trent did: matter: contrition, confession and satisfaction. (also, examination and absolution).[37]

Thoughts: Discuss the difficulty of helping the poor in this day and age, how dangerous it is to give cash, etc.

Referring to the entire chapter 16 of Luke, Gaudium et spes reads, “While respecting its own methods and laws, economic activity should be conducted within the limits of the moral order, so that God’s purpose for humanity may be brought to completion.”[39]

Thoughts: I love this passage. How many good people sit there and do nothing but complain… the industriousness of the enemies of God and Catholicism vs. our own apathy.

[Discussing economic and social systems.] “A system that ‘subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production ins contrary to human dignity. Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. ‘You cannot serve God and mammon’.”[40]

“The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble… Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:

“If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery; and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another’s husband to herself.”[41]

Nonetheless, “If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.” This is in the paragraph stating the limited legitimacy of separation instead of divorce.[42]

Later, Pope Pius XI, in Casti Connubii, stated “The advocates of neopaganism… continue daily to attack more bitterly the sacred indissolubility of marriage and the laws that support it… They bring forward many different causes for divorce, some deriving from the wickedness or sin of persons, others passed on circumstances… finally, whatever makes the individual married life more harsh and unpleasant…

“So there is prattle to the effect that laws must be made to conform to these requirements and changed conditions of the times, the opinions f men, etc… Others, proceeding further with remarkable impudence, believe that inasmuch as matrimony is a purely private contract, it should be left directly to the consent and private opinion of the two who contracted it, as is the case in other private contracts, and so can be dissolved for any reason.

“But opposed to all these ravings stands the one most certain law of God, confirmed most fully by Christ, which can be weakened by no decrees of men or decision of the people, by no will of legislators: ‘What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder’ (Mt 19:6),” then cited Lk 16:18.[43]

Invincible or unintentional ignorance can attenuate or nullify guilt (not nullify the objective evil done, of course), but “feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.”[44]

On, “Give us this day our daily bread” from the Our Father: “This petition of the Lord’s Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment.” (Referring to Mt. 25)[45]

The angels in v. 22: “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. ‘Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.’[46] Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.”[47]

4. Spiritual Parts: Christ the eternal Sacrifice as the form of the soul in grace

As we stated above (part 1 of lecture), “[Jesus] recalls often… that the Sabbath rest is not violated by serving God and neighbor.”[48]

The Catechism reminds us that not all the Pharisees were evil. Some helped Jesus, as the Catechism states, “Some Pharisees warned him of the danger he was courting.”[49]

“By this decision [v. 33], [Jesus] indicated that he was going up to Jerusalem prepared to die there.”[50]

“Christ is the center of all Christian life. The bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds, familial or social.”[51]

“Following Christ in his humility, [the laity, who ‘possess this faith’] are not desirous of empty glory (Gal 5:26) but seek to please God rather than human beings, always prepared leave all things for Christ (cf., Lk 14:26) and to suffer persecution for the sake of justice (cf. Mt 5:10), as they remember the Lord’s words: ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ (Mt 16:24)”[52]

“Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them ‘renounce all that [they have]’ for his sake and that of the Gospel.”[53]

[1] CCC 118; Augustine of Dacia, Rotulus Pugillaris, I: ed. A. Walz, Angelicum 6 (1929) 256.

[2] Cf. CCC 115-119.

[3] John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum: On the Publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Prepared Following the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, in Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 2^nd ed., Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, p. 1.

[4] Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis, Concerning Some False Opinions Which Threaten to Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine, August 12, 1950, 18.

[5] Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, Lamentabili Sane, The Syllabus of Errors (Condemning the Errors of the Modernists), July 3, 1907.

[6] cf. DV, 10, §1.

[7] CCC 84.

[8] CCC, 88.

[9] CCC 889, cf. LG 12; cf. DV 10.

[10] cf. CIC 749, §1.

[11] cf. CIC 749, §2.

[12] DV, 10, §2.

[13] cf. CCC 85-86.

[14] Vatican I, 1870; Session III, Canons, 4. de fide et ratione, 1.

[15] DV 11.

[16] DV 9; cf First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, Chap. 2, "On Revelation:" Denzinger 1786 (3005).

[17] cf. DV 17.

[18] cf. Vatican II, Dei Verbum (DV) 14.

[19] Deus Caritas Est (DCE), 14.

[20] Rev. 3:20.

[21] Ex 22:22; James 1:27.

[22] Heb 2:14; Eph 5:31.

[23] CCC 582.

[24] CCC 2660.

[25] CCC 584.

[26] CCC 1846.

[27] CCC 1443.

[28] CCC 588.

[29] CCC 589.

[30] CCC 545.

[31] CCC 2839. Cf. Lk 18:13.

[32] CCC 1700.

[33] CCC 1439.

[34] CCC 1423.

[35] Council of Trent, Session VI (Jan 13, 1547), chapter 7; Dz 800.

[36] Council of Trent, Session XIV (Nov. 25, 1551) chapter 1; Dz 894.

[37] Ibid, chapter 3; Dz 896.

[38] CCC 952.

[39] Gaudium et Spes, Part 2, Chapter 3, Section 1, paragraph 1; Alberigo-Tanner, p. 1114.

[40] CCC 2424.

[41] CCC 2384; the cite is from St. Basil, Moralia, 73, 1: PG 31, 849-852.

[42] CCC 2383.

[43] Pius XI, Casti Connubii, Dec. 31, 1930; Dz 2249 and 2250, passim.

[44] CCC 1859.

[45] CCC 2831.

[46] St. Basil, Adv. Eunomium III.

[47] CCC 336.

[48] CCC 582.

[49] CCC 575.

[50] CCC 557.

[51] CCC 1618.

[52] Second Vatican Council, Decree on the apostolate to the laity (Christifidelis laici), in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils ed. Alberigo-Tanner, p. 984. 1965-ish (check date).

[53] CCC 2544.

[54] This prayer was promised by Leo XIII in Quamquam Pluries, and only later promulgated. The Pope wanted the faithful to pray this prayer at the end of the Rosary throughout the month of October. This edition is a translation I found in English, and then slightly proofed for its inclusion here.