Scripturae Sacrae Affectus (II)

 Last week we began looking at Pope Francis’ apostolic letter on Holy Scripture, released on the 1600^th anniversary of the death of St. Jerome.  This week, we continue seeing how the Word inflames Jerome; making him sound quite prophetic, indeed, he had a reputation for some rather straight-forward, even “rough” language.  His desire to know and then present the fullness of the Truth brought an intense fire from within him.  Our Holy Father points out however that with Jerome’s maturation in the Word of God comes the Wisdom for which that intense fire prepares us.

Pope Francis points out that “The distinctive feature of St. Jerome’s spirituality was undoubtedly his passionate love for the word of God entrusted to the Church in sacred Scripture.  All the Doctors of the Church – particularly those of the early Christian era – drew the content of their teaching explicitly from the Bible.”  This is frequently missed in the writings of the early Doctors of the Church even through to the Middle Ages: one thinks of St. Thomas Aquinas, famous for his great “Summa” and yet his most important writings were his commentaries on Sacred Scripture.  We experience this today when we hear preachers whose words drip seamlessly with Sacred Scripture; not as a “proof text” but rather as an integral dove-tailing of the old with the new.

Pope Francis also points out that “Jerome teaches us that not only should the Gospels and the apostolic Tradition present in the Acts of the Apostles and in the letters be studied and commented on, but that the entire Old Testament is indispensable for understanding the truth and riches of Christ”  This was, of course, on the minds of the Father’s of the Second Vatican Council both in their Constitution on Sacred Scripture and in their Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy where they expressed the desire that more of the Sacred Scriptures be presented in the context of the holy Mass: This is especially made clear in the Sunday cycle of readings where the Old Testament passages clearly prefigure the Gospel for the day.

So, we are brought to our questions for consideration:

1.     Do I seek to know the Sacred Scriptures so that my life, especially my speech, is impregnated with the Word?

2.     Am I attentive to the relationship between the Old Testament (first reading) and the Gospel presented at Sunday Mass?

Challenge:  Begin making a habit of reading the Old Testament reading for Sunday Mass, along with the Psalm which is responding to it; and then skip to the Gospel: How does the OT reading prepare us for the Gospel?  How does the Gospel complete and fulfill the reading from the OT?