Another Kind of Advent to Bring to Work with Us
Do you read Holy Scripture every day? If not, Advent's the time to get started. With Advent we get a fresh start. And since reading and contemplating Holy Scripture is one of the really basic items in our Catholic quiver, now's the ideal time pull it out and learn how to use it.
Just as my profession requires ongoing study, so too does my Holy Religion. Whatever the type of work you do, you've likely got to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of modern economies in order to remain competitive. You've got to know your customer to better tailor your products and services to their needs and wants. Typically that requires some degree of reading and study.
With Scripture, about 15 minutes a day will serve you well. That's likely less than the time you have to put in to work-related/career-related study, so...no excuses!
If you're still waffling, a bit unsure of why studying Scripture is critically important, take a shot of wisdom from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans:
"Whatever things were written, were written for our instruction; that, through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures, we may have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ; that unanimously with one mouth ye may honor God."
See, we've all got to be on the same page as Catholics. The more we learn about God and our Holy Faith, the more we, as His people, honor God in everything we do, including our work. Scripture serves as both a trusted source of the knowledge we need, as well as a sure guide in our daily lives.
Relating this more directly to Advent, in The Inner Life of the Soul, S.L. Emery calls Scripture a "further kind of Advent." We begin to understand this in the deep appreciation the saints had for Holy Scripture, knowing that Our Lord comes to us "in the pages of Holy Writ."
"So full are they of Him, that learned and saintly souls have looked upon the Scriptures as another tabernacle."
We learn of a wise and devout priest, Jean Jacques Olivier, founder of the Sulpicians. This priest compares what he calls the "true Word of God" with Scripture:
"...the true Word of God, or that which God says in Himself, is incomprehensible, God saying always that which He is, and all the He knows; and this is immense and infinite. But, in the Scriptures, he continued, we read only a little syllable of what that immense voice pronounces in itself, we see only imperfectly the thoughts of God. And while we wait the time when we shall understand the infinite Word, the explanation of the eternal secret of God, we must keep our minds reverently attentive to the revealed Word, and to that portion of the divine wisdom which he makes manifest in His Scriptures, having them before us as an oracle whereby God speaks to us, as the ark and the tabernacle where He wishes to be adored and consulted."
So Scripture, as we see, prepares us for our eventually more fully understanding God's "real" Word when we - by His grace- finally achieve the Beatific Vision in Heaven. It goes like this: Here we can see the Word of God, read the Word of God, hear the Word of God in Holy Scripture. God Himself gave us His Word in this form to make Himself more accessible to His creatures. While we labor here on earth, Scripture prepares the way for us to gain a deeper knowledge and love of God. With this knowledge, with our deepening love, we draw ever closer to God and the Beatific Vision, even as we remain in this life.
But we don't just pick up a Bible and start reading the same way we would pick up a novel and dive in. The saints knew how to approach the Word of God. We take a lesson from them:
"It is with humility, with reverence, with self-abnegation, that we must approach that wonderful book, never dreaming that we, poor ignorant, finite creatures that we are, can expect to fathom its unfathomable depths. It is true that we shall find there much to charm the taste, feed the intellect, enchant the keen reasoning implanted in us by God."
This goes if you're a biblical scholar or just a plain, ordinary working man like me. Indeed, we who have no pretense to any "expertise" in our reading of Holy Scripture have a kind of advantage here. We simply recognize our ignorance; then we pick up the Bible in a spirit of humility, reverance, and self-abnegation.
If pride gets in your way, pray for the grace to overcome. Anyone can do it.
Next time, we'll turn to our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Advent, for any additional help we need in fruitfully reading Holy Scripture,
Just as my profession requires ongoing study, so too does my Holy Religion. Whatever the type of work you do, you've likely got to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of modern economies in order to remain competitive. You've got to know your customer to better tailor your products and services to their needs and wants. Typically that requires some degree of reading and study.
With Scripture, about 15 minutes a day will serve you well. That's likely less than the time you have to put in to work-related/career-related study, so...no excuses!
If you're still waffling, a bit unsure of why studying Scripture is critically important, take a shot of wisdom from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans:
"Whatever things were written, were written for our instruction; that, through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures, we may have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ; that unanimously with one mouth ye may honor God."
See, we've all got to be on the same page as Catholics. The more we learn about God and our Holy Faith, the more we, as His people, honor God in everything we do, including our work. Scripture serves as both a trusted source of the knowledge we need, as well as a sure guide in our daily lives.
Relating this more directly to Advent, in The Inner Life of the Soul, S.L. Emery calls Scripture a "further kind of Advent." We begin to understand this in the deep appreciation the saints had for Holy Scripture, knowing that Our Lord comes to us "in the pages of Holy Writ."
"So full are they of Him, that learned and saintly souls have looked upon the Scriptures as another tabernacle."
We learn of a wise and devout priest, Jean Jacques Olivier, founder of the Sulpicians. This priest compares what he calls the "true Word of God" with Scripture:
"...the true Word of God, or that which God says in Himself, is incomprehensible, God saying always that which He is, and all the He knows; and this is immense and infinite. But, in the Scriptures, he continued, we read only a little syllable of what that immense voice pronounces in itself, we see only imperfectly the thoughts of God. And while we wait the time when we shall understand the infinite Word, the explanation of the eternal secret of God, we must keep our minds reverently attentive to the revealed Word, and to that portion of the divine wisdom which he makes manifest in His Scriptures, having them before us as an oracle whereby God speaks to us, as the ark and the tabernacle where He wishes to be adored and consulted."
So Scripture, as we see, prepares us for our eventually more fully understanding God's "real" Word when we - by His grace- finally achieve the Beatific Vision in Heaven. It goes like this: Here we can see the Word of God, read the Word of God, hear the Word of God in Holy Scripture. God Himself gave us His Word in this form to make Himself more accessible to His creatures. While we labor here on earth, Scripture prepares the way for us to gain a deeper knowledge and love of God. With this knowledge, with our deepening love, we draw ever closer to God and the Beatific Vision, even as we remain in this life.
But we don't just pick up a Bible and start reading the same way we would pick up a novel and dive in. The saints knew how to approach the Word of God. We take a lesson from them:
"It is with humility, with reverence, with self-abnegation, that we must approach that wonderful book, never dreaming that we, poor ignorant, finite creatures that we are, can expect to fathom its unfathomable depths. It is true that we shall find there much to charm the taste, feed the intellect, enchant the keen reasoning implanted in us by God."
This goes if you're a biblical scholar or just a plain, ordinary working man like me. Indeed, we who have no pretense to any "expertise" in our reading of Holy Scripture have a kind of advantage here. We simply recognize our ignorance; then we pick up the Bible in a spirit of humility, reverance, and self-abnegation.
If pride gets in your way, pray for the grace to overcome. Anyone can do it.
Next time, we'll turn to our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Advent, for any additional help we need in fruitfully reading Holy Scripture,
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts!
Comments