Opening Prayer
I celebrate the “marvelous deepness” of Thy Scriptures, a book that invites the little ones yet demands the awe of the most learned. I thank Thee for its “holy kind of lowliness,” which stoops to my level even while standing upon the heights of authority. Let these pure words persuade me to confess my sins and make my neck submissive to Thy yoke.
I petition Thee to destroy my pride through the power of Thy Word, for no other book is so destructive of self-justification. Grant that I may understand Thy words, Father, for I am submitted to them. Let the surface of the Bible invite me in, while its depths fill me with an awe of honor and a trembling of love.
Amen.
Matthew 19:27-29
27Then Peter answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? 28And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine describes the Bible as a book that “stoops to all” through plain language while hiding “majesty of secrets.” It is a tool to “destroy pride” and “persuade confession.” This Church Father perspective emphasizes that we must read Scripture with “close attention.” In the Mystical Body, Scripture is the “primary way to learn our duty”. It is “God’s Word, our medicine”, dispensed by the “tongues of those who preach” within the Liturgical assembly, making our “neck submissive to your yoke.”
Augustine marvels at the “holy kind of lowliness” in the Scriptures that allures multitudes into its embrace. He prays for the grace to understand these “pure words” so that he may serve God with no reward other than God Himself. He warns that Scripture is “awesome to look into.”
“How wonderful is the depth of your Scriptures, Lord!… Their surface lies before us, inviting the little ones; and yet what a marvelous deepness, my God, a marvelous deepness!”
— St. Augustine
Mary and the Magisterium
Mary is the one who “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” She is the “Mother of the recreated world” whose “blessed fruit” is the subject of all Scripture. The Magisterium, through the Apostolic Tradition, is “necessary to understand Scripture.” The Bishop provides the “standard of interpretation,” ensuring that the “wide embrace” of the Bible does not lead to “private judgment.” Mary, as the “Treasure of the Lord”, helps us understand the “majesty of its secrets.”
- Do I listen attentively to the Scripture read in Mass?
- Do I take time to read the Scripture privately so that God can "destroy pride" in my heart?
Closing Prayer
Lord, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Open my ears to hear your word, and grant me grace to obey.
Amen.
