JESUS REMAIN STAY WITH US

Gospel Commentary for 3rd Sunday of Easter

By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

ROME, APRIL 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- "Were not our hearts burning within
us while he spoke to us on the way and explained the Scriptures to
us?" This line from the Gospel passage about the disciples of Emmaus
brings us to reflect on the Scriptures.

There are two ways to approach the Bible. The first is that of
considering it an old book, full of religious wisdom, of moral values,
and of poetry too. From this point of view it is absolutely the most
important book for understanding our Western culture and the
Judeo-Christian religion. It is also the most printed and read book in
the world.

But there is another, much more demanding way to approach the Bible,
and it is that of believing that it contains the living word of God
for us, that it is an "inspired" book, that is, written, indeed, by
human authors, with all of their limitations, but with God's direct
intervention. A very human book and, at the same time, divine, that
speaks to men of all times and reveals to them the meaning of life and
death.

Above all it reveals to them God's love. If all the Bibles in the
world, St. Augustine said, on account of some disaster, would be
destroyed and there remained only one copy and, of this copy, all of
the pages were illegible save for one, and on this page only one line
were legible; if this line were that of the first letter of John that
reads "God is love," the whole Bible would be saved because it is
summed up in this statement. This explains how it is that so many
people approach the Bible without culture, without great education,
with simplicity, believing that it is the Holy Spirit that speaks in
it and find in it answers to their problems, light, encouragement, in
a word, life.

The two ways of approaching the Bible -- the way of erudition and the
way of faith -- do not exclude each other, on the contrary, they must
be united. It is necessary to study the Bible, the way in which it
should be interpreted (or to pay attention to the findings of those
study it in this way), so as not to fall into fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism consists in taking a verse from the Bible, just as it
sounds, and applying it to today's situations, without taking into
account the difference of culture, of time, and of the different
genres of the Bible.

It is believed, for example, that the universe is little more that
4,000 years old since this would seem to be what we can calculate from
the information that the Bible provides, while we know that the
universe is some billions of years old. The Bible was not written as a
textbook of natural science, but for salvation. God, in the Bible,
adapted himself to the way of speaking of the men of the time so that
they could understand; he did not write only for the men of the age of
technology.

On the other hand, to reduce the Bible to an object of study and
erudition, remaining neutral to its message, is to kill it. It would
be as if a man, receiving a letter from the woman he loves, were to
examine it with a dictionary, from the point of view of grammar and
syntax, and stops at these things, without grasping the love that is
in it.

Reading the Bible without faith is like trying to read a book at
night: nothing can be read, or at least one does not read what is
essential. Reading Scripture with faith means reading it in reference
to Christ, grasping what refers to him on every page, just as he did
with the disciples of Emmaus.

Jesus remains with us in two ways: in the Eucharist and in his word.
He is present in both: in the Eucharist under the form of food, in the
Word under the form of light and truth. The word has a great advantage
over the Eucharist. Only those who already believe and are in a state
of grace can receive communion; but everyone, believers and
nonbelievers, married people and divorced people, can approach the
word of God. Indeed, to become a believer, the most normal route is
that of listening to God's word.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]