The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, June 1st: Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32; Romans 3:21-25, 28; Matthew 7:21-27)

WE MUST KNOW AND FOLLOW GOD’S WORD

In both the first reading and the Gospel reading this week, the same phrase appears: “these words of mine.”

In the passage from Deuteronomy, Moses told the Israelites, “Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.” The words in question, of course, were not so much Moses’ words but rather the words given to Moses by God.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”

In both cases the “words” were teachings about crucial topics: who God is, and what He expects from us.

God created human beings with the distinct capacity to communicate using words. It’s not a coincidence that Jesus is described in the Gospel of John as “the Word made flesh.” Words are the most important and effective tools we have to pass knowledge from one person to the next, from one generation to the next.

Again, it’s not a coincidence that one of the principle ways in which God has revealed Himself to mankind is known as “The Word of God,” or the Bible.

Just imagine if there was no Bible. Imagine if God had been relatively silent and had not revealed much about Himself to mankind. Each generation would have to start from scratch to figure out who God is and what He expects from us. Without any guidance from “The Word,” without any instructions from the Almighty Himself, people probably would go off on all kinds of tangents, and come up with all kinds of silly—and wrong—conclusions about reality.

Why, without any clear instructions from God, some societies conceivably could drift so far off track that they end up deciding it’s perfectly OK to kill their unborn children, or that it’s perfectly normal for people of the same sex to marry each other. Imagine such foolishness.

Oh wait. I guess we don’t have to imagine it. And I’d venture to say the folks in our culture who are lobbying the hardest for unfettered abortion and same-sex marriage are about as familiar with the Bible as Paris Hilton is familiar with Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Being familiar with the Bible, being acquainted with the very mind of God, is not an option for believers. We are commanded to take “these words of [His] into [our] heart and soul,” and to “[act] on them.”

Regarding the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly says, “The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (section 133).

Well, speaking of words, these words in the Catechism are simply terrific. But on the other hand, what percentage of people in the pews on a typical Sunday morning have ever heard or read these words? My guess: one-percent. What percentage think that Catholics either don’t have to read the Bible or are not allowed to read the Bible? My guess: 50-percent. (And what about the remaining 49-percent, what do they think? My guess: they don’t think…period.)

Pope Benedict’s visit to America back in April was very impressive. He said a lot of good things, and the outpouring of love and excitement expressed by American Catholics toward the Holy Father was inspiring. (I liked the tee-shirts that had a picture of the Pope with these words: “I love my German Shepherd.”)

But unfortunately Pope Benedict did not say what I’ve been praying for 20 years that some Pope would say: “I command every American parish to form a Bible Study program—starting today. And I command every parishioner to attend, no exceptions. There will be a test!”

OK, I admit that’s a little heavy-handed (especially if said with a German accent). But I really think if the Pope said that with a playful twinkle in his eye, people would get the message and not be offended.

We’ve been running a Bible Study program in our parish for a couple of years now. We meet for an hour, twice each month. Out of approximately 600 adults in the parish, we get an average of 15 people who attend. Among area parishes, our program is viewed as a major success story. Success story? Sheesh, pretty pitiful if you ask me.

It is an absolute shame that the average American Catholic is about as familiar with the Bible as Brittany Spears is familiar with Newton’s Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Jesus was quite clear in this week’s Gospel reading about what will happen to people who do not listen to His words and act on them. He said “it will be like a fool who built his house on sand.” When stormy weather came, the house “collapsed and was completely ruined.”

If we are not familiar with the Word of God, if we do not have the knowledge of who God is and what He expects from us as our firm foundation, we’re in big trouble. When the storms of life hit us—which they inevitably will do—our spirits and souls will collapse and be ruined.

It is high time that we made a commitment “to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.” The Catechism says that the Church forcefully exhorts believers to do so. I don’t know about you, but I have yet to hear any forceful exhortation. I haven’t even heard a tentative request.

So if the Pope and the Church hierarchy won’t give a direct command to start studying the Bible, we’ll have to do it from the grassroots level. Either way, it MUST be done.

©2008