From the Friars: Dueling Postulants

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Heb4:12

In his motu propio of 9/30/19, ‘Aperuit illis’, Pope Francis declared that the 3rd Sunday in ordinary time (today) is to be observed as the ‘Sunday of the word of God’ and is to be devoted to the “celebration, study, and dissemination (spread) “ of God’s word. He goes on to say that: “A day devoted to the Bible should not be seen as a yearly event but rather a year-long event, for we urgently need to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the risen Lord, who continues to speak His Word and to break bread in the community of believers.”

I am reminded of a friendly, yet nonetheless passionate, argument between two of our postulants some years ago. Postulants are those who are in their very first year of formation and so their rather intense theological debate between one another, fueled by youthful zeal no doubt, received nothing more from me than a casual rolling of the eyes. The “debate” was over the claim that one of them had made; mainly, that Jesus our Lord is just as present in Holy Scripture, especially when read at Mass, as He is in the Most Blessed Sacrament. His “opponent” felt as though such a claim was rather preposterous, putting scripture on the same level as the Eucharist, with whom I tended to agree.

The former seemed to be basing his argument on a passage from ‘Dei Verbum’ (Word of God), a document from Vatican II on divine revelation which states: “The Church has always venerated the Divine Scriptures just as she venerates the Body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s Word and of Christ’s Body.” While it is true that Christ is present in His Word, “for it is He who speaks when the Scriptures are read in the Church” (Vatican Council II New Revised Ed.), “He is present….most especially in the Eucharistic species; the whole Christ (being) truly, really, and substantially contained. It is presence in the fullest sense.” (CCC 1373-4)

These two modes of our Lord’s presence are obviously not in competition with one another, perhaps unlike our eager postulants, but are clearly complementary and I must admit such wrangling brought me to a deeper appreciation for the Word of God. As the years of being a vowed religious in the Church I must admit, I feel more and more convicted by St. Jerome’s admonition: “For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” (Dei Verbum)

Br. Pio