The Word of God in the Life of the Church : Pope Leo XIV
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!
In today’s catechesis we will look at the profound and vital link that exists between the Word of God and the Church…
Vatican Council II reminds us that “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”. Furthermore, “she has always maintained them, and continues to do so, together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of faith” (Dei Verbum, 21).
The Church never ceases to reflect on the value of the Sacred Scriptures. After the Council, a very important moment in this regard was the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme “The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church” in October 2008. Pope Benedict XVI gathered its fruit in the post-Synodal Exhortation Verbum Domini (30 September 2010), in which he affirms: “The intrinsic link between the word and faith makes clear that authentic biblical hermeneutics can only be had within the faith of the Church, which has its paradigm in Mary’s fiat… the primary setting for scriptural interpretation is the life of the Church” (no. 29).
In the ecclesial community, Scripture therefore finds the sphere in which to carry out its particular task and achieve its purpose: to make Christ known and to open dialogue with God. Indeed, “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”. [1] This well-known expression of Saint Jerome reminds us of the ultimate purpose of reading and meditating on the Scriptures: to get to know Christ and, through Him, to enter into a relationship with God, a relationship that can be understood as a conversation, a dialogue. And the Constitution Dei Verbum presented the Revelation to us precisely as a dialogue, in which God speaks to humans as though to friends (cf. DV, 2). This occurs when we read the Bible with an inner attitude of prayer: God then comes towards us and enters into conversation with us.
The Sacred Scripture, entrusted to the Church and preserved and explained by her, performs an active role: indeed, with its efficacy and power it sustains and invigorates the Christian community. All the faithful are called to drink from this wellspring, first and foremost in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments….The Church ardently desires that the Word of God may reach every one of her members and nurture their journey of faith. But the Word of God also propels the Church beyond herself; it opens her continually to the mission towards everyone. Indeed, we live surrounded by so many words, but how many of these are empty! At times we even listen to wise words, which do not however affect our ultimate destiny. On the contrary, the Word of God responds to our thirst for meaning, for the truth about our life. It is the only Word that is always new: revealing the mystery of God to us, it is inexhaustible, it never ceases to offer its riches.
