OTHCC Chapter 12: items 221

The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic Church < > All Chapters

{221} Down

At the Second Vatican Council, the bishops of the whole Catholic Church, in communion with the Holy Father, published the document Dei Verbum (''Word of God''), in which they reaffirmed the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church that the living successors of the apostles (the bishops and the Holy Father) have alone been entrusted by Jesus with the mission to act in his very person and thus genuinely protect the true meaning of the Bible:

''But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.''

Exegetes are scholars who study the Bible, usually for a living. In CCC 119 the bishops quote another passage from Dei Verbum to make it absolutely clear that though experts can be helpful, they can also be wrong. Exegetes are not in charge of protecting the true meaning of the Bible. Read CCC 119. Our Lord himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit whom he sent, protects the true meaning of the Bible - and not in some vague, generic, ''spiritual'' way that is always a matter of opinion and can never be exactly defined, but in and through the specific, visible, physical judgments made by the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him. >>

Down

{222} Down Up

When we read documents such as Dei Verbum and the Catechism, we can HEAR that this is true. However, we can not actually SEE that this is true. When we look at the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him, we will never actually see the Holy Spirit inspiring them to act in the person and with the authority of Christ in their specific, visible judgments about the true meaning of the Bible. We will always see perfectly ordinary men.

On the other hand, although we can not see, we can truly hear. Our senses can verify some, but not all, of the reality that is beyond our senses.

The Catholic Church does not apologize for or try to hide the fact that there are aspects of reality that can not be completely verified by man's senses. For example, the Church does not in any way say that if you just tried a little harder, you would actually be able to see the crucified and risen Lord under the appearances of the consecrated bread and wine. To the contrary, in the Catechism the bishops (quoting St. Thomas Aquinas) profess that this mystery ''cannot be apprehended by the senses.'' [CCC 1381] >>

Down Up

{223} Down Up

For two thousand years the Catholic Church has unceasingly professed that Jesus's words, ''This is My Body,'' when spoken by the bishop or priest at Mass, have their plain meaning. Those words are not poetry or symbolism, nor is Jesus present merely ''in our hearts.'' By the power of the Holy Spirit and through the words of the bishop or priest, Christ himself changes the bread and wine into his true Body and Blood. [CCC 1373-1377]

Thus, every single Mass ever offered is either completely ridiculous, or it puts man at the point of decision. Every Eucharist directly challenges the assumption that man can see the real, full truth about everything all by himself. For the Catholic Church, then, the issue is not settled by the fact that you can not actually see Jesus her Lord after the bread and wine are consecrated. She freely admits that you can not do this.

Instead, at every Mass the Catholic Church implicitly asks you a question: might there be solid, real aspects of reality that can not be completely verified by your senses? >>

Down Up

{224} Down Up

Please don't get the idea that if you are particularly clever, holy, scientific, or ''psychic,'' you will see what other men can not. In this life, you will never be able to see Christ in the Eucharist. Nor will you ever actually see the Holy Spirit acting in and through the judgments of the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him. You will never be able to do this - not with a telescope, not with a microscope, not with a time machine, not with ''psychic powers,'' not with the help of wise alien beings from outer space, not with anything you will ever have or can even imagine having.

In short, if you start thinking that you can actually see Christ in the Eucharist, you should visit a doctor, not a priest.

On the other hand, the Catholic Church in her very self is bound, not to vague ''spiritual'' things, but to a multitude of definite, specific, physical realities. The Catholic Church does not ask you to believe in ''ideas'' that are unconnected to physical reality. She does not look at an ''idea,'' she looks at him - the real him, in all his definiteness and actuality. Then she believes. >>

Down Up

{225} Down Up

Jesus has a real body. He really was born of the real Virgin Mary as a real baby, and he really grew up to be a real man. He physically stood in a physical place and physically told the actual St. Peter that Peter was the rock on which he would build his church. There was an actual Last Supper that took place in an actual room. At that physical meal Jesus actually gave real bread to his actual apostles and physically said, ''This is My Body.'' He sat there right in front of them and told them to ''Do this in memory of me.''

Jesus really died an excruciatingly actual death on a physical cross. He really rose from the dead, and by his apostle's own unanimous testimony, as risen he really appeared to them and to many other disciples, and his actual apostles that he personally had chosen then really began to preach to actual physical people, to baptize, to offer the Eucharist, and to make judgments in his name.

At every Mass you can physically hear the priest say the words, ''This is My Body.'' You can physically see him raise the host and the chalice. Placed inside the altar may be relics, physical bits of bone from saints, actual physical human beings who came before us and who believed.

The priest himself was ordained by the imposition of hands by an actual, physical bishop. By Church law every five years this actual, physical bishop must (if possible) physically travel to Rome and visit the actual, physical Pope. >>

Down Up

{226} Down Up

In short, subsisting in the Catholic Church is an unbroken, intricate web of physical realities that are bound eternally to the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus, and also to the free cooperation of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In and through Jesus's very real Sacrifice on the Cross, and the Eucharist that he gave as an everlasting memorial of it, the Catholic Church is her Lord's very real Bride and Body whom he will always protect and never forsake.

The Eucharist and the other sacraments (but above all the Eucharist), the Bible, the life and worship of the saints and ordinary believers from all ages, and the visible, public, specific teachings of the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him, are all part of this unbroken, intricate web of physical realities by which Jesus the genuinely crucified and truly risen Lord gives himself eternally to his Catholic Church and makes her his one and only Bride and Body.

Catholicism is not an ''idea.'' It is a highly physical religion, in which many realities - though not all - are directly available to man's senses. The Church looks at her beloved Lord, and believes. But she really looks at HIM, not a vague or generic ''idea.'' >>

Down Up

{227} Down Up

Jesus is his Catholic Church's genuinely crucified and truly risen Lord. He knows all about time and space. He will never deny or run away from his Bride and Body's presence in physical, definite, specific time and space. He is the Lord, not an ''idea.'' He is eternally and actually present to her in time and space and he also transcends them both.

He continues to protect the true meaning of the Bible, visibly and specifically, in and through the specific, visible judgments made by the Holy Father and bishops in union with him.

If you start to think that you can actually see our Lord acting by the power of the Holy Spirit in and through the judgments of the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him, then you should visit a doctor, not a priest. This truth can not be completely verified by man's senses, and the Catholic Church does not try to hide that fact or explain it away.

However, this same truth is also bound to an vast, intricate, specific, ongoing, and holy physicality that man can quite definitely see and verify. The New Covenant is the real, specific union between the real, specific Jesus Christ and the real, specific Catholic Church, and through her, it his union with all real, specific men of all times and places, and with the whole real, specific world.

In [CCC 1381], the bishops quote two verses from the Latin hymn "Adoro te devote," which is attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas. In English we have a beautiful translation by the English Jesuit poet and priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins.

In the following verse, the poet looks at Christ in the Eucharist, and clings, not to an 'idea,' but to the real, specific Lord Jesus, who is with us and speaks to us specifically, from within our senses, but also beyond them:

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly, or there's nothing true.

The real, specific Catholic Church - not an 'idea,' not a 'feeling' somebody has 'in his heart' - looks at her Lord - the real, specific him - and believes. <<

Down Up

{228}      Down       Up

Suppose that a group of very smart and very learned scholars formed a club to study the Bible. They made this rule for their club:

''If a scholar relies on the judgments of the Holy Father and bishops united with him to help him find out what the Bible means, then he is out of the club.''

So, suppose you wanted to prove that there are exactly 46 books in the Old Testament - no more and no less. You could say that there are 46 books because that is an ancient tradition in the Church. You could still be in the club. (Of course, Protestants - for instance - would point out that having 46 books wasn't the only ancient tradition).

However, if you said that there are exactly 46 books in the Old Testament - no more and no less - because the Holy Father and bishops united with him have determined this, then you would be out of the club. No one would listen to you.

This particular Bible-study club

a.   does not exist, but it might some day.
b.   exists, and there are many Catholics in it.
c.   exists, but there are no Catholics in it.

Down Up

{229}      Down       Up

It may surprise you to learn, as you study things about the Old Testament in this text, that you will actually be required to read from the Old Testament as you study. Before going on, please read the entire third chapter of the book of Genesis. Genesis is the first book in the Bible. Read Chapter 3 (Gen 3) - Yes, now - then answer the following question:

A dispute breaks out in that Bible-studying club with the rule that:

''If a scholar relies on the judgments of the Holy Father and bishops united with him to help him find out what the Bible means, then he is out of the club.''

Some people in the club say that Adam and Eve is just a story. Adam and Eve never really existed. Thus, their Fall did not actually happen, but is only a metaphor for the existence of evil, and for man's weakness and proneness to sin. Others say that Adam and Eve were real and that they actually Fell.

You say, ''Well, I am very glad that you are so polite when you argue in your club, but we actually know what this answer is. In [CCC 390], for example, the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him clearly tell us that, although Genesis 3 is expressed in the language of a story, that story 'affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man.'''

''So, we already know the Bible's meaning here. The Fall was real. The Holy Father and bishops in communion with him, acting in the person of Christ and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, determined this truth in order to give us what we need to study the truth of the Bible. Thus we already know that moving toward the idea that the Fall was only a story or a metaphor will take us farther from Christ.'' After you say this, you are

a.   applauded by the club.
b.   out of the club.
c.   welcomed in the club.

Down Up

{230}      Down       Up

The club members give you a reason for their decision about you in the previous question. They say:

a.   ''You are being professional in the way that you made your decision about what the Bible means.''
b.   ''You are helping us resolve this dispute in the way that you made your decision about what the Bible means.''
c.   ''You are not being professional in the way that you made your decision about what the Bible means.''

Down Up

{231} Down Up

This Bible-studying club with that particular rule is very real, and many Catholics who study the Bible for a living, including priests and nuns, belong to it. It's not really a club, of course, and there's not just one club. There are, however, many modern ''professional organizations'' of biblical scholars. Most of them, including the Catholic ones, in effect have made the rule that, if you rely on the judgments of the Holy Father and bishops united with him to help you find out what the Bible means, then that is an ''unprofessional'' thing to do.

So, for example, many of the people in these clubs plainly teach that the Fall is just a story, a metaphor, and nothing more. Why would even the Catholics, even the priests and nuns, in these grown-up Bible-studying clubs, be doing highly dangerous things, such as moving toward ideas that the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him clearly say will move them farther from Christ?

It's complicated, but basically, those Bible scholars just don't think that the sacraments are real in the way that the Church professes. Even the Church admits that the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him are not necessarily any holier or smarter than anyone else. If the sacraments are not real in the way that the Church professes, then even the Church admits that there would be no particular reason to listen to her teachings.

So, not understanding that the sacraments are real, the Bible scholars in these clubs, even the Catholics, do not find any logical reason to listen to the Church's teachings about what the Bible means. They are not at all nervous about what they're doing.

To the contrary, they usually think that they are doing a better job of finding out what the Bible means than the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him.

After all, these scholars are ''professionals.'' They are so learned that they actually get paid, by fine universities, to study the Bible. Many of these scholars probably are smarter than an average bishop. So, why shouldn't they trust their own judgments instead of a bishop's? Why, indeed? You know the answer: because the sacraments are real. Christ is trying to help us stay close to him.

We can pray that eventually, these Bible scholars will stop being members of those clubs. <<

Down Up

{232}      Down       Up

The most accurate way to read the Old Testament is to read it

a.   as if the sacraments were not real and the New Testament were not true.
b.   knowing that the sacraments are real and the New Testament is true.
c.   not knowing whether the sacraments are real or the New Testament is true.

Down Up

{233}      Down       Up

According to many professional Bible scholars today, the LEAST accurate way to read the Old Testament is to read it

a.   as if the sacraments were not real and the New Testament were not true.
b.   knowing that the sacraments are real and the New Testament is true.
c.   not knowing whether the sacraments are real or the New Testament is true.

Down Up

{234}      Down       Up

Many people now study the Bible for a living. Some do not even believe in God. Many are not Catholic. You now also know that some Catholics who study the Bible for a living do not study the Bible as if only the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him can make definitive judgments about the true meaning of the Bible. These same Catholic scholars might even be highly offended and think that it would be would be ''infringing'' on their ''rights'' as scholars, if the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him ever tried to tell them that one of their ideas about the Bible will move men farther from Christ.

Let's take the very worst case. Let's say a person who does not believe in God at all and in fact absolutely hates all believers, and who hates Catholics in particular, studies the Bible for a living and publishes a new ''discovery'' about the Bible in a scholarly journal. What should your attitude be toward his ''discovery''?

a.   It has to be incorrect, because he hates Catholics and does not believe in God.
b.   It might be correct, even though he hates Catholics and does not believe in God.
c.   We should ignore what he says even if it may be correct, because of his unbelief.

Down Up

{235} Down Up

There's an old saying: ''Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.'' While we will definitely move farther from Christ if we move toward ideas that Christ, through the sacrament of Holy Orders, has told us will take us farther from him, there is no need to discredit or to dispute every single thing a biblical scholar says just because he does not share our faith, has weak faith, or has even rejected faith. God overcame death itself. He can certainly work through men of a different faith, limited faith, or even no faith at all. <<

Down Up

{236}      Down       Up

Because Catholics have the sacraments and the New Testament,

a.   the Old Testament tells them inaccurate things about Christ.
b.   their understanding and appreciation of the Old Testament only increases.
c.   they can ignore the Old Testament as merely a stage in God's plan.

Down Up

{237}      Down       Up

The New Testament has to be read

a.   by trivializing the Old Testament.
b.   in the light of the Old Testament.
c.   without regard for the Old Testament.

Down Up

{238}      Down       Up

Early Catholic teaching

a.   ignored the Old Testament as much as possible.
b.   made constant use of the Old Testament.
c.   trivialized and denigrated the Old Testament.

Down Up

{239}      Down       Up

The patriarchs are

a.   Abraham, his son Isaac, Isaac's son Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons.
b.   Adam, his son Abel, Noah, his descendent Abraham, and Moses.
c.   Moses, his brother Aaron, and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Down Up

{240}      Up

The Church teaches [CCC 130] that the saving events of the Old Testament, such as the calling of Abraham and the other patriarchs, and the exodus from Egypt, ''were intermediate stages'' in God's plan. These Old Testament events

a.   have lost their own value in God's plan.
b.   have not lost their own value in God's plan.
c.   never had substantial value in God's plan.

Up < > All Chapters