OTHCC Chapter 67: items 1321 - 1340

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

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No matter how smart and holy we become, we can never 'make' our Lord give himself, or control his gift in any way. We can only receive him, as the sheer gift he is, as humbly and as fully as we can. He is free. He is the Lord.

Since the Pope and bishops, no matter how smart or holy they become, can NEVER 'make' Christ give us the gift of himself, or control his gift of himself in any way, it is not surprising that Christ still accomplishes his work of giving us what we need to study the real, full truth of the Bible, even during times when the Pope and bishops in communion with him do not seem (at least to us) to be very smart or very holy at all. >>

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Once you start imagining that the Pope and bishops in communion with him give us what we need to study the real, full meaning of the Bible because they are smart, or because they are holy, you are instantly looking at the wrong thing - you are looking at them.

The Catholic Church instead looks at her Lord. She sees how close he is to her, how much he loves her, how complete and forever his union with her is. This perfect bond of love is the New Covenant that Christ accomplished by his death and resurrection, and it is so permanent, and so intimate, that the Church is called the Bride of Christ [CCC 796], and Christ called himself the Bridegroom.

The Church looks only at her Lord, and asks herself, how could he ever fail to protect his Bride, no matter how foolish or sinful his Church's ministers are?

He never fails her. He never will. His love for her and his bond with her are stronger than death, infinitely more powerful than the foolishness or even the sins of the worst pope or bishop who will ever live. He is the Lord; there is absolutely nothing - not us, not the devil, not anything or anyone - that can stop him from giving the gift of himself to his one-and-only Bride and Body, the Catholic Church. >>

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By the power of the Holy Spirit, our Lord turned death itself into the means of our salvation. If our Lord can make even death do his bidding, then surely, by the power of the same Holy Spirit, he can take the goodness and intelligence of his chosen ministers, and also their weakness and even their sins, and make it into judgments about the Bible that are pure, holy, and completely reliable.

Our Lord will NEVER fail his one-and-only Bride, the Catholic Church. Yet he accomplishes this perfect protection of his Bride and Body in and through ordinary men who are perfect only in the sense that they are perfectly ordinary - just like you and me.

However, although they are just like you and me in every way, they are also unique among all the human beings in the world. For our Lord calls them - only them - to take his place as teacher, shepherd and priest, and gives the Holy Spirit to guide them. [CCC 1555-1558]

St. Peter was just like you and me. St. James was just like you and me. The successors of Peter and James and the other apostles (the Pope and bishops of today) are definitely just like you and me. Yet our Lord calls and anoints them - only them - for a special mission.

There is only one reason that the Pope and bishops in communion with him reliably and forever give men in every age what they need to draw near to the real, full, true meaning of the Bible: Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, calls them - only them - and gives them the Holy Spirit, to do in his person and with his authority what only our Lord can do.

The judgments of the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him do not end man's study of the Bible. They only begin it, because those judgments give us the ability to use the freedom and powers with which we are created, to draw nearer to him, Christ, the Lord, as we read the Sacred Scriptures. >>

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"Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed." Just before receiving Holy Communion, you say those words, but notice: you must come to the altar yourself, under your own power, of your own free will, to say them. You are created to be in a genuinely free relationship, not a slavery, so you are created with, and must use, your own freedom and power, too.

We arrive at the altar by using the powers and the free will we were given at our creation, but even at the moment of Holy Communion, even then, we need our Lord's active help to receive him - that about sums it up!

So, just as we need our Lord's help to receive him in Holy Communion, we also need his help to receive him as we hear the Sacred Scriptures, even though we are given, and must use, our own freedom, determination, and intelligence, as well. After all, we exist within a free relationship, and free gifts must be given and received on both sides, even though everything that we have to give, we have only through him.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, just as the word we ask of him before Holy Communion heals us and enables us to receive him, the word he speaks through the solemn judgments of the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him also heals us, and gives us just what we need to use our own real freedom and our own real powers to draw near to the real, full truth of the Bible. >>

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Although the ministry of the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him is special, that is because the Most Holy Trinity is special, not because a human being becomes better than the rest of us after he is ordained. Ordination does not make a bishop even one percentage point smarter, nor does it give him special knowledge that other people can't possess.

Further, although the ministry that bishops have is truly and really holy, their holy mission does not make the bishops themselves holy; a bishop, even a pope, can commit a mortal sin, just like anyone else. A bishop's ordination merely means that our Lord, victor over all sin and all death, will truly work through that bishop. Through that bishop, our Lord will truly give himself to believers, no matter what! Our Lord is special, as is his relationship with his Catholic Church, but bishops themselves are not necessarily special in any way.

Still, the ministry of bishops (and of the bishop of Rome, the Pope) is a special and unique ministry, which our Lord gives only to them, of all the perfectly ordinary human beings in the whole world. They and they alone are called by Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to give us what we need to use our own freedom and our own powers to study the real, full meaning of the Bible.

So, don't look at bishops and ask how they could do the impossible. Look at him, and his love, and believe. <<

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A long time ago, most people thought that the earth was flat. Did that jeopardize their union with God?

a.   No. Nothing can jeopardize our union with God.
b.   No. They were making a mistake, but it was just a mistake.
c.   Yes. All mistakes jeopardize our union with God.

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Although the Catholic Church has affirmed that the first five books of the Bible are connected with Moses (and thus can rightly be called by one of their traditional names, ''the books of Moses''), modern scholars have given many good reasons to think that they were probably not written by a single human author. Instead, for example, many stories kept and treasured for centuries by the Jewish people were eventually brought together to make the first book of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis. A long time ago, most people thought that the prophet Moses had written the book of Genesis all by himself. Did that jeopardize their union with God?

a.   No. Nothing can jeopardize our union with God.
b.   No. They were making a mistake, but it was just a mistake.
c.   Yes. All mistakes jeopardize our union with God.

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When two people disagree about what the Bible means, somebody (possibly both of them) may be making a mistake. That

a.   does not matter, because union with Christ is not very important.
b.   does not necessarily mean that anybody is moving farther from Christ.
c.   means that somebody is of necessity moving farther from Christ.

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Long ago, people ''knew'' that Moses wrote the book of Genesis by himself, but they were probably making a mistake, without even realizing it. We're human, too. We ourselves might be making a mistake about the Bible right now, without even realizing it. Does the possibility that a future generation might decide that we have made our own mistakes about the Bible, jeopardize our own union with God?

a.   No. Nothing can jeopardize our union with God.
b.   No. We too can make a mistake, and it can be just a mistake.
c.   Yes. All mistakes jeopardize our union with God.

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We can make sizable mistakes about the Bible, without jeopardizing our union with Christ. However, like Marcion, we can also make mistakes about the Bible that do jeopardize our union with Christ. So, how do we tell the harmless mistakes from the deadly ones?

a.   It's obvious.
b.   We don't.
c.   We just can.

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We can make sizable mistakes about the Bible, without jeopardizing our union with Christ. However, like Marcion, we can also make mistakes about the Bible that do jeopardize our union with Christ. So, how do we tell the harmless mistakes from the deadly ones?

a.   We look deep within ourselves, make certain that our hearts are pure, then pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, who will inform us by giving us a special feeling for the correct answer.
b.   If there is a tradition of the Catholic Church's judgment on the matter, we study that, or we find out if the present Holy Father, or the present Catholic bishops in union with him, have made a judgment.
c.   We study the works of the most distinguished scholars in the most reputable universities, carefully examine the evidence pro and con, and form a mature judgment based on the facts.

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If an idea about the Bible is dangerous and conflicts with the truths of the Catholic Church that are necessary for our salvation, then the Church will

a.   eventually form a firm judgment on the matter.
b.   immediately form a firm judgment on the matter.
c.   never form a firm judgment on the matter.

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Over the centuries, some disagreements about what the Bible means persist for a hundred years, and they certainly seem serious. In these cases, the Church

a.   always condemns both positions.
b.   eventually supports one side or the other.
c.   may never condemn either position.

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The Old Testament is more like a library than a book. The Old Testament is actually a collection of separate books, all written before the time of Christ. Almost certainly, these books were not written by only one human author or at the same time. In fact, the books in the Old Testament were probably written over hundreds of years.

In all, 46 specific books make up the Old Testament - no more, no less. Out of all the writings ever written, these specific 46 books, and these alone, all belong together in the Old Testament. We know that these specific 46 books are the only and exact ones that belong in the Old Testament because

a.   over a long period of time, Catholic bishops in union with the Pope gradually came to agree about which books truly belong in the Old Testament.
b.   there is a special book in the very back of the Bible that tells us which books are absolutely supposed to be in the Old Testament, and which are optional.
c.   two great saints, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, agreed about exactly which books belonged in the Old Testament, and which did not.

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Since you know that all questions in this text have only one best answer (and therefore, that the other two possible answers are definitely wrong), you now know that St. Jerome (who prepared the standard Latin version of the Bible used by the Church for many centuries) and St. Augustine (a brilliant scholar himself, and a bishop) disagreed about which books really belonged in the Old Testament and were the true, inspired Word of God. (Yes, until the Church makes a firm decision, even saints can, and sometimes do, disagree).

In 382 AD, St. Jerome's boss, Pope Damasus I, published a list of the books in the Bible that included 46 inspired books in the Old Testament. St. Augustine and his brother bishops in Africa also decided to use the same version. This was the version of the Old Testament gradually accepted by all Catholic bishops of the world. <<

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Note: Do NOT restate the incorrect answers to this question. Only the correct answer has meaningful content.

The Catholic Church has used the Old Testament for many, many centuries with exactly the same books it uses today, no more and no less. However, so that no doubt would arise in anyone's mind, the bishops in union with the Holy Father solemnly and definitively affirmed those 46 books, no more and no less, to be the true and inspired Old Testament in the year

a.   746 AD.
b.   1146 AD.
c.   1546 AD.

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For a long time it hardly seemed necessary to solemnly list which books were in the Bible, since there they all were, in the Bible that was being used every day by the Church. Then the Council of Florence (1438-1445) repeated Pope Damasus's list verbatim. However, the early Protestant reformers argued (in effect) that the Church had for centuries been including some books that did not belong in the ''real'' Old Testament. So, in 1546, the Council of Trent (the Catholic bishops of the world in union with the Holy Father, meeting at Trent, Italy) definitively taught that the 46 books - no more and no less - which the Church had been reading from for generations, make up the true and inspired Old Testament, and they listed them. The bishops and the Holy Father reaffirmed this definitive judgment during the First Vatican Council (1870), and do so again in the Catechism [CCC 120]. <<

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How do we find out whether the 46 books in the Old Testament - no more and no less - really are the inspired Word of God?

a.   We look deep within ourselves, make certain that our hearts are pure, then pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, who will inform us by giving us a special feeling for the correct answer.
b.   We study the tradition of the Catholic Church's judgment on the matter, and if the Church has at some point in her history come to a firm judgment, we can trust the judgment as that of Christ himself.
c.   We study the works of the most distinguished scholars in the most reputable universities, carefully examine the evidence pro and con, and form a mature judgment based on the facts.

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How can we be certain that we are not moving away from Christ when we choose between various ideas about which books ''really'' belong in the Old Testament?

a.   Due to the fact that all truly intelligent people agree about which books belong in the Old Testament, we know that a committee of very smart people with university degrees will find the books that really belong.
b.   Even though history shows that we do not necessarily find the ''real'' contents of the Bible on our own, Christ himself continues to protect the true contents of the Bible through the sacrament of Holy Orders.
c.   Since even great saints have disagreed about exactly which books belong in the Old Testament, we can't ever really be certain who is right when people disagree about which books belong in the Old Testament.

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If you think that the Catholic faith is owned by whoever happens to be the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him at any given time, and so therefore they can say anything they want and that would make it real, then you are very seriously mistaken.

The Catholic faith is a specific reality, not an idea. It is the New Covenant, the actual, specific union of Christ with his one and only Bride and Body, the Catholic Church, and through her, Christ's actual, specific union with all men and with the whole world. Mere men can not bring that reality into being, nor change it in any way.

That is a lucky thing for us. Fallen man apart from Christ, not only weak but also sinful, turns from God at almost every opportunity. If the reality of the New Covenant, Christ's union with his Church, depended on us and on what we do, then the New Covenant would have disintegrated a long time ago.

All men always have the freedom to turn away from the reality of the New Covenant. Still, it is a very good thing that no power in heaven or on earth, and certainly no man, can EVER destroy the reality of the New Covenant. >>

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