The Sermon on the MountWhen he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

He began to teach them, saying…Matthew 5:1-2

The Word is LifeJournal for people who hunger for the Word of God No. 112 – Summer 2012

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A Word from the Editor

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly... .” {Colossians 3.16}

As so many icons of Christ demonstrate He Himself is our instructor in Biblical Wisdom. He teaches with authority, serene and steadfast, desiring to impart to his students the life giving word of God. He welcomes all to this “house of study” - Beth Midrash in Hebrew. I remember my admiration for the Hasidic Jews of

Montreal whom I used to observe nightly going to meet with their Rabbi to study their holy Torah. Certainly the boy Jesus went customarily to the local synagogue to learn holy writ and sacred tradition. St. Luke records the account of his “rite of passage” from boyhood to manhood at the Temple in Jerusalem where he was found gathered with the elders who confirmed him as a ‘son of the Torah’, an apprentice now in the business of his heavenly Father – delving deep into the message within the sacred scrolls that He Himself unrolled.

Do we realize the value of our spiritual heritage transmitted in the Bible? Do we take our Sacred Scriptures for granted? I recall a report of pilots who would do aerial Bible drops to areas in war torn African nations under dictatorships and their descriptions of how the people would share pages from the Bibles. They treasured even a single leaf from the Bible which they would memorize and then trade for another page. Perhaps this hunger for spiritual truth is part of the reason why the Catholic population of Africa has exploded in the last century from 2 to 140 million.

Catholic Biblical Association Journal

The Word is Life is a publication of the Catholic

Biblical Association of Canada (CBAC),

an incorporated, not-for-profit charitable organization.

Editorial StaffPublisherSr. Jocelyn Monette, nds

EditorDouglas Parrett

PhotographerBill Wittman

Lay-out and DesignSutrisna WijayaSr. Jocelyn Monette, nds

Editorial AssistantsMary Elizabeth BennettSr. Brenda Duncombe, D.M.J.Peter Lovrick; Joan Pape;Virginia Simone; Pat Sinclair

Book ReviewerGertrud Jaron Lewis

Membership/DonationIndividual/Family $30Parish (depends on quantity)

Reproduction of articles

We invite our members to reproduce any articles printed in The Word is Life which they consider to be of interest to their study groups or friends, unless a statement to the contrary is given. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily of the Catholic Biblical

Association of Canada.

Douglas Parrett

Table of contents

Mt. of Beatitudes aerial view . 1 Word from the Editor . . . . . . 2Family that prays together . . . 3Papal page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bible in Church and Culture . 5Pilgrimage Testimonials. . . . . 6Piety and Pilgrimage . . . . . . . 7Listening to the Word of God . 8

Latin Tradition: Vulgate . . . . 9Passover Seder . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Hebrew Tradition: Teshuvah . 11Our Lady’s Page . . . . . . . . . . 12Greek Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . 13Scripture in the Christian Life 14Word of God & the Holy Land 15The Beatitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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The family that prays together stays together

Some of you will remember this famous saying and the great movement inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostolate of Fr. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C. It was an extraordinary ministry of evangelization through mass media, truly a pioneering work that had a worldwide influence. Who can doubt Fr. Peyton’s continual claim that the tremendous success of “the Rosary Crusade” was due to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary! The apostolate promoting Sacred Scripture needs her support as well.

For us today who are promoters of the word of God in the life and ministry of the church in the modern world, we need the blessing of “Our Lady of the Sacred Scriptures” if this work is to flourish. We can be completely confident that God’s word is able to address every need and question of the modern pilgrim, and that it is able to meet the challenges of “modernity” with all its doubts and concerns. As in the very beginning, so now, and until the end of time the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible continues to illuminate it for the people of God. It is the Spirit who makes the Bible fresh and vital and real - “not a dead word, imprisoned in the

past, but a living word, immediately addressed to the man of today..., a word which affects him, since it is for him that it was uttered and remains uttered.” (Louis Bouyer, 1946)

Madonna & Child of the Rosary, MURILLO (1617-1682) in Father Peyton’s humble room

Check these out: www.catholicculture.org/news/

Follow the link to the Douay-Rheims Bible, commentary, and dictionary – a good investment for the serious student.

www.truthandlifebible.com

This brand new dramatized audio Bible (New Testament) includes a foreword by Pope Benedict XVI and a cast of well-known actors. Follow the link to hear some sample performances. For an interview with director Carl Amari and with ‘the voice of St. John,’ go to:

www.ewtn.com/tv/live/worldover.asp

Scroll to the section – The World Over Past Shows and click on Watch & Listen then go to the Nov. 25, 2010 edition. Here you can view the feature presentation about the making of this audio Bible.

www.wheresthelinetoseejesus.com Listen and look and find delight!!!

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When you read God’s Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, “It is talking to me, and about me.” – Soren Kierkegaard

www.keralabiblesociety.com

This web page of the Diocese of Kerala in India features a brief video that details their Bible Mission including their “Holy Bible Reading Marathon.” Over 800 readers and thousands of listeners are involved in the 100-hour reading of the Bible – exciting!

In October 2008 the Pope launches a 7-day Bible Reading Marathon held at the Basilica of Holy Cross in Rome and carried on live TV.

The Papal Page

In Part 3 of Pope Benedict’s apostolic exhortation, Verbum Domini, we are challenged to reach the world by proclaiming this Holy Word to that world!:

“What the Church proclaims to the world is the Logos of Hope (cf. 1 Peter 3:15); in order to be able to live fully each moment, men and women need “the great hope” which is “the God who possesses a human face and who ‘has loved us to the end’ (John 13:1)”. This is why the Church is missionary by her very nature. We cannot keep to ourselves the words of eternal life given to us in our encounter with Jesus Christ: they are meant for everyone, for every man and woman. Everyone today, whether he or she knows it or not, needs this message. ... It is our responsibility to pass on what, by God’s grace, we ourselves have received.” (paragraph 91)

Catholic Biblical Canada would like to take up this challenge with a small but great gesture, a response also to the call for a ‘new evangelization’. We are prayerful about a proposal that in the fall of 2013 at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto we sponsor a continuous public reading of the New Testament along with Psalms and Proverbs. This is in response to the call for evangelical and missionary action by the people of God:

Since the entire People of God is a people which has been “sent”, the Synod reaffirmed that “the mission of proclaiming the word of God is the task of all of the disciples of Jesus Christ based on their Baptism.” No believer in Christ can feel dispensed from this responsibility which comes from the fact of our sacramentally belonging to the Body of Christ. ... The Church, as a mystery of communion, is thus entirely missionary, and everyone, according to his or her proper state in life, is called to give an incisive contribution to the proclamation of Christ.” (paragraph 94)

What is the Year of Faith planned for 2012-2013? Pope Benedict, in his recent Motu Proprio Porta Fidei - a personal statement that announced the Year of Faith wrote, “We should look at faith as a lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the present of history, faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world.”

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Highlighting the Bible in Church and Culture

We would like to draw attention to a project featured at Regis College in downtown Toronto, namely the Saint John’s Bible exhibit. This 7-volume Bible is “the first complete Bible to be scribed and illuminated by hand in more than 500 years. The original combines medieval artistic techniques with contemporary theological reflection in a visual medium... . The original is crafted by hand on vellum, using rare pigments and precious gilding. ”I would also note that various churches, schools and other Catholic institutions have sponsored an exhibit (see the listing and info): www.saintjohnsbible.org

Also, have you ever heard of the Museum of Biblical Art = MoBia? It houses a fascinating collection of rare Bibles in different languages and organizes some excellent exhibitions. Their mission is to “celebrate and interpret art related to the Bible and its cultural legacy.” As the web page says: “MoBia organizes temporary exhibitions revealing the extraordinary diversity and richness of art inspired by the Bible through the centuries. We believe that an understanding of biblical themes, imagery, and symbolism is essential to cultural literacy, irrespective of one’s religious background or beliefs.” Just to name a few exhibitions of interest: Jerusalem and the Holy Land; The Paintings of Ludwig Blum, Temple Mount and Western Wall (1891-1974); Jerusalem and the Holy Land Rediscovered, The Prints of David Roberts (1796-1864); The Holy Land through the Eyes of Explorers.

It is located in New York on the 2nd floor of the American Bible Society building and is worth the visit, if only by internet:

www.mobia.org

Holy Land Pilgrimage 2012Pilgrim Testimonials

Jerusalem: Ludwig Blum, MoBia exhibit

Did you know about the new interfaith exhibit at the Vatican? On display are rare biblical texts. For example, a manuscript from the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, one of the earliest, near-complete New Testaments in the world, also containing the earliest example of Scripture in a dialect of Aramaic similar to what our Lord spoke. Look here: www.vatican/va

Push the tab “Latest” and you will find out all about this exhibit.

Amedeo Modigliani was one of Italy’s best-known modern-ist portrait painters. A subject of one of his paintings once asked why he had painted him with one eye open and the other eye closed. The artist answered, “With one eye you see the world; with the other you see yourself.” And that is exactly how the rabbis read the Bible. With one eye they saw the world around them, with all its difficulties and joys, and with the other they saw the human soul, with all its frailty and audacity.From God’s Echo: Exploring Scripture with Midrash, San-dy Eisenberg Sasso, page 132

Pilgrim Testimonials

Although I already loved to study the Old and New Testaments, visiting Israel actually made both (Testaments) visible and clear. I understand scripture better..., and now it seems as if it is part of me like never before. {ST. PAUL, AB}

I will be reading the Bible with a renewed energy, holding the image of Jesus’ beloved homeland in my mind. I can better appreciate the distance he had to walk, the people with whom he had exchanges, and the political turmoil going on around him. {WINNIPEG, MB}

There were so many moments: I could picture Jesus hiking through the wilderness of the desert or praying on a mountain top in the Galilee, leading his disciples through the valleys or walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. To be there where Jesus was born and grew up and taught and sacrificed everything out of love for us, felt like the greatest gift I have ever received. {WATERLOO, ON}

The entire land is rich with culture, history and spirituality. This combination made us realize that this is truly the HOLY land filled with God’s chosen people. {NEVILLE, SK}

As I shared my trip with students in the classroom, I realized just how much I had grown in my knowledge of my Christian faith.... It has given me a much richer background from which to draw as I seek to help my students grow in their own faith. {WATERLOO, ON}

I especially enjoyed how the scripture readings were perfectly planned for the moment. {QUELPH, ON}

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Piety and PilgrimageWhat is a pilgrim and how does pilgrimage enhance one’s piety, one’s devotion to God and the Church? Here is a quote from the web page of The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land: “A pilgrim is a traveler: not just any traveler, but a man, a woman in search of the profound sense of their own being in the world. The pilgrimage is therefore a voyage: not just any voyage, but the path every man and woman takes towards the encounter with the Lord. As the people of Israel followed the Lord to the Promised Land; as the disciples followed Jesus through the streets of Palestine, so we also travel in our sandals to meet the Lord: from the desert to Bethlehem , from Bethlehem to Nazareth, from Nazareth to Jerusalem, we search for God in Faith and in History, traversing, with the Bible in hand, the places in which he was manifested for the chosen people and for everyone of us.”

Many pilgrims to sacred sites and sanctuaries attest to the value of such a spiritual journey. In a sense pilgrimage goes all the way back to our father in faith: “And the LORD said to Abram: ‘Go out from your land and from your kin and from your ancestors to the land I will show you.’“ Later when established in the promised land the people of Israel were commanded to make a pilgrimage up to the Temple in the holy city of Jerusalem for the three great Annual Pilgrim Feasts: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (see Exodus 23; Leviticus 23; Deuteronomy 16).

Pilgrimage is integral to our faith heritage! We are blessed as a Catholic people to have many shrines and sanctuaries in every country of the world. Special graces attend these holy places as so many pilgrims have testified. It is no wonder since they are places that commemorate “signs and wonders and miracles” connected with our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lady, the martyrs, the apostles and the saints of Holy Church. Especially in the land of Christ’s life and ministry there are many sacred sites set in a landscape that often remains now as it was then.

“The nature of water is soft, that of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall drop by drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with the word of God; it is soft and our hearts are hard, but those who hear the word of God often, open their hearts to revere the Lord.” (Abba Pimen, IN THE SPIRIT OF HAPPINESS by the Monks of New Skete, pp 137-138)

Pilgrims making `aliyah = “going up to Jerusalem”. Here they arrive at the Temple via the Huldah Gate.

The web page for the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land is interesting. They manage and maintain many holy sites and sanctuaries in the Holy Land.http://www.custodia.org

Franciscan Coat of Arms

The crossed-arm illustration is also referred to as the symbol of conformities. This term refers to St. Francis being in conformity with the suffering Christ on the Cross (because of the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ on St. Francis’ hands, feet, and side). This is a key identity badge for the Franciscan order.

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Chapter 1: Listening to the Word of God

From Part 1, The primacy of the Word of God, paragraph 7 & 8 are very encouraging.

7. The Church greatly venerates the Scriptures, but it is important to recognize that ‘the Christian faith is not a “religion of the book”; Christianity is the “religion of the word of God”, not of “a written and mute word, but of the incarnate and living Word”. The gospel of God is fundamentally testified by the sacred Scriptures of both Old and New Testaments. The Scriptures are ‘inspired by God and committed to writing once and for all time; hence, ‘they present God’s own Word in an unalterable form, and they make the voice of the Holy Spirit sound again and again in the words of the prophets and apostles’. Tradition is the faithful transmission of the Word of God witnessed in the canon of Scripture by the prophets and apostles and in the leiturgia (liturgy), martyria (testimony) and diakonia (service) of the Church.

8. St. Augustine wrote that the Word of God was heard by inspired authors and transmitted by their words: ‘God speaks through a human being in human fashion; and speaking thus he seeks us’. The Holy Spirit not only inspired the biblical authors to find the right words of witness but also assists the readers of the Bible in every age to understand the Word of God in the human words of the holy Scriptures. The relationship between Scripture and Tradition is rooted in the truth which God reveals in his Word for our salvation: “the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures’, and through the ages the Holy Spirit ‘leads believers to the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness (cf. Col. 3:16)’. ‘The word of God is given to us in sacred Scriptures as an inspired testimony to revelation; together with the Church’s living Tradition, it constitutes the supreme rule of faith.’ (NOTE: The above quotes are from a Vatican II document called, Dei Verbum)

Midrash Tehillim 5:6“It is written, “Listen to my words, O, G-D, understand my meditation.” King David said, “Master of the universe: When I have the strength to stand before You in prayer and express my words, listen to me. But when I do not have the strength, understand what is in my heart”

On March 8 a new document from the International Theo-logical Commission was published. It is called Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria. The first chapter is called, Listening to the Word of God and we have printed here two paragraphs to give you the flavour. Read it all at: www.vatican.va (click Latest tab)

Christ, true teacher of all Truth

“If Jesus had not been struck, if water and blood had not come from his side, we would all still be thirsting for the Word of God.” Origen, In Exodum, h. 11, n. 2 (254).

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The Latin Tradition The Vulgate

In the 4th century St. Jerome worked with the Old-Latin texts of both Old and New Testaments and also translated most of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin. By the 7th century, the Latin Vulgate as

we know it was in use throughout the Western Church and a great portion of it derived from the revision and translation work of Jerome. (Above photo is a 1555 A.D. version).

It is interesting to note that the oldest complete Latin Bible – the celebrated Codex Amiatinus – was transcribed around 700 A.D. at the double monastery of Wearmouth & Jarrow in Northumbria where St. Bede, the great church historian and doctor of the church, lived at this time. This remarkable codex was commissioned as a gift for Pope Gregory II. It is a good example of medieval calligraphy and did contain a few ‘illuminated manuscript’ type pages. It weighs about 75 pounds and is now housed in Florence.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) says: “Anyone who thirsts for God eagerly studies and meditates on the inspired Word, knowing that there he is certain to find the one for whom he thirsts”.

Painting of St. Bernard writing one of his Bible commentaries

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, comments in his 2012 Lenten letter:

“Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights.” This fast very likely took place in the desert region four kms. northwest of Jericho, on a mountain named Quruntul in Arabic. In the 12th century the mountain belonged to the Latin Canons of the Holy Sepulcher, and was inhabited by a group of clerics named the Brothers of the Forty Days. Once more, our Church of Jerusalem may speak not only of history, but also of the geography and the topography of Salvation. This site, not far from Jordan, is a place of pilgrimage not only for Christians coming from afar but also for the local faithful who are invited to visit the sites of our Redemption with piety.

The Patriarchate web page is very full: www.lpj.org E.g. Check the Holy Land Report, the Jerusalem Newsletter, and the Pilgrim Information page.

Passover Seder at St. Francis Xavier Church

March 29, 2012

{Edited excerpts from the description of this well-attended event by Gabriella Adorjan Read the full account @ M:\Document\FW Revised Seder Meal article.docx }

“Our esteemed guest Rabbi Lawrence Englander and his wife Cheryl of Solel Congregation of Mississauga, presented us with the Feast of Passover to commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses.“

The Feast of Passover was first celebrated about 3,500 years ago and is recorded in the Book of Exodus; this historical event of deliverance from slavery has been called the festival of freedom and the powerful account recorded in Exodus 12-13 can function as a universal parable of spiritual freedom. As an observant Jew, Jesus Christ would have made this pilgrimage up to Jerusalem throughout his life to participate in the annual Jerusalem Temple liturgy as mandated in the Torah.

At the special Seder meal (Seder meaning ‘order’}, we ate special foods that have symbolic significance and tell the story – Haggadah in Hebrew - of the departure from Egypt. Every facet of the meal contributes to the message that with haste the people prepared and celebrated the feast as with haste they fled the land of oppression. Joseph Bechor Shor, 12th century French Jewish exegete, emphasizes the importance of the event:

“The first month of your Freedom shall be made the first in reckoning the months, so that you reckon your time from the hour of Freedom. In this way will you remember the hour of Freedom, and also My beneficent dealing with you, and you will be heedful to fear, love, and serve Me.”

Articles of interest for your review:

M:\Document\Celebration of the Seder by Christians_SIDIC_06 Mar rev.doc

THE PASSOVER SEDER_Catholic_Jewish Subcommittee of the Brisbane.doc

Traditions We Share_Discovering the Jewish Roots of Christian Celebrations_Eugene Fisher.doc

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The Hebrew Tradition: Teshuvah (The Hebrew word for Repentance)

This is a key Jewish concept meaning to turn or repent and experience a new beginning. Classically it is comprised of 3 elements: regret of misdoing, decision to change, and a verbal expression of one’s sins. In practice, there are 4 steps in the process: leave the sin, regret the sin, confess the sin before God, make a resolution not to commit the sin again. Clearly it has parallels with the Catholic practice of confession, absolution and penance, including avoidance of the occasions of sin.

In the Jewish liturgical year a Memorial Day, later called Rosh Hashanah - the New Year festival - had a special solemnity marked by the blowing of the Shofar which inaugurated the Ten Days of Repentance-Teshuvah which culminate in the Day of Atonement. Like our Lenten Season this was a time of self-examination and humble petition for forgiveness and, in fact, ended with a solemn assembly. The Pentateuch and Haftorah used in present day synagogues quotes the 1st century Jewish philosopher Philo who calls it “a day of purification and of turning from sins, for which forgiveness is granted through the grace of the merciful God, who holds penitence in as high esteem as guiltlessness.”

As Maimonides (d. 1204 A.D.) wrote:

The Scriptural injunction to blow the Shofar for the New Year’s Day has a profound meaning. It says: Awake, ye sleepers, and ponder over your deeds; remember your Creator and go back to Him in penitence. Be not of those who miss realities in their pursuit of shadows and waster their years in seeking after vain things which cannot profit or deliver. Look well to your souls and consider your acts; forsake each of you his evil ways and thoughts, and return to God so that He may have mercy upon you.

The sages used to say that it is wise to repent exactly one day before you die. And when posed with the question as to how one can know such a thing, they replied, “Exactly!”

Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. – Mark Twain

Some pages by Jewish Catholics:

salvationisfromthejews.com

This is the fascinating web page of convert Roy Schoeman which “celebrates the relationship between Judaism and the Catholic Church and the conversion of the Jews.” Listen to one of his ‘testimonials’.

www.torahslight.org

This web page of another convert from Judaism, David Wall, is still in progress but already contains some edifying material and testimonials such as, “What’s a good Jewish boy like you doing in a Catholic Church?” and “My First Eucharist”, an interesting reflection on the Holy Mass.

The word of God hidden in the heart is a stubborn voice to suppress.--Billy Graham

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Our Lady’s Page Once more in this edition we highlight the web page of the International Centre dedicated to Mary of Nazareth: her mystery, her museum, her site. We recommend to you the section devoted to Holy Scripture: http://www.maryofnazareth.com

Please note the offer to subscribe to A Moment with Mary: a short devotional letter presenting a daily Marian meditation, of great variety. Excellent and uplifting!!

Below is an excerpt from the section dedicated to The Holy Scriptures and reflecting on the importance of historical and textual studies of the Bible:

Studying the human circumstances of the word of God should be pursued with ever renewed interest. Nevertheless, this study is not enough. In order to respect the coherence of the Church’s faith and of scriptural inspiration, Catholic exegesis must be careful not to limit itself to the human aspects of the biblical texts. First and foremost, it must help the Christian people more dearly perceive the Word of God in these texts so that they can better accept them in order to live in full communion with God. To this end it is obviously necessary that the exegete himself perceive the divine word in the texts. He can do this only if his intellectual work is sustained by a vigorous spiritual life.

In our personal journeys of faith whenever we approach the Sacred Scriptures, we would do well to look to Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, and to ask for the insight and clarity of perception that she brought to her own approach to the biblical heritage which she knew so well as is attested in her Magnificat.

Painting: Mary, Seat of Wisdom, sits with her Child and saints gather for instruction.

An intriguing icon, the work of Br. Robert Lentz (1988). Notice the Hebrew title meaning, Captive Daughter of Zion; notice also the child Messiah still in the womb carrying the Torah scrolls and wearing a Hebrew prayer shawl (tallis). (See the TorahsLight web page to learn more).

www.torahslight.org/cdz.html

Behold the LORD has made it heard to the ends of the earth, “Tell the daughter of Zion: ‘Behold the Saviour comes; behold his reward is with him and his work before him.’” Isaiah 62.11

The Word of God is a Person. When you read it,

do you see words or do you see Him?

–Jacquelyn K. Heasley

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The Eastern-Rite Catholic Church:

Note: There are several distinct Eastern Catholic Church rites. The history of the Melkite Church is interesting. There is a Melkite Greek-Catholic Eparchy in Canada although its web site only lists the parishes:www.melkite.com/diocese.html

For some good links to worldwide Melkite religious life, see the web page for Sts. Peter and Paul parish, Toronto:

www.melkite.com

A very good overview of the history of the Melkite Catholics along with all the churches of the Near East can be found on the web site of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association - “a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support.” Also, it is an excellent source of information about the life of the various Christian communities in the troubled lands of the Near East where the story of our faith originates:

www.cnewa.ca (Eastern Churches tag)

The Greek Tradition: Koine or common Greek and the New Testament

In our last edition, we featured the Septuagint {Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures}, and we noted how Greek became the lingua franca of the entire Near East in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.).

Modern scholarship has shown that it was around this period that “common Greek” became dominant in the Near East as compared to the classical Greek we associate with Greek philosophy and tragedy and poetry (mostly in the Attic dialect). It is interesting to note that because of Greek colonization in the western Mediterranean, common Greek was known in the West and used as the vernacular speech even by the educated classes in Rome. All of the New Testament is written in this tongue, according to the Providence of God. We might say that the fresh and dynamic message of the Hebrew Messiah spread through the vast and unified Roman Empire by means of the flexible and precise Greek Language. And so Pilate had a title written “in Hebrew, in Latin,

in Greek” tacked on the wooden gibbet of the LORD of lords:

“Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews” {St. John 19:20}

My Jesus! Loaded with contempt, nail my heart to your feet, so it may ever remain there, to love you, and never leave you again. (Stations of the Cross 11, St. Alphonsus)

Proto-Greek writing, ca. 3000 – 1600 B.C.

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Scripture in the Christian LifeDaily reading of the Bible in concert with the use of a sound daily devotional book is a good practice. If one is able to be present at daily Mass to hear the Church appointed readings of the day, all the better. One main reason for using a daily devotional is to help sustain and improve a person’s relationship with God. Pope Benedict XVI in an address to the Roman Curia emphasized this point in reference to Bible reading:

We see once more the grandeur of something which we take too much for granted in our daily lives: the fact that God speaks, that God answers our questions; the fact that, with human words, he speaks to us personally. We can listen to him; hear him, come to know him and understand him. We can also realize that he can enter our life and shape it, and that we can emerge from our own lives to enter into the immensity of his mercy. Thus, we realized once again that, in his Word, God is speaking to each one of us; that he speaks to the heart of everyone: if our hearts are alert, and our inner ears are open, we can learn to listen to the word he personally addresses to each of us.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) says: “Anyone who thirsts for God eagerly studies and meditates on the inspired Word, knowing that there he is certain to find the one for whom he thirsts”. {Painting of St. Bernard writing one of his Bible commentaries}

Burt Visotzky, a professor of Midrash and interreligious studies writes, “It is only in the reading and the rereading which each community does together that the Bible becomes a timeless text, the Word of God… The give and take of interpretation creates an extra voice in the room, the sound of Reading the Book. When that happens, the Bible speaks not only to each community of readers, be they Jewish, Christian or any other flavor, but to all humanity.

Burton Wisotzky, Reading the Bible: Making the Bible a Timeless Text (New York: Schocken Books, 1991), 4

A Book of Hours (ca. 1410 A.D.) depicting the Annunciation for Matins: “O Lord, open Thou my lips; And my mouth shall pour forth Thy praise.”

As an example of a fine devotional see The Word Among Us: www.wau.org

There are also seasonal devotionals, usually featuring reflections on Scripture by noted writers/scholars: For example, see Daily Reflections for LENT with Bishop Robert Morneau.

www.litpress.org

“The BIBLE gives me a deep, comforting sense that ‘things seen are temporal, and things unseen are eternal’”.

Helen Keller

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The Madaba Map was discovered in Jordan in 1896. It is part of the floor mosaic of the 6th century Byzantine Church of St. George – the oldest detailed cartographic document in the world. Over two million mosaic stones map out the biblical world from Egypt to Lebanon; the section depicting Jerusalem (above) is well-preserved.

The Jerusalem Cross is rich in symbolism and meaning. The most common interpretations are: the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with Christ in the center Christianity (central cross); Christ’s command to spread the Gospel around the world, a mission that started in Jerusalem; five crosses representing the five wounds of Jesus on the cross (small crosses for the hands and feet, and the large central cross for the spear wound in His side; the cross has always been a cosmic symbol of the number four referring to the four cardinal points and to the infinite, representing the cosmic presence of the Divine Power.

The Word of God and the Holy Land“The Holy Land today remains a goal of pilgrimage for the Christian people, a place of prayer and penance, as was testified to in antiquity by authors like St. Jerome. The more we turn our eyes and our hearts to the earthly Jerusalem, the more will our yearning be kindled for the heavenly Jerusalem, the true goal of every pilgrimage... .” (paragraph 89, Verbum Domini)

2012 Fall Programs

October 02 An Ecological Perspective for Contemporary Biblical SpiritualitySr. Noreen Allossery-Walsh, OSU 7:00 – 9:30 pm

October 17-26 Celebrate “The Year of Faith” pilgrimage through the “Heart of Italy”

Discover the history, architecture, cathedrals, art (Michelangelo, Giotto and Raphael) and delicious Italian cuisine. Many of Catholicism’s best known shrines and personalities come alive as you walk in the footsteps of Peter and Paul, the native Italians, Saints Anthony of Padua, Clare and Francis of Assisi. An experience that will transform your life and deepen your faith!

Nov 22-Dec 01 Holy Land: In the Footsteps of Jesus, Mary and Apostles

In his book, The Land and the Book, William Thomson wrote that the Holy Land “has had an all-pervading influence upon the costume and character of the Bible… Let us deal reverently with it; walk softly over those acres once trodden by the feet of patriarchs, prophets and most of all, by the Son of God himself. .. There is design in this grouping of mountains and plains, hills and valleys, lakes and rivers, the desert and the sea… These things were not the result of blind chance for we see in them the supernatural and the divine.”

For further information and to register, please call 905-272-3374

CONTACT INFORMATION

Catholic Biblical Association of Canada5650 Mavis Road. Mississauga, ON L5V 2N6Tel: 905 568 4393

E-mail: catholicbiblicalcanada@gmail.com

Web: www.catholicbiblical.ca/

The Real Beatitudes

When we return to the original Semitic terms underlying the Greek version of Jesus’ eight beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew [5:3-10] we have an invitation to stand up, to arise and walk forth, no matter what pain and trouble may appear to lie on the road ahead. “Walk forth” restores the text’s original dynamic quality and a call to action.

Yeshua is not saying, “Blessed are you, unhappy victims, be happy in your martyrdom.” He is

saying “Do not let yourself be stopped by persecution, slander, and all sorts of violence. Use these as a challenge and opportunity for growing in consciousness and love. Discover within yourself the same patience (passion) I have found when faced by my adversaries. This is truly your opportunity to live the greatest of exercises, which is love of one’s enemies.” You will then discover within yourself that “terrifying force of humble love,” which is able to “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Thus you continue to teach your enemies not only with your words, but with your acts. Walk forth, and announce the gospel of the Kingdom... You will live no more in the thrall of the empire of your past, your unconscious, or your social surroundings. Your acts will be determined by the most intimate part of your being, that place where nothing is forced, where it is Spirit that inspires you...

1. Walk forth, you in whom your spirit is held back and restrained by emotions and by fear!

2. Walk forth, you gentle and humble ones, for your gentleness is your strength!

“The earth resists those who are violent, and offers herself to those who respect her. To act more gently is not to act more feebly or slowly, it is to act with more consciousness and love.”

3. Walk forth, you who mourn, for you shall be consoled!

“To mourn authentically is to accept that what is past is past, an indispensable condition for going further. This does not mean we should refrain from tears or other emotions, but that we are not to indulge in them. It means to pass through them, walking forth toward a higher serenity and more sensitive maturity.”

4. Walk forth, those who starve and thirst for justice! Yes, they shall be satisfied!

“Thus those who hunger and thirst must not remain static, for they are on a quest; and the quest for justice, which is also holiness, can never be final. Yet this does not imply some perpetual dissatisfaction, but the knowledge that the perfectibility of humanity and of the world is infinite, an undertaking that can have no final conclusion.”

5. Walk forth, the pure of heart! Yes, you shall see Elohim!

“To see the Other, our vision must be emptied of presuppositions and judgments. Hence in order to see God, it is even more imperative that we embark on a long walk – of distancing ourselves from our projections, even the most seductively beautiful - that we often take for spiritual experience, even for an experience of God. But these have nothing to do with the divine Reality, for they are still much too bound up without ego and its infantile dreams of omnipotence.”

6. Walk forth, merciful ones! You shall receive mercy!

“Happy are those who are able to remain sensitive to the misery and suffering of others... And we can never have a heart too pure and sensitive for the challenge of seeing another’s true potential, for both forgiving everything and demanding everything of another.”

7. Walk forth, peacemakers! Yes, you shall be acclaimed sons and daughters of Elohim!

“Peace is the fruit of an artisan’s work. It is the slowest and most patient way of walking.... Yeshua’s earthly father was an artisan who taught him how to plane and polish the most difficult woods. This is not unrelated to the patience and love that the Teacher needed in order to plane and polish souls so that they can reveal their beauty, thereby adapting better to other souls and fulfilling their own true service.”

8. Walk forth, those persecuted for justice’s sake! Yes, the kingdom of heaven is theirs! Walk forth, when they insult and persecute you, accusing you of all sorts of crimes because of me. Be in joy and lightness, because your reward is great in heaven. Indeed, this is how the prophets who came before you were persecuted.

Translation of the beatitudes: La Bible by Andre’ Chouraqui Desclee de Brouwer, 1989)

Walk forth and announce the good news of knowledge and teachings that will be needed for this transformation in which human beings can finally begin to become fully human. Keep on walking on this road, where you become both more human and more divine. May each day bring you a little less under the sway of fears, inhibitions, and lies that are certainly the heritage of your individual and collective past, yet in which (consciously and unconsciously) you still indulge in the present. And may each day bring you more and more surrender to freedom and love. For these are fruits of your most beautiful dreams and of the purest desire that you can experience in the present.

Leloup, Jean-Yeves, “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene”, English translation 2002, Inner Traditions