The cover of Credere on newsstands on November 28, 2024 (top photo: iStock)
Dear reader friends, in this week’s issue of Credere (which you can purchase in digital version on EdicolaSanPaolo.it) let’s talk to you about Sobicain, the International Catholic Bible Society desired by the blessed Don Giacomo Alberione and reached one hundred years of life. A reality at the service of the diffusion of the Bible, which invites us to reflect on the space that the “Book of books” has in our lives as believers.
In fact, the Bible is a timeless best-seller, almost everyone owns one…. often relegated, however, to gathering dust on a shelf. An almost symbolic positioning, which speaks of our difficulty in personally relating to the sacred Book par excellence.
A dear friend – the contrast always strikes me – keeps it open, on the table near the entrance, on a beautiful lectern, with a cross and a candle in front. A sign of the honor he reserves for her and of the space he gives to her daily reading. Of course, history didn’t help us. Catholics were “deprived” of the Bible for centuries, until the Second Vatican Council: the “free examination” promoted by the Protestants was feared and so it was a “forbidden” book, what little was heard in the Mass was in Latin.
As a biblical scholar friend confided to me, until a few decades ago we studied biblical commentaries, almost all of them by Protestant scholars: they were the “masters of the Word”. A centuries-old delay that still weighs on individuals and groups. For many, the only gateway to the Bible remains the Mass or the “famous” preacher, who perhaps arouses enthusiasm but does little to stimulate personal reading.
In other cultures, however, different ecclesial habits have developed. He told me a young African priest that for him his first approach to the Bible took place at home: it was his mother who told him passages from the Gospel and explained them to him in a simple way.
And where does the first contact take place? In my experience, As a boy, a Pauline priest and shared reading in a youth parish group were fundamental guided by him: he urged us with questions and provocations, so as to “imbue” the Word heard in life. Often, in the personal approach to the Bible, the first concern is “understanding”: right, legitimate, but this risks worrying us too much and blocking us.
There is no shortage of accessible comments for initial understanding. But first of all we need to put ourselves in a climate of prayer and listening, taking some time. It’s important too listen to our reactions to the Word: “situate ourselves” in the passage we are meditating on, become aware of our reactions (resistance, fear, consolation…), letting the Word “read” us and dig into us (Hebrews 4,1213). Above all «we must read this book of books with all human means. But through the fragile Bible God comes to meet us as the Risen One…The words hit us like words that come to us from the person of Jesus and therefore become burning” (D. Bonhoeffer).
An “immersive” reading through art also helps us, which returns to Credere with the column “God in the details”, signed by Pietro Pisarra, which we welcome: a spiritual approach that stimulates the heart and mind with the beauty of the great masters. A warm thank you also goes to Don Carlo Cibien who in this past year accompanied us to discover the riches of the liturgy. May the beginning of this Advent season put us in the attitude of the Virgin Mary, “model” of those who “prepare themselves to meet the Savior who comes” (Paul VI), keeping and meditating – with her and like her – the words of God in our hearts (Luke 2.19).
