Continuing with his cycle of catechesis on “The Spirit and the bride,” Pope Francis reflected in the General Audience this Wednesday, June 12, on the Scripture “inspired by God.”
Below is the complete catechesis of the Holy Father:
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
We continue our catechesis on the Holy Spirit who guides the Church towards Christ, our hope. He is the guide. Last time we contemplated the work of the Spirit in creation; Today we see it in revelation, of which the Holy Scripture is an authorized and inspired testimony by God.
In Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, there is this statement: “ All Scripture is inspired by God” (3:16). And another passage from the New Testament says: “ men moved by the Holy Spirit have spoken on behalf of God ” ( 2 Pet 1:21). This is the doctrine of the divine inspiration of Scripture, which we proclaim as an article of faith in the “Creed,” when we say that the Holy Spirit “spoke through the prophets.” The divine inspiration of the Bible.
The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, is also the one who explains them and makes them eternally alive and active. From inspiration, he makes them inspiring. The Holy Scriptures, inspired by God, says the Second Vatican Council, immutably communicate the word of God himself and make the voice of the Holy Spirit resonate in the words of the Prophets and Apostles (n. 21). In this way, the Holy Spirit continues, in the Church, the action of the Risen Lord who, after Easter, “opened the minds of the disciples so that they could understand the Scriptures” (cf. Luke 24:45).
A certain passage of Scripture, which we have read many times without any particular emotion, one day we read it in an atmosphere of faith and prayer and, suddenly, that text may illuminate, speak to us, shed light on a problem we are experiencing, clarify God’s will for us in a given situation. To what is this change due, if not to an illumination of the Holy Spirit? The words of Scripture, under the action of the Spirit, become luminous; and in those cases, we touch with our own hands how true the statement of the Letter to the Hebrews is: “ … the word of God is living and effective, sharper than a double-edged sword, (4:12).
Brothers and sisters, the Church is nourished by the spiritual reading of the Holy Scripture, that is, by the reading carried out under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who inspired it. At its centre, like a beacon that illuminates everything, is the event of the death and resurrection of Christ, who fulfils the plan of salvation, fulfils all the figures and prophecies, reveals all the hidden mysteries and offers the true key to reading the whole Bible. The death and resurrection of Christ is the beacon that illuminates the entire Bible, it also illuminates our lives.
The Apocalypse describes all this with the image of the Lamb breaking the seals of the book “written on the front and back, sealed with seven seals” (cf. 5:1-9), the Scripture of the Old Testament. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is the authorized interpreter of the text of inspired Scripture, the mediator of its authentic proclamation. Since the Church is endowed with the Holy Spirit, therefore, she is an inspirer and interpreter, she is “the column and foundation of the truth” ( 1 Tim 3:15). Because? Because she is inspired and maintained firmly by the Holy Spirit.
The Church must help the faithful and those who seek the truth to correctly interpret the biblical texts. One way to perform the spiritual reading of the Word of God is the practice of lectio divina. A word that we may not understand what it means. It consists of dedicating a moment of the day to the personal and thoughtful reading of a passage of Scripture. This is very important. Every day, take time to listen, and another time to meditate, reading a passage of Scripture. And for this reason, I ask you, to always have a pocket Gospel and carry it in your bag, in your pockets. And so when you are travelling, or a little free, you pick it up and read something. This is very important for life. Get a pocket Gospel and read it during the day. Once, twice, when it happens.
But the spiritual reading of the Scriptures par excellence is the communal reading that takes place in the Liturgy and, in particular, in the Holy Mass. There we see how an event or a teaching, given in the Old Testament, finds its full realization in the Gospel of Christ. The homily, the comment made by the celebrant, should help translate the Word of God from the book to life. For this reason, the homily should be brief. An image, a thought and a feeling. The homily should not last more than 8 minutes, because after that time attention is lost, and people fall asleep, and stay asleep, rightly so. A homily should be like this, and I want to say this to the priests who talk so much, so many times, and it is not understood what they are talking about. Short Homily; a thought, a feeling, and a thing of action, of how to do. No more than 8 minutes. Because the homily should help translate the Word of God from the book to life.
Among the many words of God that we hear every day at Mass or in the Liturgy of the Hours, there is always one that is intended especially for us, something that touches the heart. If we welcome it into our hearts, it can illuminate our day and encourage our prayer. It’s about not letting it fall on deaf ears.
Let’s conclude with a thought that can help us fall in love with the Word of God. Like some pieces of music, the Holy Scripture also has an underlying note that accompanies it from beginning to end, and this note is the love of God. The entire Bible, Saint Augustine observes, “does nothing but narrate the love of God.” Saint Gregory the Great defines Scripture as ‘a letter from Almighty God to his creature’, as a letter from the Husband to his wife, and exhorts us to “learn to know the heart of God in the words of God.” “By this revelation – says the Second Vatican Council – the invisible God, … speaks to men as friends, moved by his great love and dwells with them, to invite them to communicate with himself and receive them into his company” ( Dei Verbum, 2).
Dear brothers and sisters, go ahead with reading the Bible. And don’t forget, the pocket Gospel, carry it in your bag, in your pockets, and at any time of the day read a passage. And this will make you very close to the Holy Spirit, who is in the Word of God.
May the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures and now flows from them, help us capture this love of God in the concrete situations of our lives. Thank you.