I recently came across an old woman begging at the roadside in the intense Manila afternoon heat. I was struck because she was not trying to make eye contact with the people passing by, as beggars usually do. Her money jar was set out in front of her, but she was focused on the Bible lying open on her lap. Her lips moved inaudibly as she read the Word of God.
I haven’t seen many pray with as much intensity and focus, and in such a dire situation, as this woman. I was edified greatly by her example. She reminded me how to be in touch with the love of God through His words in all conditions.
Would we still pay attention to God’s words if we were in her situation? Would we still spend time reading Scripture if we found ourselves poor, old, homeless, sick, needy, hungry, neglected, ignored, etc.? Don’t we already make endless excuses for not spending regular quality time with the Bible? This woman’s example challenges us to examine our priorities and attitudes towards the Word of God.
We should faithfully read and meditate on God’s words to better understand His mysterious love for each one of us in all the conditions and experiences of our daily lives. By diving into His Word, we begin to grasp the following aspects of His love for us through the scriptures.
God’s love is unconditional
Our darkness does not prevent the light of God’s love from breaking into our lives, for “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.” The Bible is God’s love letter to us, detailing how He lovingly breaks into human misery to gather a sinful and broken people to Himself. This message of God’s love for us, from Genesis to Revelation, climaxes in the saving death of Jesus on the cross, His resurrection, and His institution of the Church. And Christ is still breaking into our darkness with words of light and strength today.
When we do not believe and hold onto this story of God’s love for us in the scriptures, we do not see ourselves as unconditionally loved and wanted. We do not see ourselves as God sees us—as His beloved children. We allow our conditions and experiences in life to define who we are. Not knowing His love for us, we will define ourselves by our accomplishments, performance, wealth, and public opinion. This is how we easily lose hope and become frustrated.
God’s love calls us to repent
We are loved and accepted by God, and that perfect love calls us to repent of our sins and turn back to Him. The first words of Jesus are a call to conversion: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When we spend time reading the Word, we realize that we are both loved and in need of ongoing repentance. God gives us this grace for repentance when we listen to His words in the Bible. The nearness of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of grace, demands constant repentance on our part.
Without reading Scripture and taking His words to heart, we will never know how sinful we are, nor how far we have fallen from God’s standards. We think that we are “good enough.” We deceive ourselves about our true spiritual condition. We do not grasp the gravity of our sins and how badly we need a Savior. We compare ourselves to others and think that we are not as bad as they are. Lack of Scripture reading makes us complacent and presumptuous. We become experts in hiding our sins and pretending we are holy. This explains all the many doctrinal and moral scandals we have in the Church today.
God’s love calls us to discipleship
God’s love also demands that we let go of certain things for the sake of following Christ more closely. Jesus invited the disciples to abandon their jobs, families, nets, boats, and occupations to follow Him. In the midst of their work day, He called them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt. 4:12-23). They left everything and followed Him because there is great power in the words of Jesus. The power of these words overcame all their fears and insecurities.
When we do not read the Word of God, we miss out on the power of His words for faithful discipleship. His words empower us to leave everything to follow Him and to endure all things for His sake. When we do not have His Word in our hearts, we cannot sense the many ways in which Jesus is inviting us daily to detach ourselves from things that are good and legitimate in themselves for the sake of following Him more faithfully. When we fail to follow Jesus more closely, we grow weaker in resisting the temptations of the devil and the world, and we become more confused.
God’s love offers the peace of Christ
The Church in Corinth was divided because they lacked conviction in who Jesus is and what He had done for them. So, they gave their allegiance to the human apostles instead and put Christ aside. St. Paul lamented this attitude, writing, “I mean that each of you is saying, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?” (1 Cor. 1:12-13).
We have divided hearts and divided communities when we are ignorant of who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and why we are to give Him all our allegiance. We have deep inner peace, and share that peace with others, only by hearing the Word of God, believing it, and acting on it by His grace.
God’s love nourishes us
The Word of God is a love letter that invites us into greater communion with Him in the Eucharist. This is why Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-41). The Word points to the person of Jesus Christ as the culmination of all prophecies, as the fullness of life. The Word itself is not enough without this life-giving communion with Christ.
The more that we read the Word of God, the more that we nourish our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and the more that we long for this sacramental communion with Him. Divine Love wants to feed us, not only with His Word, but with His own sacred Body and Blood. Our faith cannot stop with the Word of God but must seek communion with the Eternal Word in the Eucharist.
This is why many erroneously see the Eucharist as an empty ritual. We are not spending adequate time with the Word of God before and after Mass. We do not allow the Word to inflame our hearts with deep hunger for Jesus, like the disciples on the way to Emmaus who said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the scriptures” (Lk. 24:12). We will experience the power of the Eucharist in our lives only when we also allow the words of Jesus to impact us and affect our actions and our thoughts deeply.
A pastor once said that he promised God, “No Bible, no breakfast,” meaning that he never ate breakfast without first spending time with the Word of God daily. He gave priority to Scripture above all other things. He said that his fidelity to this promise transformed his spiritual life completely, filling Him with love for God and His people and making him zealous in his ministry.
Let us also pray today for the grace to make a similar solid and practical commitment to read, believe, and practice what is found in the Bible every day. This is how we will come to grasp the amazing mystery of God’s love for us.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
