Story Hour With God
by Pat Gohn in Faith on Friday, November 27, 2009 6:00 AM
(Hello Faith & Family Live Readers! In 11 brief articles, we’ve covered the first 100 paragraphs chronologically of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. On to the next 100!)
When my children were little, one of our favorite stops was weekly “story hour” at the public library. Our charming librarian was always full of fun, and our little circle of parents and tots thrilled to witness what surprising new prop or costume she would bring for story time. Our rapt attention hungered for the storyteller’s every word.
With all due respect to the ecclesial authorities that composed the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I think of “story time” every time I read CCC 104, echoing Dei Verbum, from Vatican II:
In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.
God the Father, in his goodness, chose human language as the means of communication between himself and us. He chose to reveal himself to us in a way we could best receive him. No earth-quaking sonic booms, or wizardly sha-zams, or alien gibberish from an unintelligible galaxy. No, the God who IS… Spoke. To. Us.
The Bible is, as Dei Verbum explains, “the words of God in the words of men.” (But God didn’t stop there, he came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, “when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness” and became like us. See CCC 101.)
CCC 102:
Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely …
Christ is the unique Word of Scripture; the heavenly Father’s final word on the subject of how much he loves us. The truth of the matter is that God not only spoke to us once upon a time… he is speaking to us today.
Catholics perform a particular gesture at Sunday Mass that illustrates this profound reality of God’s Word among us.
As the bishop, priest, or deacon approaches the ambo (the pulpit) to read the Gospel, the faithful assembly stands for its proclamation. The priest who ministers is also standing in the place of Christ and delivering that word to nourish and strengthen the listeners.
This standing posture heightens our awareness and our reverence for Christ. We make ourselves present to Christ, as He is present in the Word and in his minister.
CCC 103:
For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God’s Word and Christ’s Body.
At Mass, we not only come to “receive communion”, but we are also meant to receive the Word. Mass is both a liturgy of the Word, and of the Eucharist. Both require the congregation to actively receive.
Active hearers or receivers of the liturgy of the Word take in all that God reveals to us corporately as a Church, and as individuals. (Have you ever heard a reading at Mass thinking it was written just for you? It was!)
“Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Despite critics accusing Catholics as not being “into” the Bible, faithful Catholic practice at Mass is exactly contrary.
In a cross-referenced text, CCC 1101 explains:
The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to those who read or hear it, according to the dispositions of their hearts. By means of the words, actions, and symbols that form the structure of a celebration [of Mass], the Spirit puts both the faithful and the ministers into a living relationship with Christ, the Word and Image of the Father, so that they can live out the meaning of what they hear, contemplate, and do in the celebration.
This Word of God is relational. “Spiritual understanding” is directly proportional to the disposition of heart. In short, a relationship with Christ unlocks the riches of the Father’s love.
As we grow in our identity as Children of God, we’ll understand Scripture as God’s love story about us. And it will become a delightful meeting place. We’ll listen when He talks. Hanging on every word.
Want to read more?
CCC 426:
At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father ... “Catechesis aims at putting “people . . . in communion . . . with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity.” [As quoted in Catechesi Tradendae, 5.]
—Pat Gohn is a wife & mother celebrating 27 years of Catholic family life. Her Catholic writing, podcasting, and ministry life are found at PatGohn.com.
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