I posted to an online
community an encouragement to fellow Christians – Catholics and Protestants
alike – to stir them to consider memorizing portions of God’s word. You can
find it here: http://bit.ly/2qmXIkE
It was not at all my intent to cause offense or to make anyone feel
guilty about how they approach Scripture memory.
A short time later I received
a reply from a fellow Catholic who wrote: “I don't see the point of
memorization. In my life experience it's been more helpful for me to pray over
bible passages and having Our Lord enlighten me.”
I thought perhaps she might
have misunderstood my point. I do not negate the value of praying over Bible
passages. In fact, in one of the books I wrote, “Prayer Strategies: A Series of
Helps,” I devote an entire ‘prayer strategy’ to praying the scriptures.
But she did not misunderstand
my point. In a follow-on comment she added: “Don't waste your time in trying to
change my mind, because you won't. As a Roman Catholic I prefer our devotions
and traditions and I'll go with praying scripture over memorizing scripture any
day.”
I will not try to change her
mind. But because she invoked her Roman Catholic faith as an excuse for not
bothering to memorize Scripture, I thought that as a Roman Catholic myself, I
ought to respond to her very un-Catholic view of Scripture. Indeed, it was the
very Catholic St. Jerome who warned his fellow Catholics: Ignorance of
Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
My goal in this specific response is to provide some background
regarding how Catholics in the past have treated the idea of Scripture memory.
The Roman Catholic Church
traces our origin to the apostles and the apostolic age. So, let’s first look
at what those first century men and women said about Scripture – and by
implication, memorization.
In her Magnificat (Luke
1:46-55) the Blessed Virgin Mary from memory quoted or alluded to at least six
Old Testament texts (1 Samuel 2:1-10, Psalm 34:2, Psalm 35:9, Psalm 98:1, Psalm
103:17, Psalm 107:9). (What Catholic does not want to follow our Mother’s love
for Scripture and Scripture memory?).
In the Wilderness Temptation
(Matthew 4 and Luke 4) Jesus responded to each of the devil’s lies with a quote
from Old Testament Scripture. (And it is hardly necessary to remind ourselves
that Jesus is our example ‘par excellence’ in whose steps we should follow (1
Peter 2:21).
Before his martyrdom, St.
Stephen (Acts 7) extensively quoted and alluded to multiple Old Testament texts
from memory. St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae: 3:16 “Let the word
of Christ richly DWELL WITHIN YOU (my emphasis), with all wisdom teaching and
admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.” And in which of the New Testament epistles
did any of the apostles not quote from memory passages from the Old Testament?
As Roman Catholics, we are
taught by the Church to revere Scripture. In his encyclical, Dei Verbum (The
Word of God) Pope Paul VI wrote: “The Church has always venerated the divine
Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord . . . [T]he force and
power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy
of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the
pure and everlasting source of spiritual life. . . .”
And from the Catechism of the
Catholic Church: 104 “In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her
nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word,
"but as what it really is, the word of God". "In the sacred
books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and
talks with them."
And again: 133 The Church
"forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to
learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the
divine Scriptures.” And surely one can imply from these three Roman Catholic
documents, memorization is an acceptable form of learning ‘the surpassing
knowledge of Jesus Christ.’
Regarding Old Testament Scriptures,
the Catechism teaches: 121 “The Old Testament is an indispensable part of
Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value,
for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.”
What then does the Old
Testament tell us of the importance of memorizing Scripture? For example,
Proverbs 7: “My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.
Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind
them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.”
Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I
hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” And while we are looking
at Psalm 119, can anyone read those 176 verses and come away not sensing the
value the Holy Spirit places on reading, meditating, obeying, and hiding His
word in our hearts?
I can list hundreds of other
examples of the Holy Spirit’s injunction to His faithful to know God’s word,
but here is just one more: Deuteronomy 6:
4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD
is our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am
commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently
to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you
walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind
them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
Is it of value for Catholics
and other Christians to memorize and pray the scriptures? Of the life and work
of St. Benedict we find this: “Benedict instructed his followers to practice
sacred reading -- the study of the very Scriptures they would be praying in the
Work of God. In this lectio divina, he and his monks memorized the Scripture,
studied it, and contemplated it until it became part of their being. Four to
six hours were set aside each day for this sacred reading. If monks had free
time it "should be used by the brothers to practice psalms." Lessons
from Scripture were to be spoken from memory, not read from a book.” (Citation
available on request)
St. Dominic, founder of the
Dominicans, was a great proponent of Scripture memory, as was St. Therese of
Liseaux and many other Catholic saints of past centuries.
If an individual Christian
chooses to not memorize Scripture, that is certainly his or her decision. But
to claim avoidance of that opportunity on the basis of being a Roman Catholic –
well, there is simply no justification for that attitude in the historic
teaching of the Catholic Church.
2 comments:
Here's the most basic argument for me as a Roman Catholic to memorize Sacred Scripture - at least some passages of it: Jesus and the Apostles were good, devout Jewish boys from very devout families. From the age of six, if I'm not mistaken, they went to the local synagogue to study the Old Testament scriptures. In those days, the boys were expected to memorize those texts. Jesus set the example.
Jewish girls also had to learn the Old Testament by heart, too, as we see in Our Lady's example of the Magnificat. Of course, all Jews attending the synagogues participated in prayer from memory because the printing press hadn't been invented yet, and it is unlikely that families could afford copies of the sacred books for their own use.
If any part of this is incorrect, I am open to correction. In any case, since I've been attending Mass since the age of 2 and am over seventy, a lot of Sacred Scripture is burned into my brain and I'm grateful for it. I don't know if I will memorize entire books of the Bible, but I surely will continue to meditate on God's Word daily, and base my actions on it as much as possible given my sinful nature.
Barb, you are not incorrect. Scripture study and memorization was a NORMAL experience and expectation of Jews. Dates to Deuteronomy 6 -- the 'Sh'ma" - Hear Oh, Israel . . . .
My point, really, in all this was not at all to make people feel guilty -- I think from the pushback I've received from a number of people, my comments have been interpreted that way . . . my only goal was to get people to think of the value of not only READING scripture, but memorizing portions of it is not a bad idea, either.
Certainly, though, meditating on scripture is great. Been practiced by hundreds (if not thousand) of faithful Christians (and Jews before us). And if that in and of itself is ALL God's people do, then the Church will have a revival.
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