To My Fellow Catholics

 To my fellow Catholics (and if you’re Protestant, this applies as well):

 I read this morning from the fourth chapter of Matthew. It’s a familiar text, so I ask you to fight the urge to skim it below. I have a reason for asking that.

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

 “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

 Here is why I asked you to read the entire passage: When some people ask how much of the Bible is read after going through the cycles of daily and Sunday Mass, the answer surprises most Catholics:

• 13.5 percent of the Old Testament (not counting the Psalms)
• 54.9 percent of the non-Gospel New Testament
• 89.8 percent of the Gospels
• 71.5 percent of the entire New Testament

(Source: https://www.catholic.com/qa/percentage-of-the-bible-in-the-lectionary )

 

Look again at those percentages: Catholics who attend daily AND Sunday Mass will only hear 13% of the Old Testament, and only 72% of the entire New Testament!

 

(Protestants receive a far worse anemic diet of Scripture if they only hear God’s word once a week on Sundays).

 

Who would expect to be proficient in any academic field by reading only sentences and paragraphs here and there without studying the CONTEXT of those sentences and paragraphs?

 

And yet, that is precisely what an overwhelming majority of Catholics and Protestants do who do not have a personal program of reading the Bible. To depend only on hearing the Scriptures during church – even if they attend DAILY Mass – is to rob themselves of the riches and the guidance and the encouragement and the exhortation and the chastening of God’s word read in CONTEXT.

It was for good reason the Lord Jesus responded to the devil by quoting from Moses: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

Nor should we remain unaware of Satan’s knowledge of the Bible. He used it when he tempted Jesus: “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

But when the Father of Lies quotes the Bible, you can be certain he quotes a sentence here, a paragraph there, totally out of context with the rest of Scripture. That’s how he confuses the biblically illiterate because they do not know what the WHOLE Bible teaches.

We should not be surprised to learn that the groups knocking on our doors get most of their converts from church pew-sitters who content themselves with pieces of Scripture here and there, and who do not take the requisite time to personally study the whole of God’s word.

 

Christmas, the celebration of God’s gift to humanity, is at the door. I urge you, give to God this gift – that you will set yourself to read His word every day, even if it is only a chapter. You can find numerous annual Bible reading plans on the internet. Simply type into the search engine: Yearly Bible Reading Plans.  Or, you can try mine: https://thecontemplativecatholicconvert.blogspot.com/2016/09/bible-reading-plan-revised-sept-2016.html

 

For good reason God moved the Psalmist to write: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”