A little library of thoughts...

This morning during class, I had another instance of a thought that comes into my head from time to time. Fr. Dunne was working through one of my favorites lectures of his so far on the vulnerable-izing of the heart that occurs when you let another in, and he was working through the reintegration of the heart after that vulnerability ends in the loss or death of the other.

He pointed to the story of Solomon, which he told us from memory is found is 1 Kings 3. God asks Solomon what Solomon wants from God, and Solomon asks for an "understanding heart". Because of his humility, God gives him the wisdom of heart he requests and also the other more superficial things he resisted the temptation to ask for. This story fit our day's lecture beautifully, and I enjoyed the simplicity and centeredness of Solomon's reply.

As I soaked in the relevance of the story to myself and what we were discussing, I thought, why don't we trace back to these OT stories more often? We already have a tendency as Catholics to leave the Scripture for the first half of mass, and even then, we tend to focus on the epistle and Gospel (at least in my experience).

I would like a greater biblical literacy, especially in the OT, and I had the recurring thought to start reading the Bible cover-to-cover. I've come across a few people who have tried it, and I admire their efforts.

It'd be long and arduous but could be super-rewarding. As usual when this thought comes in, I considered it but nixed it, knowing I'd get into routine, rote reading and drag my feet. I haven't abandoned the idea, but I feel like I'd underappreciate it. (still gonna think about it because maybe I just need to do it and let it be whatever it is...)

Either way, I wish I had better OT knowledge. I wish I had taken OT here at Notre Dame; I wish theology required both scripture courses instead of one or the other. I wish I knew more stories intimately than the few like Solomon's prayer, the call of Samuel, and the small voice of God to Elijah in the mountainside. These stories open up a different perspective of God from the ancient Israelite perspective that can be so illuminative and supplements the bloc of NT stories (which are probably too few in quantity and quality in my conscience as well).

An interesting point popped out at me from Commonweal magazine after I sat down to read after class. A review of a comic-book form of Genesis opened with a striking conversation on the Bible that tangented from my thoughts during class:

"Despite our increasing unfamiliarity with its content, the Bible is constantly being punted between righty and lefty ideologues, atheists and believers, creationists and those who understand Genesis (for starts) as didactic fiction. What we think the Bible says is not half as important to us as what we judge others to think it says."

As the place of the Bible in public education is argued and secular interpretations of the Bible or even de-faith-ed historical-critical methods rise, so often the commentary of the Bible is directed to others and to what it is not.

I hope to stem my shortcomings in contributing to that. I am working with some guys in my dorm to solidify a weekly Bible-study/faith-sharing "Emmaus" group. I am loving my work on the Gospel of Luke and the idea of the Kingdom of God in Jesus' preaching/Luke's account of it. I am digging into the Apocalypse of John next semester in a grad-school-level class.

However, I know I have to get beyond just classroom stuff and keep bringing the Bible with me in life. Stuff like Emmaus is a good start; grounding liturgy planning on the readings keeps it going. Catholics must work to stay close to the two legs of the Church's teaching: Tradition and Scripture.

PS: This is the 50th post in just over a year of keeping this blog. Thank you so much to all of you who read and share the posts others. I thank God and all of you for being with me as I post these reflections.