“Merciful Father, as you have sent the Holy Spirit on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to write all that You wished and wanted, we pray You, send the same Holy Spirit on us, so that we may understand, appreciate Your Word, and make it our plan of life. This we ask for the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
What is the Bible? When we pray, we will be talking, holding conversation with God, not in the sense that we will necessarily hear His voice…but we do feel inside us His voice and His message. So, that is ‘praying’.
When we read the Bible, listen to it being read, meditating on a verse, listening to an Homily, pray the Psalms, listening attentively to the Reading at Mass, especially the Gospel…all these activities, and others, mean that God is talking to us, through His Word. This was expressed in Psalm 119: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my path.”
How, can the Bible be a ‘light’ for our path, for our life? So that the Word of God might be the ‘light’ to guide our path, our life, we have to understand what God is telling us, accept it and ‘apply’ it. Application is of the utmost importance as we can see from the Isaiah’s words 42, 23: “Who is there among that gives ear to this, that will attend and hearken for times to come?” St.Paul seems to repeat the same thought when addressing the Thessalonians: “We sincerely hope , in the Lord, that you are following, and keep doing, what we have instructed you.”
Now, applying the Word of God does not mean, simply, knowing facts and figures, from the Bible. There lies the danger of falling into the trap of many: who know much, and many facts about Jesus Christ, they might even write volumes about Him, yet, they do not know Jesus personally. The ‘facts and figures’ have not changed their life.
Applying the Bible to our life style means; knowing the facts, knowing and believing that in the Word of God is found the Truth, and only Truth, it is relevant for all times and ages, we focus on the Truth and pray for enlightment as to how to apply what we are reading or learning. We have to have great motivation to answer to God’s calling.
Then we have to put into practice what we have learned. Application is something very personal, unique for each individual. This calls for a strategy, a plan as to how to go about planning and living our life in accordance with the Bible.
Let us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, be on our adventure of Discovery, to find out the Plan of our Salvation according to the Father’s Will. /2
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