Who will instruct me?
In the first reading today, Philip asks the Eunuch, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The eunuch answers, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” Don’t you feel that way, sometimes?
The scriptures can be complicated. There are a lot of foreign names and places. Sometimes different translations use different wording. Sometimes just the way words are put together is confusing. For example, this reading says “and he baptized him.” Who baptized who? We know from the context that Philip baptized the eunuch. But it could have been the other way around.
So, who is going to instruct us? Many of our protestant friends say “sola scriptura”; only the Bible. They don’t believe that they need anyone to explain the scriptures to them. But here we have the scripture telling us that we need someone to explain the scriptures.
As Catholics, we have a lot of resources we can turn to. Approved Catholic translations have foot notes, clarifying things and pointing us to other references within the Bible. 2,000 years of the teaching tradition of the Church are available to us in various commentaries and other reference books.
We have “Catholic Answers” on the radio and EWTN on radio and television. There are hundreds of web sites we can turn to, including the Vatican. Here in St. Louis, the Paul VI institute offers excellent courses on the Bible which aren’t very expensive.
My job, along with every other priest and deacon who preaches in a Catholic church is to try to explain the day’s readings. But that brings us back to the original question, “How can I unless someone instructs me?” Personally, I use all the above. But, I don’t think you should depend on me, or Mike Coppage or Father Gary for all of your scriptural interpretation needs.
If you were going on vacation, you would send away for brochures, talk to people who have been to the place you want to visit and surf the Web. Do you really want to do any less research when it comes to your eternal life?
The scriptures can be complicated. There are a lot of foreign names and places. Sometimes different translations use different wording. Sometimes just the way words are put together is confusing. For example, this reading says “and he baptized him.” Who baptized who? We know from the context that Philip baptized the eunuch. But it could have been the other way around.
So, who is going to instruct us? Many of our protestant friends say “sola scriptura”; only the Bible. They don’t believe that they need anyone to explain the scriptures to them. But here we have the scripture telling us that we need someone to explain the scriptures.
As Catholics, we have a lot of resources we can turn to. Approved Catholic translations have foot notes, clarifying things and pointing us to other references within the Bible. 2,000 years of the teaching tradition of the Church are available to us in various commentaries and other reference books.
We have “Catholic Answers” on the radio and EWTN on radio and television. There are hundreds of web sites we can turn to, including the Vatican. Here in St. Louis, the Paul VI institute offers excellent courses on the Bible which aren’t very expensive.
My job, along with every other priest and deacon who preaches in a Catholic church is to try to explain the day’s readings. But that brings us back to the original question, “How can I unless someone instructs me?” Personally, I use all the above. But, I don’t think you should depend on me, or Mike Coppage or Father Gary for all of your scriptural interpretation needs.
If you were going on vacation, you would send away for brochures, talk to people who have been to the place you want to visit and surf the Web. Do you really want to do any less research when it comes to your eternal life?
posted by Mike at 7:54 AM
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