Blessed James Alberione

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DAY XXX
BY WHOM AND WHERE MUST THE BIBLE BE READ

THE APOCALYPSE

St. John entitled this mysterious book Apocalypse because there he announces the events through which the Church will reach the final Triumph. He wrote it during his exile in Patmos, towards the year 95.
The Apocalypse is a closed book; it is of the highest prophecy where there are as many mysteries as words, and every word has many meanings, (St. Jerome) and since the greater part of the prophecies shall take place at the end of the world, for now it is temerity to pretend to explain them. It is better to read it while humbly adoring the divine mysteries, and making treasure of the sublime teachings with which it is flowered.
To understand this book, which is a true masterpiece of poetry, of harmony in its symbols, in its numbers and in its images, but also a masterpiece of obscurity because it is a prophecy, and prophecy must not serve us but must invigorate the faith of Christians who will live in the times when those things will happen, it will be well to show its plan in its harmonious divisions.
Aside from the prologue and the epilogue, it has three parts:
First part: Christ appears and gives John the task of writing his message to the seven Churches of Asia Minor. The letters follow.
Second part: This contains five series of imaginary visions, which are:
1) The seven seals: conquest, war, famine, death, martyrdoms, end of the world, the golden thurible.
2) The seven trumpets: hail and fire; sea of blood,
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the star Wormwood, eclipse, locusts, cavalry, heavenly hymn.
3) The seven signs: the devil, the sea monster, the beast of the earth, the sign of evil men, the sign of the good men, references to the end and to judgment.
4) The seven bowls: poured out on the earth, on the sea, on rivers, on the sun, on the throne of the beast, into Euphrates.
5) The struggle between Christ and the devil: the fall of Babylon lamented by the earth, celebrated by the heavens, the victory of Christ over the beast, over the false prophet, the struggle through the centuries and the final victory over the devil.
Third part: the final judgment, new heavens and a new earth, the heavenly Jerusalem, glory of the Saints in Heaven.

REFLECTION XXX

By whom and where must the Bible be read

I long for your salvation, Lord,
your teaching is my delight.
(Ps 118/119:174)


The Bible, since it is addressed to all men and all men are children of God, must be read by all.
But in order not to say some things in general, let us go down to practice and say that the Bible must be read: 1. in families, 2. in schools, 3. and in church.

* * *

1. In families the Gospel must be posted in the most honored place of the house, in a place where everyone can see, read and kiss it. It must always be open in such a way that every member of the
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family has the ease and the opportunity to stay several times during the day with the divine Teacher, to lend his ears and to listen to his voice.
This is an act that is most pleasing to Jesus Master. In fact, we know the reply he gave to Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus. As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me. The Lord said to her in reply, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her. (Lk 10:38-41) Let us also prostrate ourselves, several times during the day, at the foot of the Divine Master, and humbly tell him to deign make us hear his voice of truth and life.
How much better would families be if they read the Holy Gospel daily! They would have as head Jesus Christ himself, and their spiritual and material affairs cannot but be successful.
The reading of the Bible should be read preferably by the head of the family and all the members of the family should listen to him with the greatest respect and reverence. Or else it is advised to have it read even by a child, of the best behavior and the most innocent. So that divine things after their reading may produce among souls a lasting fruit, it is indispensable to make a short prayer before and after the reading, better if the same is said together. After the reading, the head of the family or one who can, should say some words of explanation or commentary so that
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each one can make a practical resolution for the day.
Amidst those families that practice what we have said above, Jesus Christ truly stays. Non ambulant in tenebris, they shall not walk in darkness because they have in their midst the light, Jesus, who has proclaimed himself as lux mundi, the light of the world.
Blessed are the families who read the Bible, they belong to Jesus!

* * *

2. In Schools. Yes, even in schools the Bible must be read; rather, especially here because, if there is a place where the presence of Jesus Master is necessary, it is precisely the school. Jesus Christ is the educator by nature; it is He who is the main Teacher of humanity: Unus est enim magister vester,1 Jesus Christ. And St. Paul rightly reproves the Corinthians who were saying that they had as teacher, some Paul, some Kephas, others Apollo; and he tells that that only one is their teacher, Jesus Christ.
If in the world there is one worthy to be proclaimed teacher and raised to the office of educator of youth, it is precisely Jesus Christ. Who has more than He the power to teach? Who knows more than He the heart and the mind of each student and can fully satisfy one and the other? No one. No one more than Jesus loves the little ones and knows how to attract them to himself and to educate them!
Yes, return, O Jesus, return to all the teaching chairs of our schools and attract to yourself all the children and form them according to your loving Heart. You have said: Let the children come to me. (Mk 10:14) Well, draw them all to you; sanctify them all!
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It is unfortunate that Jesus Christ was dragged down from many teaching posts, and his place occupied by the children of darkness. Those schools were not anymore temples, as Tommaseo says,2 but dens. Let us pray so that Jesus Christ may return to every school and his truth shine in the minds of all children.
In all the schools may the beautiful custom of reading before the lessons the Holy Gospel and of studying it return. May the Lord let the day come soon when we can give to all children textbooks, anthologies, etc., inspired by the Holy Gospel.

* * *

3. In Church. Here we no longer have a mere advice to read the Gospel, but an explicit precept of the Church which orders that the Priest at Mass read it aloud, and all the faithful listened to it with the greatest reverence as they stand.
During solemn masses it is prescribed that it be incensed and sung with maximum solemnity between two lighted candles.
There is also another prescription of the Church which imposes on parish priests to foster on all Sundays in that Mass where there is the greatest attendance of people, an explanation of the Holy Gospel.
Today it is much recommended that Parish Priests make, especially during the Lenten season, a brief daily explanation of the Gospel: and this is already done in very many parishes of Piedmont, of the Veneto area and of Emilia. Let us pray so that such a practice, so beneficial to souls, may be used in all the parishes of Italy.
Two are the nourishments, according to the Imitation of Christ, that the Church gives to souls: the Eucharist
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and the Bible;3 let us nourish ourselves with both. The soul shall be satisfied in all its faculties: intelligence, sentiment, and will.4*
Let us now ask for the grace so that the reading of the Bible may become universal and on our part let us resolve to do everything we can so that the Bible may enter all families, and be read, meditated upon, and lived. And blessed are we if at the moment of our death we will be able to say that we have evangelized, that we have proclaimed peace. We will be able to rightly hope for the reward and crown of the Evangelists.

EXAMPLE. - St. Epiphanius - He is another very prolific writer of the first centuries of the Church, a passionate student of the Holy Bible. Even while very young, he showed great love for study; hence his pious parents sent him to study: the reading of the Bible became his delight, his favorite intellectual nourishment. Desiring to ever better understand Holy Scripture in its genuineness, he gave himself to the study of those languages in which it was written. His biographers attest that not yet twenty years old, he already knew very well Greek, Hebrew, Copt, Syriac, and Latin. After going to Egypt to visit those desert monks, he fell so much in love with that life that he immediately decided to found a monastery. He was a monk and a father of monks, but at the same time, he never set aside the practice of sacred reading and of writing.
His invitations directed to the monks who lived under his wise guidance to read the Bible were very fervent! He did not let any occasion pass without recommending and inculcating the reading and study of the Bible. And he was the first to give the example. Metaphrastes, his biographer, tells us that
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his manner of living was that of a perfect religious: solicitous and prudent in the government of the monks; neglecting nothing of the common observances, he spent the whole day in the study of Holy Scripture and in various occupations, dedicating still a good part of the night to the exercise of prayer.
In 367, he was elected bishop of Cyprus, and, although he was most engaged in the defense of his flock against the many rapacious wolves that had infiltrated his flock and were causing massacre, yet he never left his Bible: from there he drew strength and courage, from there he drew his very strong and incontrovertible arguments in fighting the heretics and he succeeded. The followers of Origen received from Epiphanius a mortal blow to the heart. Against the Antidecomarianites he excellently defended the virginity of Mary Most Holy before, during and after giving birth, and he expressly says that Mary is the true Mother of God.
St. Epiphanius was not only content with studying and commenting on the Sacred Scriptures, he also made biblical archeological studies, that even today are of great use to commentators of Scripture.
The Church celebrates the feast of this illustrious doctor on 12 May.

LITTLE SACRIFICE. - Recite the Te Deum in thanksgiving to God for having given us the Bible.

CANTICLE OF DAVID [#]

Happy the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people chosen as his very own.
From heaven the LORD looks down
and observes the whole human race,
surveying from the royal throne all who dwell on earth.
The one who fashioned the hearts of them all
knows all their works.
A king is not saved by a mighty army,
nor a warrior delivered by great strength.
Useless is the horse for safety;
its great strength, no sure escape.
But the LORD'S eyes are upon the reverent,
upon those who hope for his gracious help,
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Delivering them from death,
keeping them alive in times of famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and shield.
For in God our hearts rejoice;
in your holy name we trust.
May your kindness, LORD, be upon us;
we have put our hope in you.

(Ps 32/33:12-22)


READING

Jesus sends the disciples to preach the Gospel to all the world

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. And behold I am with you always, until the end of this age.

[Mt 28:16-20; Mk 16:16-18]

PRAYER

O God, you are my God - for you I long!
For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts,
like a land parched, lifeless, and without water.
So I look to you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.
For your love is better than life; my lips offer you worship!
I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands, calling on your name.
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My soul shall savor the rich banquet of praise,
with joyous lips my mouth shall honor you!
When I think of you upon my bed,
through the night watches I will recall
That you indeed are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you; your right hand upholds me.
But those who seek my life will come to ruin;
they shall go down to the depths of the earth!
They shall be handed over to the sword
and become the prey of jackals!
But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by the Lord shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be shut!

(Ps 62/63:2-12)


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1 “You have but one master.” (Mt 23:8,10)

2 Niccolò Tommaseo (Sebenico 1802 - Florence 1874), belonging to a family of business persons, he studied in Padua where he met Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855), establishing with him a long-lasting friendship. A dreaming and restless spirit, he eventually lived in Milan, establishing contact with Manzoni, and then in Florence and Venice. He was the author of numerous works of literary and linguistic character, among which the Nuovo Dizionario de' Sinonimi della lingua italiana (1830); the Dizionario della lingua italiana (1859); a commentary on the Divina Commedia (1837); the novels Il Duca di Atene (1837) and Fede e bellezza (1841-1842); the volume of political issues, Dell'Italia (1835).

3 Of these two indispensable tables, the Bible and the Eucharist, book and bread, LS talks often (pp. 15-16, 136, 138, 192, 234, 267ff). If we reread p. 20, we will notice how much Don Alberione thinks apostolically: “How well does the Gospel stay on the altar! If in the Most Blessed Sacrament, under the species of the spotless Host, Jesus Christ is really present in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Sacred Scriptures, Jesus Truth is there, under the species of white paper.” On the importance of the book of the Bible for the whole Church, cf. Dei Verbum: “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since from the table of both the word of God and of the body of Christ she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life, especially in the sacred liturgy... Therefore, like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the 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 perennial source of spiritual life (no. 21). Consequently these words are perfectly applicable to Sacred Scripture: “For the word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12) and “it has power to build you up and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32; cf. 1Thes 2:13)

4* “I plead with you to read them (the sacred books) and to meditate each day with singular affection on the words of our Creator: observe what is the Heart of God in the words of God, so as to stir up yourselves to yearn for more ardently the eternal goods, and so that our soul may be inflamed by the most ardent desires for eternal happiness.” (St. Gregory the Great)