nunblog: Read the Bible with Me!

Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We've reached the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:

Father,

When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this, until Jesus comes again in glory.

Open my mind today to the gift of life and truth your Word offers me through the Church. By your Holy Spirit, grant me wisdom and strength to put this Word into practice and to become, myself, a presence of Jesus for people who are looking for you.

Jesus, eternal Word and Son of the Father, live in me with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Today's chapters are Matthew 16-18.

Catholics make a really big deal of today's first chapter. It is such a big deal that we literally identify St Peter by verses 18 and 19: We don't call him by his given name (Simon), but by the name Jesus gave him (Peter, in Greek, Cephas: Rock), and we always depict him with a really big set of keys. Remember Shebna in Isaiah 22? He was second to the king: he had the keys during the reign of Hezekiah.

In the Bible, when God changed someone's name, he was giving them a new and important role on behalf of the entire community of faith. Think of Abram—Abraham; Jacob—Israel. Now Simon will become Peter, and Jesus says why. "On this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it."

Jesus isn't doing or saying any of this for Peter's sake alone: it is "for the sake of Christ's body, the Church" (see Colossians 1:24). We call the Pope the "successor of St Peter" and make sure that the keys feature prominently in Vatican imagery. (Not that "the Vatican" is "the Church," but it is a kind of administrative assistant to the Pope.) Peter's role (and therefore, the Pope's) is the service of the unity of Christ's followers. It is meant to keep us within the teachings and the fellowship of Jesus!

As for chapter 17, I have posted numerous times about the Transfiguration (usually when it was the topic of my meditation!); just go back to August 5 and 6 for the most recent reflections.

Start reading here.

For additional background

On Matthew

We have barely a week and a half with the Gospel of Matthew, and there's just too much wealth there for me to even hint at in my little introductions (to three chapters a day!). So Dr Edward Sri's companion to the Gospel of Matthew is a good study guide: it even has reflection questions and space for you to write your answers!

For all Four Gospels

I am happy to recommend this volume of The Four Gospels in an edition directed to young readers and their parents. The text of all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Revised Standard Translation is accompanied by FAQs that a middle-school reader might ask (or, to be honest, anybody reading the Gospels for the first time). The footnotes were prepared by a team of Scripture scholars for parents and guardians, making the book ideal for family Bible reading.