In today’s first reading from Acts 3, St. Peter talks about the empty tomb. And in today’s Gospel from Luke 24, Jesus appears to two of His disciples walking on the road to Emmaus. After Jesus was made known to them “in the breaking of the bread,” They said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
St. Jerome said ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. We have to remember that when Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to understand the Scriptures, they were all in the Old Testament. At the time, there wasn’t a word of the New Testament written. As Christians, we very much tend to be people of the New Testament. And that is a good thing. We must be people of the Word. But in order to fully understand the New Testament, we must be well versed in the Old.
This is one of the things I love about being Catholic. Over the course of three years, if you follow the liturgy of the Church in the daily readings, you will read the whole Bible. New Testament and Old. It really helps to understand where Jesus was coming from in many of the things that he taught. Let me encourage you today to spend time each day in the Scriptures. The best way that I have found is to follow along with the liturgy of the Church. So find some good resources…there are plenty out there! I’m sure you’ll find that the more you know about the Scriptures, the more you’ll want to know!
Father, we thank you for your word in the Sacred Scriptures. Give us a greater hunger to know your word, that we may know better the Word made flesh, your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
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