RSS

Chapter V
He rose up to read
And He rose up to read. And the book was delivered unto Him. Luke 4, 16-17.

Lord Jesus, if one day slipped away, through my fault, without my opening the Book, that day would be empty of meaning. I would have neglected a meeting with You, a meeting which You have prepared and willed.

Let us consider the Book: that is to say, Your Book, the Word of God which Your prophets, Your evangelists and apostles wrote down and which You entrusted to Your Church.

When a doctor of the law asked You: “What must I do to possess eternal life?,” You referred him to the Book, to the Book by which each one of Your followers should be nourished each day. You said to this doctor: “What is written in the law?” Your will is that I should know, as far as I am able, what Your Scriptures contain.

But behold how immediately after asking the doctor the question: “ What is written in the law?,” You add another question: “How readest thou?” (Greek: pos anaginoskeis; Latin: quomodo legis ). You examine the doctor not only on the objective contents of the Book.

What is more – and above all – You examine him on his personal reception of Your word. One would have expected the question: “What do you read in it?” But no. What is especially important is the way in which the reader understands and “receives” these exalted truths.

Likewise in the Temple when You were seated opposite the treasury You “beheld how the people cast money into it,” and noticed even the two mites of a poor widow. While “many that were rich cast in much,” these two mites were of much greater value in Your eyes than all the other gifts.

You want me to read, but You want me to read in a certain way. That statement of the Gospel whose text I have used in this chapter could lead one to believe that I am going to consider here “my” own reading of the Book.

And certainly this statement would rightly apply to it. “He rose up to read” : at the very moment when I wake up, my first task should be to open the holy Books and to seek You in them. “And the Book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto Him”: the Church is unceasingly offering the Sacred Scriptures to me – for my attention, for my meditation. I receive the Book from her with faith and respect.

However I shall try to fix my mind not on “my” reading, but rather on “Your” reading of the Book. By seeing You read, by hearing You read, I shall try to learn “how” to read. The roles are reversed. It is now of You that Your servant asks the question: “How readest Thou?”

Master, allow me to live with You one page of the Gospel, together with Your disciples. You come to Nazareth.
It is the Sabbath.
According to Your custom, You enter the synagogue.
I am going in with You.
Scripture, read and commented, constitutes the center of worship in the synagogue.
You intend to read the Book there, Yourself.
Next You wish to explain the Word of God.

It is in the synagogue that You desire to read the Book.
I shall translate the Jewish expression into Christian language.

You entrusted to Your Holy Church, to the community which You called and assembled, the deposit of the inspired Scriptures.

I do not want to read the Word without Your Church or in a way contrary to Your Church.

For the Church of Jesus Christ or – what comes to the same thing – Jesus Christ in His Church is the supreme and infallible interpreter of what was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Yet You expect from me, in the privacy of my room as well as in the “synagogue,” an intensely personal welcome of the Word. The question is not only: What am I going to hear?, but also: How am I going to hear?

“He went into the synagogue . . .” and the Gospel adds: “. . . and He rose up to read.” You rise up and this gesture signifies a spiritual initiative, a will which exists in You concerning the Word of God.

You get up: by this You indicate that You are a reader and an authorized, authentic commentator of this Word, and You offer to communicate it to the faithful.

Master, every time I take up the Bible, make me see You rise up at that very moment, prepared to teach me to “read.”

“And the Book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto Him. And as He unfolded the Book, He found the place . . .”

The passage from Isaias which St. Luke is going to quote is relative to the Anointed One who will preach the good news to the poor, to the captives, to the oppressed, to the blind. A moving passage, certainly, and remarkably well adapted to the Saviour’s mission.

But what I should like to remember here are these two actions: first, “the Book was delivered unto Him,”; then, :as He unfolded the Book, He found the place.”

Lord Jesus, I deliver the Book to You. Rather than read myself, I want to hear You read. That is to say that, by reading, I renounce every personal preoccupation, every prejudice, and every interpretation which would come only from myself.

I keep silence within me so that Your voice alone may pronounce for me, within me, the Word of God.

Lord, open the Book and find the “place.” In the synagogue the passage to be read was fixed. But, whatever the passage might be, it is written today for me.

Whether I hear Sacred Scripture read in the assembly of the faithful or whether my reading be private, I know that, if it is You who read, there will always be a text, were it only a single sentence, or only a single word – which, at this moment applies to my present state.

I can open the Book at random and I know that if my eyes settle on the first sentence I can read, on the adjacent phrases or those which follow – and if my heart is filled with You – I shall quickly discover the word from which I shall receive a shock or a beneficial stimulus.

This will be the “place,” the place where I shall find You. It will be the countersign, the marching orders which I shall carry with me for the day’s task and by which I shall live while this day goes by. It will be the well-provided word which will guide and strengthen me on my journey.

“And when He had folded the book, He restored it to the minister and sat down.” You finished reading, Master.

Now return the Book, no longer to the servant of the synagogue, but to me, Your poor servant. May I thus receive from Your hand the Book which You have read to me, the Book which we have read together.

Your Scripture will always be more dear and precious to me if Your hand places it in my hand. This handing down (Latin: traditio) will really take place, insofar as I see in each sentence of Scripture a gift which You give me.

You are seated. “And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them . . .” The moment has come, no longer the moment of the solemn reading, but of friendly conversation.

It is not enough, O Lord, that I hear within me Your voice and not mine reading the sacrd text. I should like You to explain this text to me now.

My eyes are fixed on You, on You alone. Speak to me – of Yourself above all. “He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things that were concerning Him.”

Speak to me as You spoke to Your two disciples on the road to Emmaus. May Your Word be for me as much a flame as a light. “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke in the way and opened to us the Scriptures?”

Speak to me of myself too. Show me how the scriptural Word which I have heard can be applied to the ordinary actions of this day. In the synagogue at Nazareth, after reading, You said to the hearers: “This day is fulfilled this Scripture in Your ears.”

Today, in my simplest steps, I can give a body to the sacred words which I heard and received. I can, if I may venture to say so, bring about this exchange, this barter. If Sacred Scripture were to remain cut off from my work, my rest, my meals and my conversation, what good would this be to me?

When the two disciples to whom You had explained the Scriptures on the road were near the town toward which they were heading, you seemed to want to go further. But they detained You saying: “Stay with us.” In like manner, Lord, do not withdraw from me after reading and explaining the Word.

Do not send me off alone to my daily tasks. Do not allow Your Word to be in my life as a sanctuary isolated from the house and street by a grill. In everything I am about to do, Lord, stay with me.

The Book which I have presented to You and which You returned to me, the Book which You have read and explained is the inspired Book whose deposit is in the hands of Your Church.

But make me, O Lord, consider all my readings in the light of that Nazareth episode: Jesus reading in the synagogue. Make me strong enough to read only the books which I can “present” to You.

You cannot open and read “to me” a bad book or even a worthless book. I should like to seek You and find You in all my readings.

Many books in which You are not mentioned can nevertheless speak to me about You. I present to You such books and those too which are sincerely dedicated to You, so that You may open them, read them Yourself to me, and enlighten them with Your light.