Perhaps a person could have an encounter with Jesus while learning about the Church teachings? Ie. if the person read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has references to scripture. . I believe they could have an encounter with Jesus… Who’s to say then what would actually bring about that ‘ah ha’ moment of conversion…, Who’s to say what touches the hearts of men? For many it’s Mary who brings souls to Christ…
God bless Karen107 and every readers of the CAF,
I don’t want to change your post, I only like add to it.
DEI VERBUM 21
Quote:
CATHOLIC SENSIBILITY, DEI VERBUM 21
The Church has
always VENERATED the divine Scriptures JUST
AS she VENERATED the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful THE BREAD OF LIFE from the table of BOTH of GOD’S WORD and of CHRIST’S BODY.
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 IS STANDS AS THE SUPPORT AND ENERGY OF THE CHURCH, THE STRINGS OF FAITH for Her (children), THE FOOD OF THE SOUL, THE PURE AND EVERLASTING SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
“For the WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND ACTIVE” (Hebr.4:12) and it **HAS THE POWER TO BUILD YOU UP and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32) ** End quote.
THE SCRIPTURES referred to as the “BREAD OF LIFE”** in direct association with a reference to the Eucharist.**
Please see: John 1:1; Matt.4:4; Luke 4:4.
We have access and **we are able to eat the “BREAD OF LIFE” in TWO ways: **
The Church offers to the faithful the bread of life FROM THE EUCHARISTIC table of BOTH of GOD’S WORD and CHRIST’S BODY.
When in faith, we are READING or HEARING the Word of God we consuming the BREAD OF LIFE, in which He (Jesus), Himself is consumed and we unite ourselves to Christ.
The Catholic Understanding of the Bible by Fr. John Harden SJ.
Quote: “The Scriptures are holy because their main author is the all-holy God. But they are also holy because they are able to sanctify those who READ the Bible as NO OTHER LITERATURE in the world is capable of doing.
**St. Thomas does not hesitate to speak of the Scriptures as a KIND OF SACRAMENT.
SIMULAR to what happens when we receive BAPTISM or the EUCHARIST.**
The same Holy Spirit who first inspired the Bible
CONTINUES TO ENLIGHTEN those who now READ the Bible.” End quote. Emphasize mine.
WE CANNOT OVER EMPHASIS!
When in faith, READING or HEARING the Word of God we are consuming the BREAD OF LIFE, in which He (Jesus), Himself is consumed and we unite ourselves to Christ.
[CCC 108]; Still, the Christian faith is not a “religion of the book.”
Christianity is a religion of the “Word” of God, “not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living.”
If the Scriptures are not remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, “open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.” End quote.
The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn Page 48
Quote: One of the great Scripture scholars of the early church, Origen (third century), urged Christians
TO RESPECT CHRIST’S PRESENTS IN THE GOSPEL as they RESPECT HIS PRESENCE IN THE HOST.
“You who are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries know, when you receive the body of the Lord, how you protect it with all caution and veneration lest any small part fall from it, lest anything of the consecrated gift be lost.
For you believe, and correctly, that you are answerable if anything falls from there by neglect.
But if you are so careful to preserve His body, and rightly so, HOW DO YOU THINK THAT THERE IS LESS GUILT TO HAVE NEGLECTED GOD’S WORD THAT TO HAVE NEGLECTED HIS BODY?” End quote.
ACCORDING TO ST. JEROME
This famous excerpt from Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah (Nn. 1.2: CCL 73, 1-3) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for the Feast (liturgical memorial) of St. Jerome on September 30.
In it, St. Jerome firmly insists that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. A strong exhortation from a Father and Doctor of the Catholic Church to Christians urging all to recognize that
serious Bible study is a necessity, not an optional luxury. End quote.
SUMMARY
**Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, “open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.” **
The same Holy Spirit who first inspired the Bible
CONTINUES TO ENLIGHTEN those who now READ the Bible.”
Those who misinterpret the Bible is their own mistake because they don’t listen the voice and the interpretation of the Holy Spirit.
God bless,
LatinRight
I have often heard people say that Catholics do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Well yes we have a relationship with Jesus Christ very much because we get to know Jesus and His roots seeded in scripture which includes learning about His Mother… So that relationship with Jesus develops through the scriptures, the sacraments, in everything that we do, learning about the people surrounding Jesus life, and our loving friendship with Our Lord grows and so does our ‘relationship’.
