An Episcopalian friend recently recommended a book on the writing of the King James Bible. To say the author is pro KJV would be an understatement. And yet he includes an often used quote from the period which I was surprised to read , but I understood because of my days in the baptist church.
"They have dethroned the Pope and enthroned the Bible."
Even at the time it was used a a critique. As I reflected on it I realized what it meant. The danger of making the Bible God, turning it into an idol or a magic book. We can easily forget that neither Jesus, the evangelists, or St. Paul ever make reference to the Bible for one simple reason. There was no Bible. Collecting the writings that were considered the inspired word of God into a single Βιβλίος (Bible) would not happen until long after the ascension. In the same way some Catholics can go overboard with Mary, some Protestants can go overboard with the Bible.
Today we read from St. Teresa of Avila, and she reminds us that to the Word in which we are to remain is a person not a thing. It is the Word made flesh, Jesus.
She writes of Jesus:
And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight...
What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart. Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of Siena. A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands.
Any of you who read this blog regularly know I love studying the Bible, but today's saint reminds us that there should be only one true love, Jesus.
