Better homilies? Biblical literacy? Huzzah!

Sandro Magister, "The Synod Wants Better Homilies. With the Pope as the Model" (www.chiesa, October 17, 2008): "The synod fathers are proposing a "manual" to elevate the quality of preaching. But the living example is Benedict XVI. Here is the unscripted meditation with which he opened the working sessions, while stock markets were collapsing around the world."

I'm glad he mentioned the need for a "living example." From my experience no manual would do the trick. What Catholic priests and seminarians need is good exemplars, and they are few and far between, although this is one of the crying needs of our day.

In related news, see Magister's post, "The Art of Reading the Scriptures. A Lesson for Today's Illiterates" (www.chiesa, October 16, 2008): "It is the liturgy that must again shape the reading and understanding of the Bible. Just as in medieval monasticism, creator of modern civilization. Timothy Verdon explains why, at a synod that has reached the halfway point."

While this is true (that liturgy must shape reading and understanding the Bible), it is no substitute for sitting down and reading through the books of the Bible first-hand. While the lectionary and liturgy provides the necessary framework, these alone will not provide an integrated synoptic grasp of the books of the Bible and how they fit together within themselves and into the whole of Scripture and Tradition. One must read the Bible. In fact, one must make a habit of reading the Bible, and not just as found in the Breviary or Divine Office.

I wish all Catholic seminaries required a first-hand mastery of Scripture and a substantial course in Biblical theological hermeneutics. This would prevent some of the superficiality and slipshod errors that one finds in discussions about the Catholic Faith at the parish level. It's not enough for priests and seminarians to get down the public speaking technique. One has to know what the Word of God in order to proclaim it. As St. Jerome says: "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."