READING Scripture well requires the ability to listen, something that is increasingly difficult in today’s self-absorbed world, a Philippine bishop told the Synod of Bishops on the Bible.
The short speech by Bishop Luis Tagle of Imus on October 7 was one of few synod interventions to draw applause, ending with a call for the Church to “listen the way God listens” and become a voice for the poor and suffering.
Bishop Tagle was one of 23 bishops who took the floor in Rome on the first day of individual speeches limited to five minutes each.
He said the Church can best help people learn to read Scripture by teaching them how to listen in faith, opening their hearts to God’s word and allowing it to transform them and their actions.
The Church should offer “formation in holistic listening”, he said.
The bishop said the modern world offered ample evidence of the tragic lack of listening, including family conflicts, generational gaps and violence.
“People are trapped in a milieu of monologues, inattentiveness, noise, intolerance and self-absorption. The Church can provide a milieu of dialogue, respect, mutuality and self-transcendence,” he said.
He told the synod it was important to remember that God not only speaks in Scripture, but listens as well – “especially to the just, widows, orphans, persecuted and the poor who have no voice”.
“The Church must learn to listen the way God listens and must lend its voice to the voiceless,” he said to a ripple of applause in the synod hall.
Several bishops spoke about the need for better preaching about Scripture.
Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra and Goulburn suggested the preparation of a general homiletic directory to ensure a more solid and systematic preparation for preachers in seminaries and formation houses.
He pointed out that the Second Vatican Council called for a renewal of preaching, with a shift from the sermon as an exposition of Catholic doctrine and devotion to the homily as an explanation and application of Scripture.
Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila, Philippines, suggested a number of guidelines to help Catholics read and interpret the Bible. Among other things, he suggested that there be more interaction among biblical scholars and pastoral workers.
“We need to approach the Bible with a spirit of humility; it enables us to value the interpretation of the Bible by the poor,” he said.
His words were echoed by Bishop Benjamin Ramaroson of Farafangana, Madagascar, who said that although most of the faithful in his country cannot read or write they have a strong sense of the sacred and understand the Bible’s symbolic language.
Biblical passages often deal with the poor and suffering, and Bishop Ramaroson said his people’s thoughtful comments on the readings might surprise many experts.
Archbishop Pierre-Marie Carre of Albi, France, was one of several bishops who spoke about the value of “lectio divina,” or prayerful daily reading of Scripture. He said it had been encouraged in his country, but that the Church needed to better promote the idea in a simple way.
An Eastern-rite prelate, Romanian Bishop Florentin Crihalmeanu of Cluj-Gherla, said the Eastern Churches’ traditional use of icons may be useful for such daily individual reading, especially when it involved children.
Archbishop Lawrence Huculak of Winnipeg, Manitoba, metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada, called for careful preparation for the Scripture readings during liturgies.
The celebrant who read the Gospel should master the language and proclaim the text with warmth and care, he said.
“It cannot be done mechanically or carelessly,” he said.
United States Father Glen Lewandowski, master general of the Crosiers, said the Eucharistic prayer, where the Bible story of the Last Supper was echoed, was one liturgical area in need of improvement.
He said too often the celebrant recited the prayer with “evident lack of evangelical joy.”
The Eucharistic prayer, he said, “is often rushed, mumbled, uttered without accent or spirit and even faint and unheard”.
Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest said sensational publications today, such as the apocryphal “Gospel of Judas”, risked causing confusion among the faithful and even some priests.
The greatest risk was that many people had no idea how to distinguish between credible and non-credible sources about the life of Christ, he said.
