Flipping through television channels one evening I came
across the final moments of a noted televangelist’s show.
He was encouraging people to offer a prayer of repentance
and ask Christ to enter their hearts. No problem there.
Then, speaking through his smile, he encouraged his
viewers to find a “good Bible-based Church.” This is part of
the heritage of Martin Luther who coined the expression
“sola scriptura,” meaning all one needs is the Bible, only
the Scriptures. The tragedy with such an attitude is that it
throws out the Sacraments, and the irony of such an
attitude is that it ignores the fact that the Church
determined what is Sacred Scripture, and so, in a very real
sense pre-existed the Bible!
If we open our Bibles to the Epistles of Paul we see him
greet “the Churches in Galatia” (Galatians 1:2), as well as
“the Church of God which is at Corinth,” (Corinthians 1:2).
The Epistle to the Phillipians is addressed “To all the saints
in Christ Jesus who are at Phillipi with the bishops and
deacons …” This is evidence, not only of a Church, but
also a hierarchy existing before Paul wrote his epistles,
and the Epistles predate the Gospels themselves! In
Matthew 16:18, our Lord says to Simon Peter, “You are
Rock and upon this rock I will build my Church …” This
happened not because it was written down, it was written
down because it had happened. And it happened at least
twenty to thirty years before it was written down. To say
“Bible-based Church” is to get the cart before the horse.
Many of our separated Brethren (and even some
Catholics) labour under the false impression that Catholics
do not take Sacred Scripture all that seriously and even
ignore it at times. Such an impression astounds me. The
first half of every Mass is devoted to Scripture and is
referred to as “the Liturgy of the Word.” The norm for
Sunday Mass is a reading from the Old Testament, a
responsorial Psalm, a reading from the Epistles or Acts,
and a Gospel reading. The reading of the Gospel at Mass
is taken so seriously that we are required to stand for it.
Ideally, the Homily is to be rooted in the Scriptures of the
day. Thus, the Liturgy of the Word is itself a “Bible study”
the purpose of which is to better enter into the mystery of
the Liturgy of the Eucharist in which the very reason and
core of Sacred Scripture - - the saving Sacrifice of Jesus
Christ on the Cross - - is re-presented to us in a
sacramental way. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass both
Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist is
celebrated every single day of the year except on Good
Friday. (The Good Friday Service consists principally of a
re-living of the Passion of Christ according to one of the
Gospels).
To say that one only needs Scripture is akin to saying “I
only need my lungs,” and forgets about the heart.