5. THE GOSPELS: HISTORICAL, RELIABLE & TRUE?

APPETIZER: "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus." (CCC#126)

MAIN COURSE: Since our faith as Christians rests totally upon the Person of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Savior, it only makes sense that the next entree we put on our Bitesize Catechism plate is a look at the Gospels. Why?  Because we need to sample the Gospels and look at their ingredients, as well as consider the literary chefs who created them.  This is vital for both the serious Christians ands well as the curious inquirer.  The gospels are how we come to know the story of Jesus. How he became human and why; how he died on the cross and rose from the dead in order to offer each one of us the possibility of eternal life. In addition to this, Christianity is a demanding religion and it is not always a popular religion, especially in these times. In order to be strong and confident in the faith that comes to us from the Apostles we MUST know, we NEED to know: Are the gospels historical? Are the gospels true or fabricated stories?  Are the gospels reliable sources of information?

The Gospels did not just originate out of a vacuum. They have came into existence as the third of three stages in early Christianity:

1. First, of course, came the actual preaching, teaching, miracles and deeds of Jesus. This was witnesses by the Twelve Apostles and countless disciples. Information from the early life of Jesus came to us from the Blessed Mother and perhaps Jesus' relatives. We date this stage from about 1-33AD.

2. Next came the era of the Apostles and other disciples preaching the Gospel, that is, the good news  about Jesus, throughout the known world. They were commissioned for this task by Jesus himself at the Ascension (see Mt 28:19-20, Mk 16:15-16, Lk 24:45-49, Acts 1:8) and spiritually empowered for this ministry by the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The persecution of the early Christians in Jerusalem became the impetus for them to disperse into other parts of the Roman Empire and other lands to spread the Gospel.

3. As the persecutions increased throughout the Empire and the Apostles began to die, tradition tells us that the Christians asked them to write down their memories of the experiences and teachings of Jesus. St. James the Greater was the first Apostle to  be martyred.  He was beheaded on orders of King Herod in Jerusalem in the year 44AD.  As the years passed the Apostles Matthew and John wrote their Gospels.  The disciples Mark and Luke wrote Gospels as well, based on the memories and stories of the Apostles and others who knew Jesus. And thus we received the four gospels which we still read and venerate today.

It's important to know that the Gospels are reliable historical documents.  From the point of view of seeing them as historical literature and not religious revelation, the gospels are considered extremely accurate and reliable sources by experts in the fields of history, archaeology, and literature. It is not the focus of this Bitesize Catechism to go into their academic reasons and details, but these can easily be found by online. These experts can only assure us that the Gospels are indeed historical documents written from the 1st century. They cannot of course bring us to faith in them as sources of divine revelation or as being part of the inspired Word of God. But with scholarly expert assurance in mind, let's take a closer look at the Gospels.

First, let's look at the word Gospel.  We need to know that the original gospels were written in Greek which as the most common language of the people. Gospel is a translation of the Greek word euangelion which means "good news".  It was not just a religious term but a general vocabulary word in those days. For example, if someone had a baby or got a job promotion, you might go to your friends and tell them that you had euangelion for them. The euangelion about Jesus is that he is the Son of God come in the flesh, not to condemn us, but to save us and lead us to eternal life. Eventually the books containing this euangelion became known as the Euangelions or Gospels.  And those who wrote the euangelion became known as evangelists (gospel writers).

Who wrote the Gospels? This is a question that many have asked and it's an extremely important question! Over the past 100 years or so,  intellectuals and academics began to look down upon those who believed in supernatural realities, it became vogue and popular for scholars to deny that the companions and eye-witnesses to Jesus wrote the Gospels. But this is not the authentic position of the ancient Church. We have testimony from the year 125AD (that's just about 25 years after the death of the last surviving Apostle, St. John) that the four Gospel authors were the Apostle Matthew (a converted tax collector), the disciple St. Mark (companion of St Peter), the disciple St. Luke (companion of St. Paul), and the Apostle St. John (the Beloved Disciple of Jesus).  Further ancient documents from 170-200AD confirm these men as the inspiration behind the Gospels.  Now, it does't mean that they are necessarily the ones who actually took up a pen (or I guess a quill) in hand and wrote things down on parchment.  This may have been done by scribes or by disciples who wrote what these men taught and preached.  But it does mean that, as the Church officially teaches, the gospels hand on to us what Jesus really said and did when he lived on earth.

Each of the four evangelists tell the Good News in their own way. Each one wrote down the memories, stories and sayings of Jesus is ways that they remembered, as well as in ways that were meaningful and applicable to their particular audience. Thus, we have in the four Gospels slightly different descriptions and memories of the same events.  But this is very common for us human beings.  If some time after an event you hosted you asked all your guests to wrote down their memories of what was said and done, you would get quite a few different answers. Yet all would fundamentally agree on the same basic things. This is true about the Gospels as well.  And actually, the fact that they do not all tell the exact same story with the exact same words is actually strong proof for the authenticity of their reporting according to the experts we mentioned above.  It shows that the Apostles did not have a prefabricated story and party line for all to follow!   So, let's take a quick bird's eye view  of each Gospel and see what it's particular evangelist waned to stress about Jesus and his good news.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew was written by Levi (also called Matthew) the apostle who had been a tax collector. around 50-70AD.  His gospel is heavily "Jewish" in its style and vocabulary because he was telling the good news about Jesus to Hebrew Christians and Jewish inquirers. So he has a lot of quotations from and references to the Old Testament in his gospel.  He shows Jesus as the King and Messiah of Israel in whom God's promises to his people are fulfilled. It is in Matthew's gospel that we find the Sermon on the Mount and also the "Our Father" in pretty much the same words we still use today. It is also in this gospel that we find the foundation for our belief that Jesus made St. Peter the first leader (pope) of the Church. As one of the Twelve Apostles, he was an eye-witness to the miracles and sayings of Jesus as well as the Resurrection. We do not know for sure how or where St. Matthew died, but there is a strong tradition that he died as a martyr in Ethiopia.

The Gospel According to St. Mark was written in Rome between 50-70AD by a disciple who is known in the New Testament as John-Mark.  He was a cousin of St.Barnabas and for a while also  a missionary companion of St. Paul. Mark eventually went to Rome where he functioned as St. Peter's scribe or secretary.  His Gospel is actually St. Peter's eye-witness memories about Jesus and so you could think of this gospel as one that is "according to St. Peter". This gospel is the shortest and most action-packed of them all, barely recounting the words of Jesus but highlighting miracles and exorcisms that show Jesus as the Powerful Servant and Mighty Son of God. He has this emphasis because the Romans would be most interested in this aspect of power and action.  St. Mark became the Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt and died as a martyr there by being bound with ropes and then dragged through the streets of the city.

The Gospel According to St. Luke is most unique as it was written by an evangelist who was not Jewish by birth. Just as Matthew's Gospel was heavily "Jewish-oriented", so Luke's is quiet "Gentile-oriented".  Luke was a Gentile (non-Jewish) physician, highly educated and his gospel shows these traits. Written around 60AD, it is also unique because it was not written for a particular group or church like the other three. Instead it was composed (along with Luke's Acts of the Apostles) specifically for Theolophilus, who seems to have been a wealthy man since he was able to finance this gospel project. Luke acts like an investigative reporter seeking to interview eye-witnesses and research known writings about Jesus. He presents Jesus as the Mercy of God incarnate, a Savior for all people with special tenderness towards the poor and outcasts.  It is from this gospel that we receive most of the stories of Jesus' conception, birth and childhood which he learned from the Blessed Mother herself.  It is also from Luke that we have some of the most cherished parables of Jesus such as the Prodigal Son,  the Lost Sheep and the Rich Man and Lazarus. He spent much time as a traveling companion and loyal friend of St. Paul and spent the end of his life in Greece where he wrote this longest of the four gospels.

The Gospel According to St. John is totally unlike the other three. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell pretty much the same general story of Jesus, although each with his own particular slant. But St. John is writing much later than them (perhaps around 90AD) and he is aware that these other gospels are already in circulation.  So he focuses not on the particulars of the life of Jesus but on what they mean. In other words, he is giving us a kind of theological commentary on the life and teachings of Jesus. John himself tells us why he wrote his version of the good news: so that all may believe in Jesus and find eternal life (see John 20:31).  He was the brother, St. James the Greater, and one of the Twelve Apostles, eye-witnesses to Jesus, He was the youngest of them as well.  He was considered Jesus' "best friend" (to put it in our modern terminology) so his nickname in the Scriptures is the "Beloved Disciple".  It is from this gospel that we have the many titles of Jesus that begin with "I am the..." (Bread of Life, Light of the World, Good Shepherd, Way, Truth and Life, etc.). The Gospel According to St. John gives us the miracle of water turned into wine, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and the washing of feet at the Last Supper.  Records indicate that St. John lived the longest of the Apostles, dying as a non-martyr around 100AD in exile on the island of Patmos (Greece).  He is also credited with writing three Letters in the New Testament as well as the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse).

Since Jesus himself is the fullest and most perfect revelation of God, we honor the Gospels which tell us about him above all other books of Scripture. And since the Gospel is the most important part of the entire Bible, its proclamation at Mass is the greatest part of the Liturgy of the Word. This is why it is usually preceded by the singing of the Alleluia (or other chants in Lent), why the Book of the Gospels is typically elevated for all to see before it is proclaimed, and why we stand out of respect to listen to it. We venerate the Book of the Gospels at mass with special actions. As we prepare to hear the Gospel we make a small Sign of the Cross on our forehead, mouth and chest. This is a wordless body-language prayer asking that the Gospel of Jesus may be in impressed upon our minds, spoken by our lips and cherished in our hearts. At its conclusion, the priest or deacon kisses the page of the Gospel while saying, "Through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away."

It is a great honor as a deacon to be ordained into a special relationship with the Gospel. and thus to become a messenger of divine revelation. At ordination the bishop entrusts the Book of the Gospels to the new deacon who receives the mandate to preach and teach it always and everywhere.  It is the deacon's place and privilege to proclaim the Gospel at every Liturgy no matter what other clergy may be there and even if the pope himself is the presider of the Mass.

DOGGIE BAG: Here are a few things to take away from our study for spiritual snacking throughout the day.

Saint Quote to Ponder: "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." (St. Jerome, 4th century)

Scripture Verse to Memorize: "Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded here. But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)

4. DIVINE REVELATION: JESUS & THE NEW TESTAMENT

APPETIZER: God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his covenant for ever. The Son is his Father's definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him. Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all people. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. (CCC #73, 75)

MAIN COURSE: We saw in our last entree (#3 Israel & the Old Testament), that God began the personal revelation of himself to humanity though the people and Scriptures of Israel. As Christians we still accept, venerate and read the Hebrew Scriptures as divine revelation - and they form an integral part of our Liturgy of the Word - but we do so through the lens, so to speak, of Jesus Christ and the New Testament.  So in today's Main Course we will take a general overview of Jesus and the NewTestament, waiting to serve up the many details about Him in bits and pieces as our study continues over the next few weeks. 

Briefly put, we can describe the New Testament as follows: God's love for us moved him to do more than simply communicate to humanity via prophets as intermediaries as in the Old Testament.  He yearned to come to us himself, in person, in the flesh, and reveal to us by both word and example what it means to be human and to live as a child of God.  This is the reason, the "why" of God the Son, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, leaving the glory and power of Heaven to descend upon planet Earth and become a human being. The experiences that people had of Jesus of Nazareth, Son  of God and Savior, are recorded for us by eye witnesses and by others who knew those who knew Jesus.

So at this point perhaps it is best to first of all look at who Jesus is by reflecting on the main names and titles he is given in the New Testament.  There are many names and titles given to Jesus but I have chosen the primary ones that tell us who Jesus is, why he came, and what he is about.  In future studies we will look at the New Testament itself to see if it is trustworthy in passing on to us what Jesus really said and did when he lived among us. In these future Bitesize studies, we will also, of course, look very closely at the life and teachings of Jesus, the heart and center of our Faith!

Jesus is the name given to the Son of God by God himself, so I guess we can say that he chose his own name!  Recall that both the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph were visited by an angel who told them that this was to be his name. In their Hebrew-Aramaic language he was called Yeshua. In modern English we would call him Joshua. But the tradition has been to retain the Latin form of his name - Jesus - so as to distinguish him from all the other Yeshuas and Joshuas (which was an extremely common boys names among the Hebrews).  In whatever language, the name of Jesus means Savior because, as the angel said to Mary, the child was destined to save his people from their sins. He would  be this Savior primarily (but not exclusively) by his cross and resurrection. 

Nazarene or Jesus of Nazareth refers to the extraordinary fact that Jesus, God-come-in-the-flesh, lived an ordinary life as an ordinary resident of the obscure village of Nazareth for the vast majority of his human life. This shows the his desire to live in solidarity with us, living as we live.  It also shows his great humility because in his day Nazareth was looked down upon by the devout Jews of Jerusalem. They saw the Nazarenes as inferior "contaminated" Jews because they mixed with lots of different kinds of people due to their being somewhat close to the trade routes. Nazareth was the kind of place that people make fun of, with only a few hundred residents, up in the north central part of the country that was considered "the sticks".  And it was there in such a place that Yeshua the Savior, son of Mary and supposed-child of Joseph, freely chose to live as a neighbor, citizen and tradesman. Jesus the Nazarene shows us the value and dignity of regular every-day ordinary life lived in union with God.

Rabbi was a title Jesus earned as one of the common traveling teachers of the Scriptures in Israel. it is related to other title of his - Master or Teacher- which indicates that he had a following of students called disciples. This is the Jesus we are probably most familiar with from the Gospel stories although as Christians we are probably not familiar with calling him Rabbi. Throughout the gospels we see that the people are amazed at Rabbi Jesus and they identify him as unique because he teaches with authority and with power over demons and illnesses. His words and teachings respect the value and dignity of the common person and he puts that law and commandments in proper perspective instead of making them a burden on the people. His style and preaching became a thorn in the side of many of the "official" teachers of religion in Judaism (Scribes and Pharisees) and their leadership turned against him and sought to destroy him. 

Christ is the most popular of Jesus' titles and it is so connected with his first name that, humorously, some people have thought that "Christ" was his last name!  "Christ" is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word Messiah. Literally (in both languages) it means the Anointed One.  You might recall that Baby Jesus was hailed under this title right from the first moment of his birth by the Christmas angels of Bethlehem.  They said to the shepherds, "For born for you this day in Bethlehem is he who is both Christ and Lord."

This title was used in Israel to refer to the Savior, the Warrior-King, the Great Deliverer whom many believed would come one day to rescue the Jews from their sufferings. He would be a descendant of the family of the great King David of Jerusalem and he would restore the throne to its rightful place. Among a people who were long-oppressed and endured many cruelties from their enemies, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One was the long-hoped for Hero. They also called him the One-Who-is-to-Come. Devout Jews yearned for his arrival and Hebrew girls dreamed that they would be his mother. The reason many did not see this Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth was because of their notion that the Savior would be a worldly political figure. So when he was arrested, tortured and crucified by the Romans many lost hope that he was the Christ.

But hidden within the Old Testament Scriptures and prophecies there were also hints that the Messiah-Christ would be more of a spiritual revivalist and religious hero, not a political one. He would heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and raise the dead. The Resurrection victory of the Christ over his enemies and over death itself was the ultimate sign and proof that he was, indeed, the One-Who-is-to-Come.

Son of God is a name for Jesus that we understand much differently than people did when he walked upon earth. Back in his day it meant a holy man who was chosen by God, very intimate with God. Jesus himself, however, used it to refer to his unique status as the actual Son of God the Father, similar to how we use it today. And by the end of the gospel stories we see that many disciples and others begin to use this name with that understanding as well. For this reason they gave Jesus the title that they reserved only for God and that is the name, Lord.   The Jewish people had a great respect and reverence for the Name of God, so they would never use it or say it. Instead the substituted the Hebrew word Adonai (which means Lord) in place of God. So in the New Testament whenever Jesus is called "Lord" it is usually a sign of belief in his Divinity.

Son of Man was the title Jesus used most frequently when referring to himself. It is also the most used title for Jesus in the gospels even though no one - to this day - is totally sure of what it means!  As far as we know, this title typically refers to two things: the humanity of the Son of God and his glory as King or Messiah.  By using Son of Man for himself Jesus could simply have been stressing the fact that he is truly human as this name can also be translated as "The Human One".  It shows his solidarity with us in everything human except for sin.  As a man, God the Son knows by experience what it means to be happy or sad, lonely and frustrated, even tempted and racked with pain. He can sympathize with us not just "in the head" but "in the heart". Son of Man can also refer to Christ's divinity. In the Old Testament Book of Daniel it stands for a mysterious figure who is given praise and glory by God and rules over all creation. So in this case it would point us to Jesus as the great victorious Messiah-King. Even though we don't know its full meaning, it's important for us to be familiar with it because Jesus used it a the #1 designation for himself and it occurs about 80 times as his title in the gospels.

The names/titles of Jesus were used to form one of the first symbols used by Christians before the cross became the #1 Christian symbol. They used the Greek word ichthys or ichthus (ikhthýs) which means "fish" along with the drawing of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish. The reason they chose this was because each letter of the Greek word for fish was an acronym for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior" (see image above).  Thus the names of Jesus became one of the first ways for Christians to identify  one another int times of persecution as well as expressing the belief that God reveals himself to us through his Son.

Well, that brings us to the end of our first bite into reflecting upon Jesus as the greatest revelation of God to the human race. Before we start tasting more of this feast of faith, it's important for us to have at least this basic grasp of WHO Jesus is, WHY he came to live as one of us, and WHAT this means. And I think that looking at his primary names and titles is a good beginning. It's kind of like putting the napkin on our laps and taking up our utensils as we get ready to dig in and enjoy what will be placed before us as we continue our Bitesize studies on Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior!

DOGGIE BAG: Here are a few things to take away from our study for spiritual snacking throughout the day.

Prayer of Praise for the Holy Name: Jesus, Name full of glory, grace, love and strength! You are the refuge of those who repent, our banner of warfare in this life, the medicine of souls, the comfort of those who mourn, the delight of those who believe, the light of those who preach the true faith, the wages of those who toil, the healing of the sick. To You our devotion aspires; by You our prayers are received; we delight in contemplating You. O Name of Jesus, You are the glory of all the saints for eternity. Amen. (St. Bernadine of Siena, Franciscan, 1380-1444AD)

Traditional Catholic Practice: You may have noticed that some Catholics have the practice bowing their head whenever they say or hear the name of Jesus.  This is very similar to the customs we have of bowing the body to an altar,  genuflecting before the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament  in the tabernacle, or making the sign of the cross as we pass a Catholic Church or cemetery. Try forming the habit of bowing the head slightly at the Name of Jesus as a sign of respect, an act of faith, and even as a way of making up for those who abuse the Holy Name in their language.

Scripture Verse to Memorize: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt.1:21)

3. DIVINE REVELATION: ISRAEL & THE OLD TESTAMENT

APPETIZER: By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to humankind. He has thus provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that humans asks about the meaning and purpose of life. God has revealed himself to humanity by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds and in words. (CCC #68-69)

MAIN COURSE: We have touched upon how God reveals himself to the observant seeker through such things as the intricacies of creation and the wonders of the human person. But that's only like knocking on the front door. To know more and personally to encounter the One Who Is, we need him to answer our knocking, open the door and invite us in so that we can get to know him. And that is precisely what God has done for us. We call this initiative of God making himself better known Divine Revelation. "To reveal" means to pull back the veil, to show what is hidden. 

It might help to think of the how and why of this revelation by looking at our own experiences. We don't readily reveal ourselves, details of our childhood and lives, who we really are, what we struggle with, what we enjoy, etc. to just anyone and everyone.  We tend to talk about these things and reveal these facts of our life to those who eventually become our friends.  We do so gradually, over time, as the relationship deepens. And when we do show forth aspects of who we are and what we like, we often do so in various ways:  by words, by our choice of gifts, by particular movies we talk about or through sharing songs that we like. We don t just throw the entirety of our lives at a person and overwhelm them with our reality in one fell swoop!

In a similar way, the CCC reminds us that God revealed himself over time, bit by bit. He is so Great and Awesome, so deep a Mystery, that we would not be able to endure receiving the fullness of this revelation all at one time!  And even now, thousands of years after God first starting revealing himself in a unique way through Scripture, we still remain so far away from understanding who he really is and what he is really like! And of course...we never will truly comprehend God precisely as he is, not even in Heaven (though that will be the closest we will get)!

God's in-person revelation of himself began with Adam and Eve upon the creation of humanity and continued even after the original sin through his communication with Noah. It reached a decisive point in God's call of Abraham around the year 2,000 B.C., who was chosen by God to become the father of a chosen people who would become known as Israel.  The Old Testament (also called the Hebrew Scriptures) is the written experiences of God's revelation to Israel recorded through various literary forms such as history, prophecy, poetry, hymns and parables.

God chose to make himself known and to entrust this self-revelation to a people who would be specially dedicated to him. It was though their faith and experiences that others would be able to come to know of the One True God.  So we see that right from the beginning, God chose to use people as his instruments on planet Earth and he has continued to do so to this day. 

The Chosen People (aka Israel, Hebrews, Jews) were well aware of the unique relationship they had with God and guarded it jealously, sometimes so jealously that they excluded others from their company. Their relationship with God was sealed with covenants, guided by commandments, and celebrated in cultic (i.e., liturgical) worship. 

They had outstanding figures in their history of revelation such as Isaac, Jacob, Moses and King David whose stories and experiences are recorded in the books of the Bible such as Genesis, Exodus and Kings.  Their prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, were people chosen by God to receive much of this revelation and to remind the people to live up to their calling and we find their encounters with God in the books that bear their names. The formal prayers used for liturgy in Israel are beautiful and meaningful expressions of various human emotions and collected in the Book pf Psalms.

Israel suffered much both because of their fidelity to God and because of their sins. For much of their history they were a struggling people, an oppressed nation. But through it all, their prophets received the Word of God concerning the coming of a future Messiah or Deliverer who would vindicate them. While the prophecies concerning this Messiah were spoken in mystical and symbolic language, the people came to think of him as the one who would be their greatest King, their bravest Warrior, their mightiest National Hero forever.  They began to refer to him as The Savior,  The Promised One and The-One-Who-is-to-Come.  

Here are some of these messianic prophecies, but presented here with what we know now looking backwards from the vantage point of Jesus and the Resurrection:

* He would be conceived and born of a virgin and would be Emmanuel, which in Hebrew means “God-with-us”; 

* He would be born in Bethlehem, the city of his ancestor King David; 

* A star would announce his birth and foreigners would coming bearing gifts; 

* Bitter agony would grip the mothers of Bethlehem, which happened with Herod’s slaughter of the Holy Innocents after Jesus’ birth; 

* He would live for a time in Egypt but return to Israel and become a resident of Nazareth;

* His mission would be like a light shining in darkness, with great signs of God’s power and presence;

* The Messiah would die a sacrificial death on behalf of the people, a suffering that would heal us;

* Finally, and marvelously, He would not be left for dead dead but escape the corruption of the grave.

Finally, about 2,00 years after the calling of Abraham the right time came in God's plan of gradual revelation to make himself known in the most awesome and personal way possible: by coming among us himself in the flesh. Now humans would be able to not just receive the Word though the medium of prophets, but directly from the lips of God himself.  Even more...they would be able to see, hear and touch the Word become flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and Savior.

DOGGIE-BAG: Here are a few things for your spiritually snacking through the day.

Prayer Before Reading the Bible:  Lord, inspire me to read your Scriptures and to meditate upon them day and night. I beg you to give me real understanding of what I need, that I in turn may put its precepts into practice. Yet, I know that understanding and good intentions are worthless, unless rooted in your graceful love. So I ask that the words of Scripture may also be not just signs on a page, but channels of grace into my heart. Amen. (Origen, Father of the Church, 184-253 AD)

Prayer to Encounter God in Revelation:  Teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to me as I seek: For unless you instruct me I cannot seek you, and unless you reveal yourself I cannot find you. Let me seek you in desiring you: let me desire you in seeking you. Let me find you in loving you: let me love you in finding you.  (St Anselm of Canterbury, 1033-1109 AD)

Scripture Verse to Memorize:  "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son." (Hebrews 1:1-2)