The Synod of Bishops is coming up – commencing in Rome on October 5.
(The last Synod was on the topic of the Eucharist, in the fall of ‘05)
Here’s the Vatican webpage for the Synod, with all of the preparatory documents.
And here is a good page that’s being published by Ascension Press ScriptureSynod.com. Good resources, promises to be continually updated. Here’s the FAQ page, for example:
The Synod proposes to:
- reverently contemplate this mystery of the Word, God’s greatest gift, to render thanks for it, to meditate upon it and to proclaim it to all members of the Church and all people of good will.
- spread and strengthen encounters with the Word of God by thoroughly examining its doctrinal underpinnings and allowing them to show the manner in which this is to be done
- help the faithful understand what the Bible is, why it is there, how beneficial it is to the faith and how to use it properly and apply it to everyday life
- renew listening to the Word of God, in the liturgy and catechesis, specifically through lectio divina, duly adapted to various circumstances; and to offer a Word of consolation and hope to the poor of the world.
- set forth the intrinsic connection between the Eucharist and the Word of God, since the Church must receive nourishment from the one “bread of life from the table of both God’s word and Christ’s body.”
This is the Synod’s underlying purpose and primary goal, namely, to fully encounter the Word of God in Jesus the Lord, present in the Sacred Scriptures and the Eucharist. ~Lineamenta
I’m a bit disturbed that this synod is being reported as a ’synod on the Bible’ in so many quarters (not in your article, I know) – “scripturesynod” is an example. The synod is about the Word of God which of course does not simply mean ‘the Bible’ in Catholic teaching.
I agree that the synod should not be labelled a Bible synod. In this world of political correctness, the phrase ‘people of the book’ is overused and quite misleading. We forget that as Christians, we are not simply ‘people of the book’, we are people of the living God in Jesus Christ. However, a great number of Catholics still do not understand that they can and do encounter Jesus personally in Scripture just as they do in the Eucharist.
As a 4th year student in the Education for Parish Service program out of Trinity U in DC. I continue to find myself getting a slap upside the head when it comes to my understanding of scripture.
We have an amazing professor from Fordham University, Dr. Harry Nasuti teaching a mini course, ‘The Psalms: God’s People at Worship’. Many people found it odd that he claimed the psalms as inspired, since they consider them the words of people like David, which of course they are, but then the book of Romans are Paul’s words. He went on to say that when we pray the psalms they become our words, they are words that Jesus said, words that we say individually but also as part of the Body of Christ the Church. We really never say them alone but with Him, in Him and through Him. They are as much God’s word to us as our words to God…they are sacrament in that they are transformational. Those who read the psalms daily know this by experience, but for those of us who have never prayed the psalms consistently, this was a revelation. On a more ‘practical’ note, Dr. Nasuti showed us how the first reading and the psalm of the day are related; the beauty of the relationship is strikingly apparent for Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, the beginning of Advent, etc., but also very clear in the daily readings. How many of us recite the acclamation without really knowing it is just that an acclamation? How many of us listen to the psalm at all really or think about why this psalm? How many parishes substitute songs for the psalm, so we don’t have the opportunity to make a connection?
I certainly don’t expect the synod to be this specific, but to highlight for example the transformational character of the psalms for our use, to explain lectio divina as something for we ordinary folk, these would be a great blessing. To help us listen more attentively at Mass so that we meet Christ both in the Word and in the Eucharist and be doubly blessed is a wonderful goal.
And here I thought “Synod Mania!” was oxymoronic!
“I’m a bit disturbed that this synod is being reported as a ’synod on the Bible’”
” Many people found it odd that he claimed the psalms as inspired…”
Um, Right. Isn’t it cryingly obvious we NEED a synod on the Bible. Thank the Lord Benedict has the wisdom he has on this one.