Reflecting on His Word
One of the best things I did for myself was facilitating the Ascension Press Great Adventure Bible Study Program by Jeff Cavins. When I was a parochial vicar at Saint Charles Borromeo Parish way back in 2006, I wanted to do an adult education program at the parish. I discovered this program on the Ascension Press website, and the rest was history. No, the rest of the programs on the Ascension Press website were not about history... I did some serious promotion and I had eighty-five people signed up. Facilitating this program did a lot for me personally. The program helped me to grow in my understanding of the story of Salvation History, because it encouraged me to read books from the Old Testament. Prior to the program, I favored reading from the New Testament. I believed the people who signed up for the program got a lot out of it, too. I believe those that did the program here at Saint Mary Magdalene Parish also got a lot out of it. Maybe someday we will offer it again.
I think everyone gained many things, but I think one of the things we all got out of the program was that reading the Old Testament helped us to grow in our understanding Christ. You could say doing this program was kind of like being on twenty-four week walk to Emmaus. I say this because our Gospel today is the Road to Emmaus Story. In this, we see Jesus helped his disciples on the road to Emmaus to understand the Old Testament Scriptures that pointed to his coming, mission, and final redemptive gift of himself on the Cross. For tomorrow’s first reading, we will read that Saint Peter did something similar with the crowd. Jesus is truly present in His word, both the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes reading the Old Testament is challenging, but if we ignore the Old Testament, we are ignoring a huge part of the word of Christ. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
This Season of Easter can be a great journey for us to grow in our relationship with Christ as we reflect on the Resurrection, and He might be speaking to our hearts to spend more time on His Word. Enjoy the journey! God bless and stay safe!
In Christ,
Fr. Steve Breck
Pastor, St. Mary Magdalene
