In this post, I want to develop further the proposal that the Church deepens our understanding of Scripture and, in the process, I hope to demonstrate that the Church cannot be reduced exclusively to an institutional structure by discussing the Church’s dual profile. In our day and age, we have become very familiar with the term “profile” due to the prolific rise of social networking sites on the internet. Long before the advent of such sites, the Church had a profile — in fact, the Church has a dual profile that helps us discover who the Church is and what she is called to do. This dual profile of the Church refers to both her Marian (Mary) and Petrine (Peter) dimensions. Blessed John Paul II said that, “this link between the two profiles of the Church, the Marian and the Petrine, is profound and complementary” (Address to the Roman Curia, December 22, 1987). Pope Benedict XVI, at his first Consistory in 2006, said to the newly created Cardinals, “You above all, dear new Cardinals, what great sustenance you can receive for your mission as the eminent “Senate” of Peter’s Successor! This providential circumstance helps us to consider today’s event, which emphasizes the Petrine principle of the Church, in the light of the other principle, the Marian one, which is even more fundamental” (Homily for the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 2006).

What does it mean to speak of this dual profile that both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI refer? Simply, that the Marian profile refers to the Church as she is concerning her discipleship in all its facets (Mother, Bride, Disciple). The Petrine profile refers to the Church’s institutional structure and order, as well as her divinely appointed role as Teacher (the Magisterial authority). These twin profiles are complementary, with the Marian dimension being more fundamental. In other words, the Popes are saying that the Petrine serves the Marian and not the other way around. So how does a discussion about this dual profile deepen one’s Biblical reflection? It does so because these dual profiles flow forth from the wellspring of the Scriptural story.

We shall begin by looking at the Marian profile. The Second Vatican Council writes in reference to the Blessed Mother:

By reason of the gift and role of her divine motherhood, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with her unique graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united to the Church. As St. Ambrose taught, “the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity, and perfect union with Christ. For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother” (Lumen Gentium #63).

Many non-Catholics believe that too much talk about Mary and the Church obscures the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Non-Catholics might ask, “Why did the Council write such things about Mary?” To put it simply, the Scriptural story compels the Church to write such things about Mary. Blessed John Paul II wrote, “The affirmation of the central place of Christ cannot therefore be separated from the recognition of the role played by his Most Holy Mother. Veneration of her, when properly understood, can in no way take away from ‘the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator.’ Mary in fact constantly points to her Divine Son and she is proposed to all believers as the model of faith which is put into practice” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente #43). Mary is proposed, says the Pope, as the model of faith which is put into practice. Let us turn to the Scriptures to see how this proposal is made.

The Gospel of Luke, especially in three passages (1:26-56, 2:15-19, 2:33-35), provides the paradigm that proposes Mary as the model of faith. It must be said that Mary’s faith, while proposed for our emulation, is supremely unique to her (e.g., to her alone can it be said “Mother of God”). In the first passage, we read of Mary’s response to the words of the angel Gabriel, “let it be to me according to your word” (vs. 38). Mary’s “Yes” to the angel’s words models for us what our response should be to God’s call in our lives. Mary wants to do God’s will and her response demonstrates this. It must also be stressed that this “Yes” to God involved great risk for Mary, as Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the Papal household pointed out, “to whom could she explain what had taken place within her?” (Mary: Mirror of the Church, pg. 41). Our “Yes” to God also involves risk. After her encounter with the angel, Mary, we are told, went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth rejoiced at Mary’s arrival, exclaiming, “why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (vs. 43). Mary, in her womb, brought Elizabeth’s Lord, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. As Blessed John Paul reflected, “It was in her (Mary’s) womb that the Word became flesh!” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente #43). We too, as followers of Christ, bring Christ to others. It is our calling to make Christ known to others, in word and deed. Elizabeth added these words to her praise for Mary, “when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy” (vs. 44). Mary was the first evangelist, if you will. She heralded Christ to Elizabeth and John the Baptist. It was John’s mission to prepare the way of the Lord, to make Him known to the people. It was from the sound of Mary’s voice that John was introduced to Jesus. We too, as followers of Christ, are called to introduce and herald Christ to others.

Elizabeth continued in her words to Mary saying she is, “blessed” because Mary “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (vs. 45). Mary trusted the promise spoken to her by the Lord and we, who follow Christ, are called to do the same, as James tells us (1:6-7). These words of Elizabeth produce within Mary her great song of praise, the Magnificat (1:46-55). Mary’s soul magnifies the Lord because Mary is very much aware of her low estate. These words of Mary anticipate John the Baptist’s own confession, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Mary is great because she is fully aware of her dependence upon God. Her blessedness is tied up in the fact that she knows that apart from God she is nothing. Mary manifests a trait that is present in the piety of the saints: the more holy one becomes, the more one is made aware of their dependence upon God. We too are called to recognize our utter dependence upon the Lord. Many saints, from St. Augustine of Hippo, to St. Theresa of Avila, to St. John Vianney, have said that the key to the Christian life is humility. Peter commands, “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6). Pope Benedict XVI describes what it means to follow Christ, “Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God . . . humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from ‘what is mine,’ to give me gratuitously ‘what is His’ (Message for Lent 2010).

Luke describes Mary as one who kept the things said of her Son pondering them in her heart (2:19, 51). Mary contemplated what was said of her Son and her Lord. She was not passive in what was happening in her life, rather she entered into the mystery and pondered it. We too must allow the things concerning Christ to percolate within us and this happens by mediating upon and pondering Christ and His life. This, in fact, is what the Rosary is all about: looking at the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, contemplating the beauty of Christ (Blessed John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae). St. Paul exhorts the followers of Christ to set their minds on things above (Col. 3:1-2) and to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly (Col. 3:16). As Mary did, we must also do, keeping within our hearts the things concerning Jesus Christ that we might ponder those things and live out those things in our lives.

Later in chapter 2, Luke records for us the words of Simeon, the great man of faith, to Mary about her child and how the events of His life will impact her, “and a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (vs. 35). Blessed John Paul II spoke of this as something like a second Annunciation for Mary, in which she is told that her obedience of faith will be lived in suffering (Redemptoris Mater #16). The words to Mary will find their fulfillment in a deeply profound way at Calvary, when she witnesses with her own eyes the death of her Son. As followers of Christ, we too are called to share in the sufferings of Christ, as St. Paul reminds us (Rom. 8:17, Phil. 3:10, Col. 1:24, 2 Tim. 3:12). In fact, our suffering is so deeply united to Christ that Christ Himself could say to Saul (Paul), “why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4). Like Mary, our sufferings are not in vain, but in some mysterious way are taken up into the sufferings of Christ and help bring about the redemption of His people (Col. 1:24).

While there are so many other things that can be discussed about Mary from Luke’s Gospel (e.g., the connection between the Ark of the Covenant in 2nd Samuel 6 and Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, Daughter Zion, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, etc.), there is one last story in the Gospels where we see Mary’s faith on display. John records for us the wedding at Cana (2:1-12), in which we learn of Mary making a request to her Son. We also learn of Mary telling the servants at the wedding to do whatever her Son tells them to do. As followers of Christ we must do whatever Christ tells us to do and we must be willing to tell others to do the same. As Christians, our liberation in Christ is found in our communion with Christ and His Church. Thus, we must be obedient to Christ’s word to us and we must be obedient to share His word with others. Mary was bold in her faith, making a request of her Son on behalf of others, and telling others to follow her Son’s words.

One can see how the Scriptural story describes Mary as the model of faith for all believers. She manifests what it means to follow Jesus Christ. And this is what the Church means when she speaks of her “Marian Profile.” This leads us to turn our attention to the other profile we mentioned, the Petrine profile. Before we discuss the Petrine profile, it is important that we recognize that some people erroneously think that the term “Church” only refers to the hierarchy. The Vatican reporter John Allen calls this “purple ecclesiology,” which is the view that what really matters in the Church is the hierarchy. Allen rightly rejects such a notion as wrong-headed. He tells a rather amusing story about the Blessed John Henry Newman, who, when asked what he thought of the laity, replied “Well, we’d look awfully silly without them.” In fact, the Church proposes very clearly that the term “Church” cannot be reduced to the hierarchy alone. The laity, it is said, “are in the front line of Church life . . . they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, . . . the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.” (#899). The Church is the entire people of God: clergy, those in religious life and the laity, and yes, also the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory.

So what does it mean to speak of the Petrine profile of the Church? To what does this phrase refer? It refers to the Church’s magisterial authority as manifested in the hierarchy. This profile pertains to the Church’s institutional structure given to her by her Founder, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church is founded upon Peter and the Apostles. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

When Christ instituted the Twelve, “he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them.” Just as “by the Lord’s institution, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a single apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another. (#880)

The purpose of this Petrine foundation is to serve and assist the faithful as they seek to live out the faith as disciples. In fact, the very first description given about the Church’s hierarchical authority states, “the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry is its character as service . . . ministers are ‘slaves of Christ’ . . . the word and grace of which they are ministers are not their own, but are given to them by Christ for the sake of others” (#876). The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood (#1547). The authority given to the clergy, especially the Bishops in communion with the Pope, is given to serve and not be served, just as it was with Jesus Christ, who said, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).

The charism of infallibility is given by Christ to the Magisterium to assist the faithful in seeking to live out the faith as disciples.

The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium’s task to preserve God’s people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church’s shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. (CCC #890).

Thus, the Petrine profile, as we can see, is not given so that the hierarchy could lord it over the laity, but that they might serve and bolster the faith of the laity, that they might live out the universal call to holiness expected of all God’s people. Many people have a distrust of authority, including Christians. However, we who name Christ as Lord should not be distrusting toward the Church He has given to us. The faith we possess is not something made or manufactured by us, but something received as a gift. It is not left to us as individual believers, including clergy and those in religious life, to determine what is and what is not fundamental to Catholic faith and practice. In other words, it is not our calling to stand in judgment over the Magisterium but to receive the faith from the Magisterium as coming not from men but from God.

The Scripture records for us the words spoken to Peter at Caesarea Philippi by Jesus in which Simon becomes Peter and is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:13-20). A bit later in his Gospel, Matthew tells another story in which the Apostles as a whole are given a share in Peter’s authority to bind and loose (18:18). St. Paul describes the Church as the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15) and Hebrews commands the faithful to obey their leaders (13:17). In Acts 15, we read how the Church, led by Peter, had the authority to act in Christ’s name and with His authority to make a judgment concerning the practice of the faith. They recognized in their decision collaboration between themselves as the Magisterial authority and the Holy Spirit, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (15:28). Thus, we can see from Scripture that the Church is given authority from God to speak and act with God’s own authority. Christ willed to confer upon the Church’s Shepherds a share in His own infallibility in matters of faith and morals (CCC #889-890).

The Church has a faith to hand down which is what tradition really means. Pope Benedict recently reminded us of the responsibility of those who serve the Church in preaching, “We preach not private theories and opinions, but the faith of the Church, whose servants we are” (Homily for The Chrism Mass 2012). The Church can propose this faith with confidence because she relies on the promise of God and not the ingenuity of men. The promise of God is that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church and it was to Peter that this promise was spoken. Peter would be used by God to protect the Church from the enemy of God and His people, Satan, who prowls about the world seeking the ruin of souls. And this is what the Church means by the Petrine Profile.

We have learned that the Church has a dual profile, Marian and Petrine. And we have learned that both these profiles are fundamental to the Church’s understanding of herself. We also have learned that the Church’s authority, the Magisterium, is given not as an end but as means to help us become more and more conformed to Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid of Mary, do not be afraid of Peter, and do not be afraid of the Church, for the source of each is Christ Himself. Instead let us listen to the words of Mary, “Do whatever He tells you.”

I venture to say that many people would have been more likely to guess that an Evangelical preacher penned the above words rather than a Pope, let alone a Pope who ruled from 1914 – 1922, some forty years before the start of Vatican II. In fact, one caricature that we can safely put to rest is that the Church before Vatican II did not encourage the faithful to read the Bible. The simple fact is that in a fifty year period, three Popes wrote three significant encyclicals on Scripture. One used such descriptive language about the Bible as, “a Letter, written by our heavenly Father, and transmitted by the sacred writers to the human race in its pilgrimage so far from its heavenly country” (Providentissimus Deus #1). Another exhorted the faithful to, “read daily the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles, so as to gather thence food for their souls” (Spiritus Paraclitus #43). Still yet another reminded the faithful that the Scriptures were, “given by God . . . in order that these Divine Oracles might ‘instruct us to salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus’ and ‘that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work’” (Divino Afflante Spiritu #49).

So what is the point of mentioning caricatures, the Bible, and the Church? I shall offer two reasons: (1) easing the fears of those becoming attracted to the Catholic faith but who are concerned about the things told to them that Catholics are said to believe, especially about the Bible; and (2) explaining why becoming Catholic will deepen and vitalize your reading of the Bible.

First, the process of becoming Catholic can be downright frightening for the convert. It is quite typical for a convert to the Catholic Church to be surprised that they are moving toward Rome. Often times, the thought is, “any Church but that Church.” For the would-be Catholic, such practices as devotion to Mary and the Saints, the Sacraments, obedience to the Pope, and other “suspicious” beliefs and practices only but confirm in their minds their worst fears about Catholicism. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was right when he said, “There are not more than a hundred people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church. . . . As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.” Thus, when dealing with the issues of conversion to Christ and His Church, many potential coverts are wrought with fear at best, and outright hatred at worst, at the mere thought of becoming Catholic. Add to the mix what spouses, parents, children, cousins, friends, fellow church members and mentors may think about such a move, and you have a recipe for paralysis by analysis. G.K. Chesterton observed, I think rightly, “It is impossible to be just to the Catholic Church. The moment men cease to pull against it they feel a tug towards it. The moment they cease to shout it down they begin to listen to it with pleasure. The moment they try to be fair to it they begin to be fond of it.” Those considering the claims of the Catholic Church have a vested interest in keeping their guard up against conversion to the Church.

This is why stories of those who come into the fullness of the Catholic faith never grow old for me. Many give up so much on the temporal level, from the fracturing and loss of family relationships, the sacrifice of professional esteem, and in many cases, added to that loss, is the forfeiting of employment and loss of income. While none of us should base our faith commitment on someone else’s conversion story alone, the fact is, conversion stories do have a place in helping us process our own journeys, not least of which is to help us ask the right questions. In just the last handful of years there have been many notable scholars who have entered the Church, such as Bruce Marshall, Rusty Reno, J. Budziszewski, Douglas Farrow, Reinhard Hutter, Frank Beckwith, and Mary Moorman, to name just a few. And over the past decades, the list includes such luminous figures as Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. John Bergsma, Dr. Kenneth Howell, Dr. Peter Kreeft, Dr. Robert Louis Wilken, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, Father Richard John Neuhaus, and Father Louis Bouyer. The list could go on.

Now some might say: “What of Catholics becoming Protestants?” Certainly many Catholics leave the Church and become Protestant but what I want you to consider is that in many cases the Protestant convert to Catholicism risks more than the Catholic leaving the Church when you look at it from the temporal realm alone. Take clergy converts, for starters. If a Protestant clergyman leaves his communion, he loses his employment, in many cases also his home (because in some pastoral calls a house is provided), his family, if his wife and children are not on board, professional disapproval and loss of friendships. He also does not have any guarantee that moving forward will mean that he would get to do what he loves, teach the faith. In the tragic case of a Catholic priest leaving the Church, consider what is not lost on the temporal level. Typically the Catholic priest adds a wife, he adds income which is not too difficult because the average diocesan priest does not exactly make a lot of money, he can be more discriminating in accepting a job because he will usually not have the income demands of a Protestant cleric, who needs to provide for his family, and you can add that he also gains the ‘freedom’ to travel and go where he wants, no longer tied to a diocese. In fact, when you compare the converts most well trained in theology in both Protestantism and Catholicism, it is the Protestant who is more likely to convert. A priest, a close friend of mine, put it this way, “The best prospects out there to become Catholic are Protestants who take their faith very seriously. They want to know the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of faith and if they continue to be open to a deepened faith, they will begin, at some point to ask the right questions. Before people can ever get the right answers, they must first learn to ask the right questions. Committed Protestants are often closer to the truth of the Catholic faith than many Catholics. That is why they add such vitality when they join the Church established by Jesus Christ.”

For those who are considering the Catholic faith, ask yourself this: Are all these scholars, pastors, and teachers deceived? Why would such converts give up, in so many cases, the comforts of family, employment, and friends? In other words, from a temporal, this-world-only perspective, they lose, and in many cases, they will never make up what they lost. It is possible that they are wrong but at the very least, this “counting of the cost” corresponds with what Jesus Christ demands of His disciples (Luke 14:28).

As for the reverse of Catholics leaving the Church for Protestantism, often, though not always, to be fair, it is the poorly catechized Catholic who grew up in a home where the faith was not central to life, or in other cases, a marital impediment (divorce, remarriage etc…) is the reason for leaving. Rarely does the Catholic leave the Church because he has discovered in his studies that the Church is wrong about contraception or that the early Church did not believe that the ministry of Peter is the visible sign of unity in the Church. In fact, those questions do not ordinarily arise in the minds of most people, let alone Catholics. Usually a Catholic leaves the Church because his Catholic upbringing was mostly nominal, therefore, it did not resonate with his lived experience. The extent of his knowledge of the faith usually did not exceed that of an adolescent because for many Catholics, tragically, the sacrament of Confirmation is understood as a graduation from Church and not an entering into a deeper commitment to Christ and the Church.

To those considering the Catholic faith, I encourage you to continue down that path. You should count the cost, and you should continue to study. If the Catholic faith is the true faith, you should not be afraid to continue seeking. What is there to fear? It may be hard, and it will be. It may cause great stress, no doubt. It may make you feel overwhelmed, to be sure. But what is there to fear in searching out and knowing the truth? Jesus commands us not to fear (Matthew 10:24-33). In his introduction to the world’s stage, Blessed Pope John Paul II offered hope to a worried world with the words, “Do not be afraid.” Why should we not be afraid? Because Christ has overcome the world. St. Basil the Great offers us wise insight on putting things in their heavenly and eternal perspective:

If you take away my possessions, you will not enrich yourself, nor will you make me a pauper. You have no need of my old worn-out clothing, nor of my few books, of which the entirety of my wealth is comprised. Exile means nothing to me, since I am bound to no particular place. This place in which I now dwell is not mine, and any place you send me shall be mine. Better to say: every place is God’s. Where would I be neither a stranger and sojourner? Who can torture me? I am so weak, that the very first blow would render me insensible. Death would be a kindness to me, for it will bring me all the sooner to God, for Whom I live and labor, and to Whom I hasten.

That being said, I want to stress that becoming Catholic is not only about what you are giving up. Becoming Catholic is also about what you are gaining. This leads to my second point about Bible reading. I can say that becoming Catholic has enriched my reading of the Bible, not lessened it — renewed it, and not stunted it. I suspect that this is surprising for some. Why would becoming Catholic lead to a more substantial engagement with the Sacred Text? The reason for this is the Magisterium, the very authority that many claim makes reading the Bible superfluous for Catholics. Quite a few Evangelicals believe that the Magisterium provides all the answers for the Catholic, and as a result, Catholics have no need to read the Bible or can gain very little from such reading. The former Cardinal Ratzinger is quite helpful in explaining what it means to be obedient to the Magisterium:

The Magisterium, as representative of the universal Church, can claim the respect, indeed the obedience of the preacher . . . the presumption of correctness, so to speak, is in favor of the Magisterium. That does not mean that the Christian conscience has been disengaged, it can very well come to the judgment that this directive or that declaration does not really represent the universal Church. Accordingly, it is true that the weight of the Magisterial statements corresponds to the degree of the universality . . . the limit of obedience to the Magisterium, which does in fact exist . . . does not mean that someone can in principle appoint himself judge over the Magisterium: it should cost something before one thinks he may decide otherwise (Dogma and Preaching, p. 35).

Leaving aside the fact that the Magisterium does not “provide all the answers for a Catholic,” and does not demand that a Catholic disengage his conscience as the current Pope pointed out, how does the Magisterium help deepen one’s Bible reading? I can answer simply that the Magisterium provides the Catholic interpreter with the guidance and direction necessary to explore the Bible by its proposal that the Bible is to be read in both its literal and spiritual senses, of which there are three spiritual senses: allegorical/typological, moral and anagogical (CCC paras. 116-117). The Magisterium also directs us to read the Bible in light of the following three-fold criteria: being attentive to the content and unity of the entire Scripture, reading the Bible within the living Tradition of the whole Church, and being attentive to the analogy of the faith (CCC paras. 112-114). This direction frees the Catholic to navigate the riches of the biblical story as an individual but not in isolation. Rather, because the Catholic does not have to determine what the faith is, deciding what is or is not “biblical,” he has a foundation on which to build when reading Scripture. If I may offer a helpful illustration: Parents will tell their children where they can and cannot go when playing in the yard. They might want to build a fence to keep their children safe. This fence, while setting limits, actually provides the children a safer environment in which to play and explore. Who would think that these parents were limiting the freedom of their children? The same goes for the relationship between law and freedom. Law, in its proper use, is a gift given by God not to restrict freedom but to allow human freedom to flourish. In fact, this illustration is not merely a hypothetical. It is what we experience in contemporary society. Many people assume that the law is an imposition on freedom. The average person thinks freedom is the ability to do whatever I want, whenever I want. True freedom, however, is freedom for moral excellence. The Magisterium functions in some sense like the fence in the backyard or the proper use of law in society, providing the fertile ground that allows biblical studies to flower.

Non-Catholic exegetes often argue over what is the best method of biblical interpretation. Some advocate the grammatical and historical method. This method seeks to get at the grammar of a text and its historical background in order to derive the right interpretation. There certainly is truth in this method, but if this view is the exclusive method, the biblical text risks being reduced to a history lesson, an event of the past disconnected from the present. The redemptive and historical approach is another method that is praiseworthy. The exegete aims to understand how the text reveals the redemptive action of God in the story. Thus, the story of David and Goliath is not about overcoming the Goliaths in your life, as one Reformed writer is prone to remind us, but about how God, through David, defeated Israel’s enemies. This method, if left unchecked, tends to push to the side the moral lesson that the text provides.

However, as in many things, the Catholic is not faced with an “either/or” dilemma. Instead, the Catholic exegete is able to glean many different meanings from the same passage or story. For example, to continue with the David and Goliath story, he can and should look at the historical context of the story. He then should go on to explain how in this story God is acting through David to defeat Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, through their representative Goliath. The exegete does not have to stop there, because he could see in this story a type of what is to come, namely, Jesus Christ’s defeat of Satan. And most certainly, the story has a moral message, encouraging the believer not to fear whatever circumstance that comes his way because Christ has overcome and He has given us and continues to give us the graces necessary to overcome any obstacle.

The Magisterium provides the guidance that prevents the interpreter from either focusing exclusively on the literal sense, or from over-spiritualizing everything. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-39 gives us a glimpse of the necessity of guidance in understanding the meaning of the Scripture. The eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah when Philip came upon him. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading, to which the eunuch replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” The eunuch asked Philip if the prophet Isaiah was referring to himself or someone else. Philip then told him about Jesus. The story informs us of the necessity of guidance when reading Scripture. It also demonstrates the need for a spiritual and typological hermeneutic. If Philip only had recourse to the literal, then how could he help guide the eunuch to understand that this story was pointing to Christ? In fact, it was typology that empowered the early Church to fight against the gnostics, on the one hand, who denied the legitimacy of the Old Testament story, and to make the case to the Jews, on the other hand, demonstrating that the Church’s message was truly Israel’s message now fulfilled in the Person of her Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Typology, guided by the Magisterium, also connects the Ark of the Covenant with Mary, especially in the travel narratives in 2nd Samuel 6 and Luke 1, the Royal Steward of Isaiah 22 with the promise to Peter in Matthew 16, the Twelve tribes of Israel with Twelve Apostles, and the people of Israel with the Church (1st Peter 2).

In closing, we began talking about the fears that come upon us when it dawns on us that we find ourselves moving toward full communion with the Catholic Church. Those fears are normal and are to be expected. However, those fears must not paralyze us from moving forward. You should continue down the path of study that you have begun. You might consider acquiring some excellent books that demonstrate the depth and riches of Catholic biblical interpretation. I recommend that you look at Brant Pitre’s Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, Scott Hahn’s The Lamb’s Supper and Hail, Holy, Queen, Father Aidan Nichols’ Lovely Like Jerusalem or John Bergsma’s Bible Basics for Catholics: A New Picture of Salvation History to help you get started. While the Catholic is to have a deep reverence and respect for the Scripture, and is to take seriously its warning about twisting Scripture (2nd Peter 3:16), hopefully you have come to see that the Catholic has no reason to fear Scripture. Instead, Scripture’s proper home is the Church, and in particular, the Sacred Liturgy. Listen well to the words of Jesus Christ, who tells us, not to fear. How can we fear the Church, when it is His Body?

The late Father Richard Neuhaus put it this way when comparing the faith of a Catholic compared to that of a Protestant, “For the Protestant, the act of faith is an act of faith in Christ, and only then, if at all, is it an act of faith in the Church. They are two acts of faith. For the Catholic, the act of faith in Christ and His Church is one act of faith” (Catholic Matters, p. 75). This leads the Protestant to finding a Church that agrees with one’s own interpretation of the Bible, reducing the faith to the choice of the consumer.

The Church, when compared to such a reduction, begins to look like a labyrinth, with all its rules and traditions, its so-called accretions from the perceived simplicity of the early Church. If the Church is allowed to be reduced to nothing more than a community of like-minded people, then the Catholic Church, to borrow from the former Cardinal Ratzinger, “has nothing to do with faith or is perceived as an obstacle to it: ‘faith, yes; Church, no. Christ, yes; Church, no’” (Dogma and Preaching, p. 21).

However, the Church, if it really is the Church established by Jesus Christ, cannot be reduced. Rather, the Church is always “More” not “Mere” as it regards the faith (See Father Dwight Longenecker, More Christianity). What does it mean to say the Church is always “More”?  Take, for example, Christian hope. To the Protestant this means we will go to heaven when we die, we will be resurrected on the last day and spend eternity with God. The Catholic believes at least that, but more than that. Our hope is that we will share in the very life of God, beholding God as He is, participating in the divine nature. Take grace as another example. Protestants typically conceive of grace as primarily medicinal and restorative. The Church says grace is fundamentally participation in the divine life. What of the Sacraments? Protestants, by and large, accept but two, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Church teaches that there are seven Sacraments. Protestants believe that Scripture alone is the sole rule of faith. The Church recognizes the Sacred Tradition of the Church alongside Sacred Scripture as the rule of faith. The list could go on but you get the point: the Protestant faith is always “less” to the Catholic faith’s “more”.

Why is it that Protestantism is always “less” to the Catholic Church’s “more”? Pope Benedict XVI, writing as Cardinal Ratzinger, writes of a four-fold standard that provides the Church with the necessary vitality to be “more”, that is, to be more alive and open to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. The four-fold standard of the Church’s preaching and teaching is: 1. The Scripture as the unique norm of the Church’s faith, 2. The Creeds of the Church as the expression of the Church’s faith, 3. The living Magisterium of the living Church as the rightful interpreter of the Church’s faith, and 4. The faith of the faithful in their particular context as the lived reality of the Church’s faith (Dogma and Preaching, p. 26-27).

The first of these standards is the Scripture’s unique importance in the Church because it alone is the sole book of the Church. The Scripture is the soul of sacred theology because sacred theology is dependent upon the Scripture (Dei Verbum, para. 24). Pope Benedict XVI explains that, “where theology is not essentially the interpretation of the Church’s Scripture, such a theology no longer has a foundation” (Verbum Domini, para. 35). Following St. Jerome, the Church maintains that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” because the Scripture testifies of Christ and bears witness of Him, as Jesus Himself states (John 5:39).

The second standard is the Creeds of the Church. The creeds of the Church express the Church’s faith in a binding way (Dogma and Preaching, p. 26). The creeds of the Church provide the grounding in which to understand the depth of the Scriptural revelation. While it is true that one could arrive at very important insights and understanding apart from the Church by studying Sacred Scripture, “one cannot ultimately understand the Bible as opposed to the Church” (Dogma and Preaching, p. 38). The binding authority of the Church as expressed in the creeds provides the necessary and sure anchor that prevents the Scripture from becoming the play thing of the academy and the weapon of choice for the fundamentalist. The creeds alone prevent the Scripture from being reduced to a subjective authoritarianism, to paraphrase the late Father Louis Bouyer. Such subjective authoritarianism explains the various sects and denominations that exist, all of whom claim the Bible for their various beliefs and practices. Pope Pius XI says of these various Christian groups that, “A good number of them, for example, deny that the Church of Christ must be visible and apparent, at least to such a degree that it appears as one body of faithful, agreeing in one and the same doctrine under one teaching authority and government; but, on the contrary, they understand a visible Church as nothing else than a Federation, composed of various communities of Christians, even though they adhere to different doctrines, which may even be incompatible one with another” (Mortalium animos, para. 6).

The third standard is the living Magisterium of the living Church. The Church is a living reality with a structure given to her by her Divine Founder, Christ Himself. The Magisterium serves the Universal Church providing the genuine interpretation of the Church’s faith. If there was no living Magisterium of the Church, the Church would be relegated to the past and stuck in it, unable to assist the faithful by shedding light, divine light, on matters of great urgency. The Church’s faith is always continually facing new challenges and unforeseen questions. The living Magisterium, as the rightful interpreter of the faith, provides the faithful with guidance and direction needed to address such moral issues as embryonic stem cell research, end of life issues (especially as it regards what is ordinary or extraordinary care), in vitro fertilization, contraception and so much more. Those who have cut themselves off from the guidance and direction of the living Magisterium of the living Church lack this necessary guidance in making such decisions concerning such matters.

The fourth standard of the Church is the concrete faith of her communities. The Church, who is one and universal, is also many and particular.  The Church’s universal faith is brought to life in its particular manifestations in the world. If this were not so, the Church’s faith would be an abstraction, an idea and not a lived and practical reality, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Deus Caritas Est, para. 1). The core of the Church’s faith remains in tact but its various manifestations can be and are diverse. Various devotional practices might be more popular in one place than another. The Liturgy, though having an internal reality, as it is practiced and experienced, is diverse, with various rites all having a home within the one Church. Because the Church is the Church, she is able to provide a place for diversity while retaining her unity.

Lastly, it behooves me to close with another significant difference between the “less” of Protestantism and the “more” of Catholicism. This difference has to do with the Church as “Mother.” The Catholic understands the Church not as a something, but as a someone, “Mother.” Thus, as Mother, the Church can and does guide the faithful, not as a tyrant, but as a Mother, with maternal concern for the eternal destiny of her children. Like any Mother, the Church never tires of introducing others to her Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the world and its only Savior. This conception of the Church as Mother is rooted in the fact of Mary, the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church. The Church, like Mary, listens to and receives the word of God, meditates and reflects upon that word, cherishing it within her heart, telling herself and others to do whatever Jesus says. As we close the season of Advent and prepare to enter the season of Christmas, let us remember that the eternal and infinite God humbled Himself to share in our humanity, in order that we, though temporal and finite, might be exalted to share in His divinity.

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These categories of person flow out of an Incarnational ecclesiology. We see this duality in the life of our Lord. He is both the manifestation of God’s faithfulness to humanity and humanity’s faithfulness to God. Jesus Christ is God’s answer to man and He is man’s answer to God, as Pope John Paul II said, “Jesus Christ is the answer to the question that is every human life.” He is the good Shepherd (John 10), the way, the truth and life (John 14) and He is also the obedient Son who desires to do the Father’s will (John 4:34; 5:30). The implications of this participatory Christology are evidenced in the life of the Church. Christ is the one who received the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33), thus, the Church receives the Holy Spirit (John 14; 16; Acts 2). Christ is the Chief Shepherd (1st Peter 5:4) thus, the Church has under-shepherds (1st Peter 5:2). Christ is the faithful, obedient and humble Son, thus, the Church is called to model His life (Phil 2:1-11). Christ is the King, thus, the Church has a Prime Minister (Is 22; Matt 16). The salvation that our Lord wrought came through suffering (Heb 2:10; 1st Pet 2:20-24) thus, the Church is called to share in and complete His suffering for (Acts 9; Rom 8:17; 1st Peter 2:20; 2nd Cor 4:10-11; Col 1:24).

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Becoming Catholic or in my case coming back home to the Church is so hard to explain to those who find such horror when they look in the face of the Church. They just do not get it, for whatever reason. For me being Catholic is so rich, so lively. I think of cannoli and ravioli, and red wine, laughter, piazzas, feast days, families (indeed large ones) all held together by the love of the living God made known in the face of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.

Being Catholic is sitting in the family room, praying the Rosary, as your three year old hits his eleven year old brother or one child prays his decade a bit faster. It’s daily mass, sitting with the young and old, who have a simple faith. They really believe that God is there, yes, the Lord of the Universe is there.

It is the 24/7 365 Adoration Chapel, that is even scheduled with the faithful during the Easter Triduum, as men just getting off their shift — still in their work clothes — come to spend an hour before Him who holds all things together. It is the mom, with her six kids at home, who takes that precious hour, when she could go shop or grab some coffee, and sits at the feet of the Master, her Lord, much like Mary of old. It is the old couple, who can barely walk, with shriveled bodies, who come to have some time with the Lord. It is the man, who has buried three kids and then his wife, who in the midst of it all clings to his Lord. It is the mom who, after losing her daughter and then her son, finds consolation for her heart in the Virgin at the Cross who hears the words, “and a sword will pierce your soul.” It is the man watching his father die an agonizing death who sees in this suffering the sufferings of Christ, that nothing, not even the last moments, are wasted, but in some way through this, all things will be made new. It is witnessing the man receive for his last bit of food not the bread of this world, but the bread of the angels. Oh to be Catholic…

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At the end of the day, the purpose of Theology is not to fill ourselves with lots of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but to encounter and experience a deeper intimacy and love for the living God in the face of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. The prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church opens by quoting the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, “Father, … this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) One of the ways that we experience this deeper intimacy with God is through prayer. While it is a truth that prayer is imperfect in which one is aware that one is praying¹, it is helpful to know the different types of prayer that are available for the Christian to make use of in the living out of the faith.

The great spiritual doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, writes, “The ancient Fathers note that there are three kinds of prayer, namely, vital prayer, mental prayer, and vocal prayer.” It is these three types of prayer that we shall briefly discuss. First, let us consider vocal prayer. Vocal prayer is the prayer that one prays with the mouth joined with the heart. St. Francis points out that this type of prayer is first conceived internally in the heart and then expressed with the lips. Just as there are three types of prayer, there are also three types of vocal prayer: Commanded, Recommended, and Optional. Commanded vocal prayers are the Our Father, the Creed and, if you are a priest or religious (a member of a religious order), the Divine Office. Recommended prayer is the Rosary, reciting of the Angelus and other spiritual devotions or, in the case of the laity, praying parts of the Divine Office. Optional prayer might be a prayer that you pray extemporaneously (e.g. I begin every class I teach with prayer, sometimes it might be a recommended prayer like the Our Father, Hail Mary or Glory Be, or it might be something that I express to God in the moment).

Next we turn our attention to Vital prayer. Vital prayer as the name suggests has to do with making our lives a prayer to God. It is very easy for us to compartmentalize our lives. We have our time for God, our time for work/study, for family, and for leisure. This breakdown of our day is unnecessary and can be disastrous. A priest once counseled me wisely in the confessional, “do not let your prayer become part of the ‘to do list’.” Father’s point: prayer is at the heart of who I am, not just some aspect or dimension of my life. Vital prayer is the making of everything we do, from work and study, to recreation with the family, household chores, changing diapers, yes, changing diapers, into a prayer to God. We need to heed the words of St. Paul, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1  Corinthians 10:31) For the Apostle it is possible to do such basic things and bring glory to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that if we give just a cup of water in his name we will not lose our reward (Mark 9:41).

The last kind of prayer that we will discuss is Mental prayer. Mental prayer flows forth from the wells of vocal and vital prayer. In fact, there is a connection between vital prayer and mental prayer in that both require us to be aware that we are always in the presence of God, as the Psalmist says, “where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). Father William Most writes, “To set the stage for any mental prayer, it is highly desirable to first try to recall the fact that we are, even though we are not always aware of it, in the presence of God our Father. If we could live in the constant realization of that presence, what a difference it would make in our lives!” St. Paul tells us to “pray constantly.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) How can anyone pray constantly, or as the NASB puts it, “without ceasing”? We have things to do, chores to get done, people to see. I cannot pray without ceasing, or can I? Why does Paul say this and what does he mean? First, as we already stated concerning vital prayer, Paul believes such basic tasks as eating and drinking can bring glory to God because there is nothing hidden from God. Since God sees everything, he knows our thoughts as well, again it is the Psalmist who writes, “you discern my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139:2)

Mental prayer is the habit of engaging God with the mind. This type of prayer can be engaged in at all times. To give a concrete example of how this may work itself out in our lives, you might take a concept about God, for example, his holiness, and reflect on this throughout the day. St. Paul alludes to this practice when he writes, “be transformed by the renewal of your mind,” (Romans 12:2) and, “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) Mental prayer is an active engagement with the reality of God in the very deepest core of our being. We see this at play in the life of Mary, the Mother of God. St. Luke records for us that Mary pondered the things said of her Son in her heart (Luke 2:19; 51). This pondering of the Virgin Mother is nothing but mental prayer.

As we sojourn toward the heavenly city, may we set our minds on the things above and not the things of earth (Colossians 3:1-2). May we rise each day uniting ourselves, in the words of the morning offering, with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. For the highest form of prayer that we can pray is the prayer of Christ as revealed in the Sacred Liturgy.

1. http://www.tanbooks.com/doct/francis_prayer.htm

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