Jesus opened the minds of his disciples to understand the Scriptures ( Luke 24 : 45 ). He wants to do the same for us, Thus he sent the Holy Spirit to guide and help us understand His Word. The Bible, another name for the Scriptures, is the Word of God, and he who takes it to heart understands Christ who came, not to destroy, but to fulfill everything that was written about him in the Old Testament ( Luke 24 : 46-48 ).

The Bible or the Scriptures consist of two parts : the Old and the New Testaments. The Bible has had a profound influence on the western world, and has done more to shape its literature, history, art, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. The Bible is widely regarded as the best selling book of all time. It still sells about 100 million copies annually.

Yet, many Christians have only a shallow knowledge of the Bible. They read it rarely, don’t reflect on it, and have difficulty applying it to their daily lives at home, and in the workplace. Why is this, do you think? Is it because people are more interested in material things than things of the spirit?

The once-a-week homily on Sundays in Church is not enough. People need to imbibe the Scriptures the way they imbibe food or drink for the body. If you went too long without food or drink you would suffer from malnourishment, and if you did not eat and drink at all you would die of starvation. The same is true of food for the soul in the Scriptures. If you do not pay attention to it and absorb it, you will languish and die of spiritual malnutrition.

The Lord doesn’t want his Word to return to him void. He blesses those who take it to heart and keep it ( Luke 11 : 28 ). And, his Word in Scripture will not return to him void if it becomes part of you, if you give it flesh by the way you conduct your life in thought, word, and deed. This is truly eating and digesting the Word of God so that it becomes part of you just as food and drink, once digested, become part of your body.

So what is the best way to understand the Scriptures? I don’t think there is a best way so much as a best approach. The Bible is the text, and the Holy Spirit is the guide. The Holy Spirit will help you understand the Scriptures.

Anyone who reads the Bible, and invokes the guidance of the Holy Spirit is capable of understanding it. I remember meeting a man once in the parking lot of the Church where I served in Florida. He was quietly reading the Holy Bible in his car. At first, I thought he was in some sort of trouble because the door of his car was wide open. As I approached the car and saw what he was doing, I was pleasantly surprised, and we struck up an enjoyable conversation. The man explained to me that he read the bible every day since he first became acquainted with the Gideon Bible during a serious illness after the Second World War. “The Bible.” he told me, tearfully, “has become my best friend, inspiration, and consoler.” I was impressed, but I was also interested to know what tools or aids he used, if any, to help him understand the Bible. He told me he relied on the Holy Spirit to guide and instruct him, but he always used a dictionary when it came to “big words” he didn’t understand.

This man was intimately acquainted with the Bible because he relied on the Holy Spirit to guide him, and had the good sense to use a dictionary for words he didn’t understand.

I don’t mean to disparage, by recounting this story, the role of scholarship in understanding the Scriptures. Scholarly research is important because it reveals much about the Bible’s history, background, literary forms, and meaning. By means of this story, I’m merely emphasizing the preeminence of the Holy Spirit and personal experience in understanding the Lord’s Word. When you experience something for yourself, it becomes part of you, and never really leaves you. Likewise, understanding Scripture is more than book learning or the recitation of scriptural passages. It is a personal relationship with the Living Word itself which the Lord has bequeathed to each and everyone who wants to do God’s will. Thus the Lord emphasizes : ” Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven ” ( Matthew 7 : 21 ).

There are many tools or aids available to help you increase your understanding of the Scriptures. One valuable method is the Church’s liturgy, and, for children, the Catechism. Both the Liturgy and the Catechism are based on Scripture. The liturgy offers a wide range of biblical writings from the Old and New Testaments, over a three year cycle, that are read at masses every day. These scriptural readings can be further studied and appreciated with the aid of publications like ‘Our Daily Bread.’ The Bible is not just one book, but a collection of books. The liturgical scholars have rendered an admirable service by arranging the writings of the Bible, chronologically, over a three year cycle, for the benefit of the faithful.

There are available today also an abundance of good literature about the Scriptures. There is an old, interactive method called, Scriptural Reading ( Lectio Divina ), that helps the reader enter into a personal understanding of the Word. I have used this method in my own book, ‘What is this thing called Faith?’ In addition to this method which is used widely by various Christian denominations, there are Scriptural Blogs available, such as this one, and there are several websites dealing with Scripture on the Internet. The choice of Scriptural Aids today are not few, but many,

There is a widespread hunger and thirst for the Lord’s Word everywhere, and many are dying of spiritual malnutrition through lack of access, apathy or ignorance. What can be done about this famine is up to you. You can stop it from spreading by simply feeding on the Word. It does not cost much except a little time and a little effort on your part. Make room for the Word, especially the good news of the Gospel, in your mind and in your heart every day. And always remember, the whole Scriptures boil down to Jesus’s New Covenant of Love : ” love one another as I have loved you ” ( John 13 : 34 ).

The Lord’s word, St. John says, is “spirit and Life” (John 6:63). Feed on this Word every day by reading the Scriptures, and letting them become part of you. By doing this, you will be renewed in mind and heart.

You will be feeding your spirit, and you will be spiritually alive.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy