[THE BIBLE] An Invitation to Read

This week marks the start of a ‘new’ invitation to read the Bible, born from the fruitful collaboration between Sobicain (International Catholic Bible Society) and the Aletti Centre: each week, we will offer key elements for reading a book of the Bible by means of a brief introduction and an icon explained.

The Bible is the guardian of salvation history, the time and space in which humanity learns to discern the Word that God addresses to us to bring us into communion with him. This Word – understood as God’s communication of Himself – has been there since the beginning, since the first moments of the act of creation. A single and uninterrupted living Word, generated in the bosom of the Father, pronounced in creation, resounding throughout the history of salvation, which becomes flesh by assuming the human condition. In the Holy Spirit, this same Word dwells in the celebration of the mysteries, filling them with its dynamic force, humbly inviting all humanity and the entire universe to itself and accompanying them to the dwelling place of God.

From ancient times, the nature of biblical language, rich in images, colours and symbols, has led Christians to combine the reading of the Bible with liturgical art, not so much to illustrate biblical episodes, but rather to make their content present; not so much to teach “catechism” but to immerse oneself in a “mystagogy” that respects the “garments of the Word” and the sacramental nature of the language of Revelation.

Sobicain and the Aletti Centre hope that this small service will help to make the Bible not a static object of reflection, but rather that “incorruptible seed” which gives birth and rebirth to the Christian people, nourishing them, feeding them and, before all else, generating them.

Fr. Jose Pottayil and Maria Campatelli