The Sacred Scripture in Our Lives

Specific Objectives

At the end of the session, the participants are expected to:

1. For the participants to know the importance of Bible in our faith as Catholics and Missionaries

2. For the participants to appreciate the Bible through Liturgical Bible Study Method

3. For the participants to commit and share even more the mission of Live the Word

Expanded Outline

I. Introduction

Through the years, we are so blessed to receive God’s love and providence because of our community. Even in the moments of hardship this pandemic, God stayed and will continuously stay on our side and will never leave us. With that, we will continue to declare this year that we are Blessed Beyond Bounds.

We are blessed because God continues to use this community as an instrument for us to hear the good news of His Word. We are even more affirmed that God’s love for us and to our family is real and that nothing can ever separate us from His love. And even more the Lord is inviting us to get closer to Him, stay with Him and to share His Words to others most especially to our family. The Lord is calling us to become closer to Him by reading the Bible as John Eldridge says “You can sum up the Bible in two words: Come closer.”

Many Catholics in our generation today don’t read the Bible anymore. They call themselves Catholic Christians but they don’t have a knowledge how beautiful and real the love of God for us through the Bible.

II. Realities about the Bible today

Our country is predominantly Catholic, more than 70% of the population is at least baptized as one. More than 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines has enriched our faith and instilled in us different traditions and devotions. You can find a chapel or a parish even in the remotest of areas.

And yet, the majority of Catholics are not very knowledgeable about the Bible. Everyone has one in their home, often in their altar. But when asked about it, not everyone can answer satisfactorily. The Bible is the #1 Best Selling book in the world. It is even translated in different languages and dialects. It is easily made available for everyone. But why is it that we still fail to maximize this great gift that God has given us?

A. Catholics are not immersed in the Bible

Ask someone to talk about their favorite book and they will gladly tell you about it. They can even talk about it for an extended period of time. Ask them about the Bible and they will only tell you the most basic of knowledge or for some, none. There are Religion/Christian Living classes in Catholic schools but they do not teach much about the Bible.

B. The Bible is taken for granted

Ask a Catholic if they have a Bible at home, and they will answer positively. Ask them if they are reading it, and they will just laugh or just stay silent. Most will only hear the Word during Mass, and yet won’t even listen to it because of preoccupation with other things. We fail to see the beauty of the Word of God that we just take for granted. St. Jerome said, “ Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of God.”

C. Unaware of a Catholic Bible Study

When we hear about the Bible or Bible Study, what comes to mind? Born Again Christians and the Mormon missionaries walking in the streets. When you ask someone if they have attended a bible study, it is often through these different Christian denominations that they experienced it. When someone is interested and asks the local parish for a Bible study, most especially the young, they will be discouraged after attending one session. The lack of information or the lack of people doing it has drawn people away from the Catholic faith.

The Word of God is with us through the Bible. Still, many people still fail to encounter Jesus through His Word.

III. The Effects of Liturgical Bible Study

God gave us a tool through the Liturgical Bible Study. Weekly, we are given an opportunity to study His words in a group setting, and prepare ourselves for the coming Sunday Mass. When we attend the LBS regularly, we see and experience this followings effects in our lives:

A. Truth

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” - John 14:6

Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. When we read the Bible we will know the truth in Jesus, the truth that He will set us free from burdens and sins. And if we follow His ways, He will direct us to heaven, our home.

B. Transformation

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” -Ezekiel 36:26

A personal encounter with Jesus will transform us to become a better person. In reading the Bible and doing LBS weekly, God promises us a new heart and new spirit, through His Word. When we allow the Word of God to transform us, our lives will never be the same again.

C. Hope

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our Hope.” -1 Timothy 1:1

Jesus Christ is our Hope. The promise of God through His words is our hope. And the One who promised is faithful. We can trust in His Word because He is our promise keeper. Life is full of challenges each day, but with the Lord in our lives, we will never lose hope for He is our hope personified.

IV. Our Response

We are blessed to experience and know about the LBS. We all have different stories on how we were introduced and eventually became facilitators. But it should not stop there, we have a call to introduce the LBS method to more people.

A. Lead by Example

We are to become personal witnesses to other people for them to see that doing bible study is fun and very helpful if we want to grow in our faith.

B. Be Consistent

There may be times that it is hard to join or do LBS, but we must persevere and remember the reason why we are doing it. Let’s join and attend faithfully in our LBS weekly for God will surely meet us there and allow us to understand more of His love for us. You can check our Live the word website for the available schedules of LBS weekly from Monday to Saturday.

C. Share the Mission

We are called to share to others how beautiful it is to live a life closer to the Lord by reading the bible daily and joining a Live the Word hub weekly. As a Missionary Families of Christ, we are called to bring the Liturgical Bible Study into our families because they are the ones that we want to be with when we go to heaven on day. Let us also bring and share the Liturgical Bible Study method to our friends in parishes, schools, and even in workplace.

V. Conclusion

“ The ultimate goal of Bible Study is communion with Christ.” - Dei Verbum

As Missionary Families of Christ we are all called to become missionaries to our own families and one way to do it is to share and conduct Liturgical Bible Study weekly with our family. We are so blessed to have our Live the Word pillar in LCSC that can help us, teach us, and train us to conduct LBS weekly anytime and anywhere for our most portable tool for Evangelization is our Bibles. Let us immerse ourselves in LBS by joining our different Live the Word hubs weekly and let us share it to our relatives, friends, parishes, schools, and workplace so that many people will feel and hear the Word of God for us and many people will say that we are indeed Blessed Beyond Bounds.

Discussion Questions

For discussion, answer the following questions:

1. Am I immersed in using and reading my Bible through LBS? Why or why not?

2. How can I share the beauty of this Catholic Bible study method (LBS) to others?