My Word shall not return to me void
Money and the Word of God
I know a woman and her husband from Turlock. She saw on our website that we were offering the “Seven Steps” money management seminars. She and her husband took the 7-week seminar, did the homework, and began practicing the Biblically-based principles of money management. She recently told me that this seminar had changed her life. Whereas before they lived from paycheck to paycheck, and bickered frequently about money, NOW they could breathe freely again. They didn’t have any more money than before, but the Word of God had changed their anxiety into confidence. They realized they had plenty of money for what they needed, and really, what they needed most was love, which doesn’t cost any money. There is peace and joy again in their home.
Catholic Guilt
Most of us Catholics feel vaguely guilty that we don’t read the Bible more. We all have Bibles, I suppose, but we don’t open them. My Mom gave me a Bible on my 16th birthday, and I made a nice cover for it, and it sat on my shelf, and I felt very bad looking up at it because I didn’t have the guts to read it. I tried once, but only got one half of one chapter of Matthew’s gospel read. But one day, when I was 22, I decided to read the Bible. I went to the store and got one for $10 and fell in love with it, reading it from cover to cover (it took me 9 months). It transformed me in some essential ways. I thank God for that year with the Bible. My mother was happy too.
How can we soak ourselves in the Word of God? Well, as Pope Benedict writes, the “Word of God” means more than just the Bible—it is a “symphony” of the Word in so many expressions. The Word of God expresses itself in the fullness of the Mass, in the kind word of a friend, in the beauty of a sunset. But this presence of God, of course, is spoken most distinctly in the Bible. A money management seminar brought the Word of God to my friends from Turlock. It spoke to them right here, right now. If we listen to the Word of God with our hearts, it will transform us. He will transform us, the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ. Because, “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ,” as St. Jerome liked to say.
Money and the Word of God
I know a woman and her husband from Turlock. She saw on our website that we were offering the “Seven Steps” money management seminars. She and her husband took the 7-week seminar, did the homework, and began practicing the Biblically-based principles of money management. She recently told me that this seminar had changed her life. Whereas before they lived from paycheck to paycheck, and bickered frequently about money, NOW they could breathe freely again. They didn’t have any more money than before, but the Word of God had changed their anxiety into confidence. They realized they had plenty of money for what they needed, and really, what they needed most was love, which doesn’t cost any money. There is peace and joy again in their home.
Catholic Guilt
Most of us Catholics feel vaguely guilty that we don’t read the Bible more. We all have Bibles, I suppose, but we don’t open them. My Mom gave me a Bible on my 16th birthday, and I made a nice cover for it, and it sat on my shelf, and I felt very bad looking up at it because I didn’t have the guts to read it. I tried once, but only got one half of one chapter of Matthew’s gospel read. But one day, when I was 22, I decided to read the Bible. I went to the store and got one for $10 and fell in love with it, reading it from cover to cover (it took me 9 months). It transformed me in some essential ways. I thank God for that year with the Bible. My mother was happy too.
How can we soak ourselves in the Word of God? Well, as Pope Benedict writes, the “Word of God” means more than just the Bible—it is a “symphony” of the Word in so many expressions. The Word of God expresses itself in the fullness of the Mass, in the kind word of a friend, in the beauty of a sunset. But this presence of God, of course, is spoken most distinctly in the Bible. A money management seminar brought the Word of God to my friends from Turlock. It spoke to them right here, right now. If we listen to the Word of God with our hearts, it will transform us. He will transform us, the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ. Because, “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ,” as St. Jerome liked to say.
Fear of the Bible
Why are we so afraid to read the Bible? We’ve had the 7-steps seminars for years at this parish, but most folks don’t take them, and most of us are in debt with money problems. We don’t take Bible courses like this, I think, because we don’t really believe it will help us. It’s too much like homework. How can the Bible compete with the flashy evening news, or my favorite interactive website? The bible is just not scientific, not modern.
Thus says the Lord, through the Prophet Isaiah (our first reading): Just as the rain comes down and does not return until it has made the earth fruitful, so neither shall my word return to me empty. It will achieve the purpose for which I sent it. God’s word is living and effective. Do we want to be part of it? Do we want to let it into our lives? We can choose to keep it out, and it will achieve God’s purposes in other people.
Jesus says that only a quarter of the seed, the Word he sowed from heaven, reaches its target. Some falls on the hard path, some on rocky ground, and some among weeds. Anyone can harden their heart against God’s word, or make it difficult to germinate, or choke it with the thousand distractions of our digital world. But some seed fell in good soil. And that which falls on good soil, according to his certain promise, produces 30 or 60 or 100 times as much grain as is sown. Open your hearts to His Word. Let it rain in.
My friends from Turlock opened themselves to the word of God. They got a babysitter for seven weeks, they got in their cars and drove to Modesto, they bought the workbooks and took notes and did the homework. They prayed for God’s help, prayed to do things His way rather than their way. And the Word transformed them. They have no more resentment or worry about money. Will you let the Word of God into your home? Into your heart? Let’s get serious about studying the Word of God, and see how it transforms us.
Pray to the Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, to give you the joy of knowing and loving God through his Holy Word.
Additional Study:
Why are we so afraid to read the Bible? We’ve had the 7-steps seminars for years at this parish, but most folks don’t take them, and most of us are in debt with money problems. We don’t take Bible courses like this, I think, because we don’t really believe it will help us. It’s too much like homework. How can the Bible compete with the flashy evening news, or my favorite interactive website? The bible is just not scientific, not modern.
Thus says the Lord, through the Prophet Isaiah (our first reading): Just as the rain comes down and does not return until it has made the earth fruitful, so neither shall my word return to me empty. It will achieve the purpose for which I sent it. God’s word is living and effective. Do we want to be part of it? Do we want to let it into our lives? We can choose to keep it out, and it will achieve God’s purposes in other people.
Jesus says that only a quarter of the seed, the Word he sowed from heaven, reaches its target. Some falls on the hard path, some on rocky ground, and some among weeds. Anyone can harden their heart against God’s word, or make it difficult to germinate, or choke it with the thousand distractions of our digital world. But some seed fell in good soil. And that which falls on good soil, according to his certain promise, produces 30 or 60 or 100 times as much grain as is sown. Open your hearts to His Word. Let it rain in.
My friends from Turlock opened themselves to the word of God. They got a babysitter for seven weeks, they got in their cars and drove to Modesto, they bought the workbooks and took notes and did the homework. They prayed for God’s help, prayed to do things His way rather than their way. And the Word transformed them. They have no more resentment or worry about money. Will you let the Word of God into your home? Into your heart? Let’s get serious about studying the Word of God, and see how it transforms us.
Pray to the Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, to give you the joy of knowing and loving God through his Holy Word.
Additional Study:
- Visit the Bible & Faith Studies page
- Find out more about the 7 Steps to becoming Financially Free Bible study
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