Bible & Catechism - Day 5

Genesis 5-6:8

This passage shows the genealogy from Adam - Noah. The most interesting part was Enoch.

5:24 Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.

This narrative replaces the standard, "then he died." This passage spurs a lot of speculation. What did this life look like that was worthy of not seeing death? But I suppose if he walked with God, then his life resembled that of Jesus. That is who we should be imitating anyhow.

Psalm 5

In verse 8, the psalmist refers to mercy. Mercy is used to translate the Hebrew word, hesed. This term speaks to a relationship between persons. It is manifested in concrete actions to persons with some need or desire. The one who offers hesed has the ability to respond to that need of the other person. We often define mercy as offering something that the other doesn't deserve. So our acts of mercy often have an element of judgement as well. But here, mercy is described as just giving what you can.

Matthew 4

This passage deals with the temptation of Jesus and the calling of the disciples. Jesus' forty days in the desert recalls the forty years which Israel was tempted in the desert. Each refusal of Jesus is expressed in language taken from Deuteronomy (Deut 8:3, 6:13,16). Jesus takes on all the failings of the disobedient son, Israel and becomes the victor.

Catechism 26-30

We begin with I believe/We believe. The first words of the creed is divided into three parts; our search for the ultimate meaning of life, the Revelation by which God meets man, and our response of faith.

27 The desire for God is written in the human heart....Only in God will he finds the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.

The next section speaks of the attempts of man in their quest for God.

28 These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being

 This references Acts 17:26-28 which speaks of those that would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him.

I like that word, grope. It perfectly describes the plight of man. In darkness, we reach out hoping to grasp the Light. But God is never far from us so we are able to find Him despite our lack of spiritual sight.

29 talks about the various reasons for rejecting this innate desire for God.

30 Although man can forget God or reject Him, He never ceases to call men to Himself. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, "an upright heart," as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

I like that our search for God is treated as a major undertaking rather than with the flippant simplistic attitude we see now. As we study diligently for school, we should study even more diligently the things of God. One of our RCIA leaders described the deposit of faith as a treasure chest. We keep pulling out more gems to learn and grow, but the chest never empties. There is always more to learn from the Bible and Catechism. Then there are endless documents from Church Fathers, Councils and letters and books of the saints to help us grow closer to God.

Much of my tidbits are gleaned from the footnotes in the New American Bible Saint Joseph Edition. It is a great study Bible.