Armodoxy for Today: Don’t Step on the Brake

Reading the Bible is important. You expect a statement such as this coming from a priest of the Church and, of course, from ministers of denominations that are Bible based and advocate for individual interpretation of the Bible.

It never ceases to amaze me how people would never, in a million years, consider having their car brakes repaired by someone who read a book about brakes, or watched a YouTube video explaining brake repair. You’d be a fool to trust your car’s braking system and your family’s safety to someone with that kind of “knowlege.” Or even worse, you can’t imagine someone suffering from heart disease or cancer, trusting their medical care to someone who read an article about staying healthy in AARP magazine. Yes, it would be akin to a person sitting in the pilot seat of a jet liner, because he or she grew up on Superman comic books. Yet, when it comes to spiritual care, the wellness of your immortal soul… many people are not only fine but will argue for the thoughts of someone who’s knowledge comes from an evening spent lost in TikTok and Instagram videos, or perhaps a casual read of a book, even if that book may be the Bible.

La Biblia es producto de la Iglesia. Inspirada por el Espíritu Santo, fue la Iglesia una, universal, apostólica y santa la que reunió los diferentes libros que constituyen la Biblia. Piensa en la Iglesia como el editor: aquel que revisa el material y decide qué se queda y qué se descarta. Cada uno de los evangelistas, Mateo, Marcos, Lucas y Juan, fueron los editores originales de la vida de Cristo. De hecho, las palabras finales de San Juan en su evangelio son: “Y hay también otras muchas cosas que hizo Jesús, las cuales si se escribieran una por una, pienso que ni aun en el mundo cabrían los libros que se habrían de escribir”. (21:25)

The Bible comes alive in the environment that produced it. The Church, the Body gifted to us by Jesus Christ, shares with us words of scripture and interprets their direction.

We pray, Lord, You who speak in silence and whisper truth beneath all noise — teach me to listen with my heart. So often my eyes rush to judge, to grasp at appearances, to cling to what is seen rather than what is true. Quiet that impulse in me. Open the inner ear of my soul. Let me hear Your voice in the spaces between words, in the intentions beneath actions, in the gentle movements of grace that the eyes cannot perceive. Amen.