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Praise /
Benefits of Scripture |
"But you, remain faithful to what you have
learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it,
and that from infancy you have known (the) sacred scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith
in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful
for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work." (St. Paul, 2 Tm. 3:14-17) "Indeed, the word of God is living and
effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even
between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern
reflections and thoughts of the heart." (St. Paul, Heb. 4:12)
"Sacred Scripture is set up as a kind of
lantern for us in the night of this life." (Pope St. Gregory
I the Great, Doctor of the Church, circa 590 A.D.)
"The music of the gospel leads us
home." (Faber)
"The study of the inspired Scripture is the
chief way of finding our duty." (St. Basil the Great, Doctor
of the Church)
"The world would have peace if only the men
of politics would follow the Gospels." (St. Bridget of
Sweden)
"Thanks be to the Gospel, by means of which
we also, who did not see Christ when He came into this world, seem
to be with Him when we read His deeds." (St. Ambrose, Doctor
of the Church)
"[F]rom
the Bible's pages we learn spiritual perfection." (Pope Benedict
XV, "Spiritus Paraclitus", 1920)
"[T]he
Gospel is a rudder to steer our way through life, and helps us to reach
the harbor of salvation." (St. Cyprian)
"Love the science of the Scriptures and
thou shalt have no love for carnal vice." (St. Jerome, Doctor of
the Church)
"Learn
the Heart of God in the words of God, that you may long more ardently
for things eternal." (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the
Church)
"[I]t
is well to recall how, from the beginning of Christianity, all who have
been renowned for holiness of life and sacred learning have given their
deep and constant attention to Holy Scripture." (Pope Leo XIII,
"Providentissimus Deus", 1893)
"If
aught could sustain and support a wise man in this life or help him to
preserve his equanimity amid the conflicts of the world, it is, I
reckon, meditation on and knowledge of the Bible." (St. Jerome,
Doctor of the Church)
"The
Bible is the most perfect of all books, the most certain of all
sciences, the most august, the most effectual, the most wise, the most
useful, the most solid, the most necessary, the most fundamental and
elevated." (Lapide)
"[W]hat
other life can there be without knowledge of the Bible wherein Christ,
the life of them that believe, is set before us?" (Pope Benedict
XV, "Spiritus Paraclitus", 1920)
"[T]here
is naught in the Gospels which does not shine and illumine the world by
its splendor, so that even things that seem trifling and unimportant
shine with the majesty of the Holy Spirit." (St. Jerome, Doctor of
the Church)
"To
live amidst these things, to meditate these things, to know nothing
else, to seek nothing else, does it not seem to you already here below a
foretaste of the heavenly kingdom? (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church.)
"When
you are really instructed in the Divine Scriptures, and have realized
that its laws and testimonies are the bonds of truth, then you can
contend with adversaries; then you will fetter them and lead them bound
into captivity; then of the foes you have made captive you will make
freemen of God." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)
"Love the Bible and wisdom will love
you; love it and it will preserve you; honor it and it will
embrace you; these are the jewels which you should wear on your
breast and in your ears." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)
"Just as at sea, those who are carried away
from the direction of the harbor bring themselves back on course
by a clear sign, so Scripture may guide those adrift on the sea of
life back into the harbor of the divine will." (St. Gregory
of Nyssa)
Tell me whether you know of anything
more sacred than this sacred mystery, anything more delightful
than the pleasure found herein? What food, what honey could be
sweeter than to learn of God's Providence, to enter into His
shrine and look into the mind of the Creator, to listen to the
Lord's words at which the wise of this world laugh, but which
really are full of spiritual teaching? Others may have their
wealth, may drink out of jeweled cups, be clad in silks, enjoy
popular applause, find it impossible to exhaust their wealth by
dissipating it in pleasures of all kinds; but our delight is to
meditate on the Law of the Lord day and night, to knock at His
door when shut, to receive our food from the Trinity of Persons,
and, under the guidance of the Lord, trample under foot the
swelling tumults of this world. (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)
"To this Our most merciful Redeemer we must
therefore bring all back by every means in our power; for He is
the divine consoler of the afflicted; He it is Who teaches all,
whether they be invested with public authority or are bound in
duty to obey and submit, true honesty, absolute justice and
generous charity; it is He in fine, and He alone, Who can be the
firm foundation and support of peace and tranquility: 'For other
foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid: which is Christ
Jesus.' This author of salvation, Christ, will men more fully
know, more ardently love and faithfully imitate in proportion as
they are more assiduously urged to know and meditate the Sacred
Letters, especially the New Testament, for, as St. Jerome the
Doctor of Stridon says: 'To ignore the Scripture is to ignore
Christ'; and again: 'If there is anything in this life which
sustains a wise man and induces him to maintain his serenity
amidst the tribulations and adversities of the world, it is in the
first place, I consider, the meditation and knowledge of the
Scriptures.'" (Pope Pius XII, Divino Afflante Spiritu)
"The best guide you can find to the correct
path is the serious study of the Bible. There we can find rules
for the conduct of our life and, in the lives of great figures,
living images of a life with God whose actions we are encouraged
to copy. Each person can concentrate on the area where they feel
themselves to be lacking and find, as in a hospital, a cure for
their particular trouble." (St. Basil the Great, Doctor of
the Church)
"And
none can fail to see what profit and sweet tranquillity must result in
well-disposed souls from such devout reading of the Bible. Whosoever
comes to it in piety, faith and humility, and with determination to make
progress in it, will assuredly find therein and will eat the 'Bread that
cometh down from heaven' (Jn. 6:33); he will, in his own person,
experience the truth of David's words: 'The hidden and uncertain things
of Thy Wisdom Thou hast made manifest to me!' (Ps. 50:8), for this table
of the 'Divine Word' does really 'contain holy teaching, teach the true
faith, and lead us unfalteringly beyond the veil into the Holy of
Holies.'" (Pope Benedict XV, "Spiritus Paraclitus", 1920)
"For
the mode in which Holy Scripture is put together, is one accessible to
all, but thoroughly entered into by few. The things it shows openly, it
does as a familiar friend without guile speaking to the heart of the
unlearned, as the learned. The things it veils in mysteries, it does not
deck out in lofty speech, to which a slow and unlearned soul would not
dare to approach, as a poor man would not to a rich; but in lowly phrase
it invites all, whom it not only feeds with plain truth, but exercises
in hidden knowledge; for it has matter of both. But that its plain
things might not be despised, these very same things it again withholds,
being withheld they become as new; and thus become new they are again
pleasingly expressed. Thus all tempers have here what is meet for them;
the bad are corrected, the weak are strengthened, the strong are
gratified." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"Among
the reasons for which the Holy Scripture is so worthy of commendation -
in addition to its own excellence and to the homage which we owe to
God's Word - the chief of all is, the innumerable benefits of which it
is the source; according to the infallible testimony of the Holy Ghost
Himself, who says: 'All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to
teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of
God may be perfect, furnished to every good work.' That such was the
purpose of God in giving the Scripture of men is shown by the example of
Christ our Lord and of His Apostles. For He Himself Who 'obtained
authority by miracles, merited belief by authority, and by belief drew
to Himself the multitude' was accustomed in the exercise of His Divine
Mission, to appeal to the Scriptures. He uses them at times to prove
that He is sent by God, and is God Himself. From them He cites
instructions for His disciples and confirmation of His doctrine. He
vindicates them from the calumnies of objectors; he quotes them against
Sadducees and Pharisees, and retorts from them upon Satan himself when
he dares to tempt Him. At the close of His life His utterances are from
Holy Scripture, and it is the Scripture that He expounds to His
disciples after His resurrection, until He ascends to the glory of His
Father." (Pope Leo XIII, "Providentissimus Deus", 1893)
Also
See: Encouragement
to Read Scripture | Importance
of Scripture | Learning
From Holy Scripture | Proper
Interpretation of Scripture
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