"The Bible is Catholic" Full Series - Robert Tilley

"The Bible is Catholic" is a series of 4 talks by Dr. Robert Tilley where he shows us some fuendamentales truths in our Catholic faith.

1. The word of God and the Word of God made Flesh

In this first week, The Bible is Catholic considers the relationship between the word of God in the Bible and the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. It explores the inextricable connection between the Bible and the Body of Christ, by reference to the Body of Christ as Temple, the Body of Christ as Eucharist, and the Body of Christ as the Church of which Jesus Christ is the head (Eph 1:18-23; Col 1:15-20).

2. The Bible and the Liturgy

In the first week, we discussed the question of the relationship between the Church and the Bible. Some Christians have come to see the Bible as the fundamental ground of truth for the Church. However, the Bible itself says that the Church is "the pillar and ground of truth" (1 Tim 3:15). Far from the Bible being the ground of the Church then, it is the Church which is the fundamental ground of the Bible. The Church wrote and compiled the Bible, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the Church the words of God in the Bible are made fully present to us in the 'Word made Flesh'; this is sacramentally present in the Eucharist.

3. Mary the Temple of Scripture

Those who object to Catholics' devotion to Mary often cite a single biblical text: "a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!' But he replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'" (Lk 11:27-28). This way of reading scripture is called "proof-texting." It treats scripture as a series of bullet points, proofs, or propositional ideas. But the Bible is not written as a series of bullet points; it is written in narrative form. Modern, consumer culture cannot get a grip on narrative structure because it likes things to be straightforward, simple, immediate and accessible. Narrative does not work this way. But if we do not understand how narrative conveys meaning, we will misread this passage.

4. The Sacred Heart of Jesus

In Exodus, God tells Moses that those of willing hearts should donate gifts for the building of the tabernacle. The human heart is a common theme in scripture. How do we overcome the duplicity of the human heart and obtain a pure heart which will freely commit to God's work? God tells the people to circumcise their hearts (Deut 10) but later God says He himself will circumcise their hearts (Deut 30:6). For we cannot circumcise our own hearts. We cannot change by sheer will-power. We need grace. We need God.