From "The Catholic Thing" Website:
At times it’s enjoyable to kick your feet up with the Ignatius Bible on your lap and spend a couple of hours reading the Gospels or some of those stirring Old Testament stories. The experience may be so absorbing that we might find it easy to question whether we need priests, bishops, and popes – or even the Church. (Protestants have, for 500 years.) Why not dismiss them all as complicating factors and enjoy the bliss of sola Scriptura? Well, a few nagging details are noticeable.
The Gospels recount Jesus’ words and glorious deeds. After the miraculous multiplication of loaves, the Apostles sail across the sea and encounter Jesus walking on water. Jesus elicits Peter’s momentary faith but saves him from sinking into the waters in a moment of doubt. Ashore, the crowds seek Jesus as their “Bread King,” but he reveals an astounding truth: Jesus is the Bread of Life, and unless we eat His body and drink His blood, we have no life within us.
Except for the Apostles, the disciples scatter in disbelief. The Apostles don’t thumb through their Bibles (which they didn’t have back then anyway). Peter asks, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.”
The Gospel narrative reaches its decisive moment (Matthew 16:13-20). Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” They respond, Elijah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. But Peter, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, witnesses to the messianic divinity of Jesus: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”
Jesus responds with words that Bible-alone Christians may find difficult to read: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail over it.” It’s a tall order. Peter? Church? Protected from the Devil’s assaults?
From a Bible-alone perspective (what Luther codified as sola Scriptura), it’s an inconvenient truth. Why was a Church necessary in the first place? And if it was necessary, couldn’t He have done better with a qualified, highly educated man, sophisticated in the ways of the world, and relating well to the Jewish elites? Why did Jesus need to identify a mere mortal – and a fisherman at that – as his vicar? Yet after the Resurrection, at Pentecost, the Church emerges publicly under Peter’s apostolic leadership.
We know much of the rest of the story. The Apostles went out to the world to preach the Gospel. Peter’s ministry abruptly ended in Rome, where he was crucified. For a couple of hundred years, his successors suffered similar fates. Yet somehow, the gates of Hell didn’t prevail over the infant Church. That Bible didn’t float down from heaven. It was born into the Church, recognized within the Church, and authoritatively confirmed by her bishops and popes.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century. We won. We have leather-covered Bibles. Some Protestant Bibles are missing important books. Thomas Jefferson took scissors, literally, to the pages of the book and produced a Bible without miracles, limited by Jeffersonian rationalism. Many modern Catholic Bible translations are scarred with political correctness. Despite a few flaws – with a Bible on one’s lap – people often get in the way, unless they’re bringing lunch or dinner.
Church history is distressing. Critics of the popes have always found reasons to complain. Some popes have seemed too silent; others have talked too much. Some have overextended their authority. Others have failed to use it correctly. The popes of the Middle Ages were often so worldly they hardly had time to rule the Church. It’s no wonder the Protestant revolt gained such traction in the sixteenth century. Today, Churchmen opposing the modern machinery of death in its various forms are accused of ivory tower naiveté. Who needs a Church?
Yet, year after year, century after century, Church teaching somehow remains consistent while developing organically in depth and understanding. The simple faithful often identify departures from Apostolic Tradition more easily than highly trained theological experts. Yet the Church’s solemn pronouncements are publicly available and can be verified.
Without an authoritative Church to resolve competing interpretations, the Bible-alone Christian can find himself entering a surreal world of confusion. One Biblical doctrine is emphasized at the expense of another, and eventually the essential question becomes: What, precisely, must one believe for salvation?
Faith is a good and necessary start, but without love – as Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians – we are merely noisy gongs. Without love and repentance, and the assistance of God’s grace, we cannot attain heavenly glory. Scripture itself leads us to Divine Revelation, the Ten Commandments, the Sacraments, and prayer.
So by all means, kick your feet up with the Ignatius (or the Douay-Rheims) Bible on your lap. Read it. Pray it. But don’t forget to ask the question Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
Begin by going to Mass.
Article by Father Jerry J. Pokorsky is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington. He is pastor of St. Catherine of Siena parish in Great Falls, Virginia
