Living Books

Appreciating Catholic schools and the lost art of reading

01/27/2019

Luke 4:14-21 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom  into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

One thing that I learned in Catholic schools, and for which I am forever grateful, is a love of reading and a love of books. Or, as a real book lover would say, Catholic schools made me a “bibliophile.” My “happy place” is kicking back in my recliner after a long, hard day of saving souls, cracking open a classic of literature, and pouring a tall glass of merlot. For me, merlot and Milton pair a lot better than merlot and filet mignon; I would rather read than eat.

To be honest, it took me a while to learn to love reading, like it takes time to develop a taste for fine wine. At Catholic High School in Little Rock we were given the option of reading a 94-point book, or a 97-point book, or a 100-point book. As you can guess, the more the possible points, the tougher and thicker the book. In the beginning, I always settled for the easier and shorter 94-point books, but by the end I was hungry for the challenge of the 100-point books.

One of the 100-point books for sophomores was titled Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It’s a chilling story about burning books. In some distant future people abandon reading all together, and mindlessly watch television all day. Sound familiar? Anyone caught with a book in their home has their entire house burned to the ground by the fire department. The fire department in the story no longer puts out fires with water hoses; they cause fires with flame throwers. The books gets its name from the temperature at which the pages of a book will burn, 451 degree Fahrenheit. But a group of bibliophiles starts to meet in secret outside the city to read and even memorize entire books. Eventually each person memorizes a whole book, able to recite it backward and forward. Each bibliophile becomes a virtual book on two legs. The story is ostensibly about burning books, but the underlying moral of the story is about saving books. Indeed, it is about loving books and even becoming a living book.

Our scriptures today also speak about both loving and living a particular book, namely, the bible. In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, Ezra the priest stands before the people and reads from the Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible, the Law of Moses. It says that he read from “daybreak till midday,” which would probably be about six hours. And how did the people react? We read: “All the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.” Now, they were not weeping like we would weep if Mass went more than one hour. They were weeping for joy, like a woman weeps when he her beloved proposes to marry her. The Israelites were bibliophiles of the bible.

In the gospel, Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah a passage about the mission of the Messiah. Then he profoundly proclaims: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Now, when Jesus fulfills a passage of scripture, he doesn’t just mean some Old Testament prediction came true. Rather, he turns that page into a Person, namely himself. He becomes a living book, like the bibliophiles in Fahrenheit 451. Jesus was the bible on two legs.

By the way, when Catholics use the term “Word of God,” we mean first and foremost the Person of Jesus Christ. The Word was a Person of the Trinity long before he became a page of a book. Only secondarily and subsequently does “Word of God” mean the bible or scriptures. That is why John began his gospel with these unforgettable words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In other words, you can burn all the bibles you want, but you will never destroy the real Word of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ. Everything Jesus said and did fulfilled the scriptures because he was the bible in Person, the Incarnate Word, the word made flesh.

Today I am so excited to launch Catholic Schools Week. We teach our students so much great stuff here at Immaculate Conception School, it’s hard to summarize it all. But to me, one of the greatest gifts we give our students is to help them become bibliophiles, lovers of books. I bet some of our sixth graders know what the word “bibliophile” means and can even spell it. When our students have free time during the school day, they frequently grab a book and start reading. That’s their happy place, too, but hopefully without the glass of merlot! I know one fifth grade student who reads at the college level; Fahrenheit 451 probably feels like a 94-point book to her.

But more than just loving books, we want our students to become living books, especially of The Book, the bible. Here’s how we help them love the bible. Our students stand in this pulpit like Ezra and proclaim the scriptures by reading at Mass during the week at school and on Sunday. That’s something many adults would not dare to do. What’s more, our students become the bible on two legs, indeed fulfilling scripture a little like our Lord, when they help each other at school, when they put into practice the seven habits, when they serve the poor, when the memorize bible verses. They grow in wisdom, age and grace like Jesus did in Nazareth, the very first Catholic school. Paraphrasing St. Athanasius, we might say: “The Word of God became the words of men, so that men and women could become children of God, living words.” Be sure to take a bulletin home today and see how you can participate in all the fun-filled and faith-filled activities of Catholic School Week.

Fahrenheit 451 was not entirely fiction. During Hitler’s rule in Nazi Germany many books were banned and even burned. The Hebrew Scriptures, meaning the Old Testament, was among those books thrown into the fire, and Jews in Germany wept that day for a very different reason than they did during the time of Ezra the priest. But if the day should every come when books are burned again, don’t worry, Catholic schools are raising up generations of bibliophiles. Our students not only love to read books; they are becoming virtually living books.

Praised be Jesus Christ!