July 23, 2025

Fr. John Riccardo

Brothers and sisters: You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us,he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross (Col 2:12-14).

I’ve always found analogies wonderfully helpful. I have a simple mind, and I have always appreciated teachers who had the gift of breaking complex topics down in such a way that they become more understandable and digestible. God, of course, is the greatest Teacher. There’s a reason why most of Scripture in general, and especially most of Jesus’ teaching in particular, is story telling: we easily remember stories. Analogies, like stories, tend to leave lasting imprints in our minds.

I’m thinking of this because recently I’ve been having discussions with people about how to pray with Scripture. Unfortunately, more than a few of us tend to read the Bible the way we read most everything else. And the way more than a few of us tend to read most things today is by scanning. The Word of God, however, His communication to us so that we might have life, is not to be scanned! So, how are we to read it?

An analogy was given to me many decades ago to which I continually return. Imagine yourself at an all you can eat restaurant (a fine one, however — OK, we have to imagine that first). You first come forward and take note of the wide variety of foods available. You then take small portions of the ones you think look tasty. After sampling these small portions, you return and partake more deeply of the ones that were especially delicious. The teacher then applied this to Scripture. You sit down with the Scriptures offered that day at Mass and, like that diner, you “taste” the Word of God, taking note (as in the photo above) of those words or phrases or images that particularly strike you. Then, when you finish a first prayerful reading, you return to those words, phrases or images you took note of and partake more deeply of what struck you. How? Perhaps by simply asking the Spirit in prayer why this hit you the way it did. Perhaps by looking up the historical context. Perhaps by drawing on the many online resources to look up the Greek or Hebrew to better understand what’s being communicated here and now by the Lord to us.

In this week’s 2nd Reading from Paul, for example, I am especially struck by Paul’s telling us that somehow we shared in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection in baptism. As one Father of the Church said, “This is something amazing and unheard of! It was not we who actually died, were buried and rose again. We only did these things symbolically [sacramentally], but we have been saved in actual fact. It was Christ who was crucified, who was buried and who rose again, and all this has been attributed to us. We share in His sufferings symbolically and gain salvation in reality. What boundless love for men! Christ’s undefiled hands were pierced by the nails; He suffered the pain. I experience no pain, no anguish, yet by the share that I have in His sufferings He freely grants me salvation.”

I was also, however, struck by the word translated as “obliterated.” What is the Greek word Paul uses and what tasty morsel might be found therein? An online resource helps me to know that the Greek word, ἐξαλείψω, has the following meanings: to cause to disappear by wiping; to erase; to remove so as to leave no trace. Going a bit further, I can discover that just as a papyrus, the substance on which legal documents were often recorded in Paul’s day, would be washed clean so as to become like new and be reused, Jesus’ Blood poured out on the cross for us has washed us clean, enabling us to begin all over again. This is what happens in baptism, and it is what happens in what the Church often calls “second baptism”, that is, the sacrament of reconciliation.

Is there any among us who doesn’t long to be able to start all over again, to be free of those shameful and humiliating moments from our past? Isn’t one of the devil’s primary strategies against us accusation, constantly holding up in front of us our sins and taunting us? Yet, Paul is telling us that Jesus has “obliterated” those shameful moments of ours in baptism and confession, and that we are free. We are no longer guilty of anything that has been washed clean in baptism or confession! As such, we have already begun to enter into new life with Jesus, no longer defined by our pasts, able to forget what lies behind and press on towards what lies ahead.

Here is but a small sample of the fruit of sitting down to the banquet that is the Word of God! Enjoy the feast, my friends, as you dive into the rich fare that is Scripture.

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cf. The Jerusalem Catecheses

Sitting Down To a Feast

Stepping Into The Arena