Verbum Domini: Theologian Pope writes Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God

...As I read this apostolic exhortation I was reminded of my favorite definition of a theologian from Evagrius of Pontus, a monk of the early Church, a "theologian is one who rests his head on the breast of Christ".

The imagery clearly refers to the Apostle John, the author of the fourth Gospel, and the posture he assumed at the Last Supper. However, it also reveals the truth that it is only through a relationship with the Lord, what the Pope calls a "hermeneutic of faith", that we can approach the Word of God and encounter the Living Word. Pope Benedict XVI, like the Bleoved dsiciple John, rests his head on the breast of Christ, close to the heart of the Incarnate Word.

From that place of intimacy, this mystic Pope teaches us all the way to live our lives immersed in and transformed by the Word of God in this exhortation. Drawing repeatedly from John's Gospel, the Fathers of the Church, the best of the medieval masters of the West and the treasury of the Tradition, Pope Benedict XVI gives the finest short course on the Word of God, the Bible, Sacred Scripture, which I have ever encountered. This apostolic exhortation is destined to become one of the mandatory sources for studying Sacred Scripture for decades to come.

Verbum Domini is Masterful, Mystical, and Missionary. What is clear from beginning to end is that the current occupant of the Chair of Peter is a theologian of the highest order. He must have delighted his many students as "Professor Ratzinger". This exhortation gives us all a chance to join them and be taught by this extraordinary Pope. With the skills of an excellent teacher, Pope Benedict XVI takes the reader through one of the finest presentations of the Catholic teaching on the Sacred Scripture I have read.

Verbum Domini is Masterful, Mystical, and Missionary.

Yes it is

I especially like this part from Pope Benedict XVI...

Here too we discover what the philosophical tradition calls “ the natural law ”.26 In effect, “ every human being who comes to consciousness and to responsibility has the experience of an inner call to do good ”27 and thus to avoid evil. As Saint Thomas Aquinas says, this principle is the basis of all the other precepts of the natural law.28 Listening to the word of God leads us fi rst and foremost to value the need to live in accordance with this law “ written on human hearts ” (cf. Rom 2:15; 7:23).29

Jesus Christ then gives mankind the new law, the law of the Gospel, which takes up and eminently fulfi ls the natural law, setting us free from the law of sin, as a result of which, as Saint Paul says, “ I can will what is right, but I cannot do it ” (Rom 7:18). It likewise enables men and women, through grace, to share in the divine life and to overcome their selfi shness.30 The realism of the word 10. Those who know God’s word also know fully the signifi cance of each creature. For if all things “ hold together ” in the one who is “ before all things ” (cf. Col 1:17), then those who build their lives on his word build in a truly sound and lasting way. The word of God makes us change our concept of realism: the realist is the one who recognizes in the word of God the foundation of all things.31 This realism is particularly needed in our own time, when many things in which we trust for building our lives, things in which we are tempted to put our hopes, prove ephemeral. Possessions, pleasure and power show themselves sooner or later to be incapable of fulfi lling the deepest yearnings of the human heart. In building our lives we need solid foundations which will endure when human certainties fail. Truly, since “ for ever, O Lord, your word is fi rmly fi xed in the heavens ” and the faithfulness of the Lord “ endures to all generations ” (Ps 119:89-90), whoever builds on this word builds the house of his life on rock (cf. Mt 7:24). May our heart be able to say to God each day: “ You are my refuge and my shield; I hope in your word ” (Ps 119:114), and, like Saint Peter, may we entrust ourselves in our daily actions to the Lord Jesus: “ At your word I will let down the nets ” (Lk 5:5).

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