Sources of inspiration from Scripture, St Jerome, Vatican Documents and the Catholic Catechism accompanied by our own prayers for you to use and share.
Key Sources of Inspiration
1 John 1:1
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.
St Jerome – Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah (Nn.1.2: CCL 73, 1-3)
Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
Dei Verbum, 1965
The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body. [21]
The Gift of Scripture, 2005 A teaching document of the Bishops’ Conferences of England, Wales and Scotland.
The Scriptures offer us a way which is trustworthy, a way both ancient and new. They contain the challenge of the Christian vocation. They show us how to foster communities in which each person is respected and loved. They challenge us to live in a self-giving rather than self-centred way. [71]
Verbum Domini, 2010
The word of God given to us makes us not only hearers, but also heralds so that we share in Christ’s mission and are empowered by the Holy Spirit. [91]. The word that we receive is meant for all; it cannot be kept to ourselves. Since it is true, it belongs to everyone. [92]
Evangelii Gaudium, 2013
The study of the sacred Scriptures must be a door opened to every believer. It is essential that the revealed word radically enrich our catechesis and all our efforts to pass on the faith. [175]
Misericordia et Misera, 2016
The Bible is the great story of the marvels of God’s mercy. Every one of its pages is steeped in the love of the Father who from the moment of creation wished to impress the signs of his love on the universe. [7]
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Christian faith is not a ‘religion of the book’. Christianity is the religion of the ‘Word‘ of God, ‘not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living’. [108]
Official Prayers to the God who Speaks
Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:18-19
Living God,
you walk alongside us
and speak to us throughout the Scriptures.
Your Son, Jesus Christ, listens to our hopes and fears
and shows us how to live for one another.
Send us the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds
so that we may be your witnesses throughout the world.
Amen
V. Your word is our path and your truth is our light.
R. This day and every day.
Our Lady of the Annunciation pray for us.
St Matthew/Mark/Luke/John pray for us.
St Jerome pray for us.
Extended Version
Pilgrim God,
you walk alongside us
and speak to us throughout the Scriptures:
in the message of the prophets,
the songs of David
and the vision of Paul.
Your Son, Jesus Christ, listens to our hopes and fears
and shows us how to live:
in our love of neighbour
our desire for justice,
and in our dying and rising each day.
Send us the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds
so that we may be your witnesses throughout the world:
in our protection of the vulnerable,
our words and actions
and in our communion with the earth.
Amen.
V. Your word is our path and your truth is our light.
R. This day and every day.
Our Lady of the Annunciation pray for us
St Matthew/Mark/Luke/John pray for us.
St Jerome pray for us.
Prayer to the God who Speaks
Creator and Source of all, you spoke to Moses calling your people into life.
He asked for your name and you revealed your mystery.
’I am who I am, who I will be, where I will be‘. Your divine life, beyond our inadequate images, beyond our fragile attempts to know and control. And gradually, through your prophets, you opened our minds and hearts to the immensity of the mystery of your creative mercy.
Word made Flesh, you came among us to open up a way and a life true to your mystery and true to our desire; a Word that both speaks in our hearts and through the vastness of your cosmos.
Holy Spirit, from the first Pentecost you enabled us to hear the Word in our own reality and respond to it among companions from every race and tongue. Provoke us now to return to that divine word in Creation, that Word en-fleshed in Jesus, that Word spoken and recorded in the Holy Scriptures.
Touch our minds and hearts today as we read alone, as we proclaim in the liturgy, as we study together and, inspired anew, help us to become that Word for all who seek the way, the truth, and the life.
Amen
David McLoughlin
