Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
If your mailman brought you a letter from Jesus, would you open it? Of course you would. You could not wait to open it. You would read it again and again and you would put it in a prominent place in your home. You would probably learn it off by heart. There is, in fact, a letter from God to us. St. Gregory the Great wrote that the Bible is a love letter from God to us. (Registrum Epistolarum, V, 46 ed. Ewald-Hartmann, pp. 345-346. See Wednesday audience by Pope Francis June 12, 2024.) When you think of the Bible as God’s love letter to us, you will want to open it and read it again and again and place it in a prominent place in your home. You will read your favorite parts so often that you will know them off by heart. St. Gregory’s description of Scripture is worth thinking about. When we read a parable, we are to compare ourselves with the characters in the parable and see where we stand. Compare St. Gregory’s statement about the Bible being a love letter from God to us and see where we stand. Do we open it and read it as we would a letter from the mailman?
As we read the Bible, we discover that it is about us now; it is not only about the past. It is ever relevant and about our lives now just as in the Gospel today we heard that Jesus found part of Isaiah fulfilled in him (Luke 4:14-21). That is why the Letter to the Hebrews says, “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)
As people read the Bible, they discover their favorite parts to which they return frequently and from which they draw new sustenance, healing, and hope each time. These favorite passages are often in one of the four Gospels, in Paul’s letters, or in Isaiah. Someone in another parish shared with me how helpful she found the passage in John 8:2-11 where people were trying to trick Jesus asking him if they should stone the woman for her sin. Jesus said the one without sin could cast the first stone so then they all went away, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. Jesus said, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” The woman who shared the effect of that passage and others on her said she no longer felt bad before God because that and other passages freed her from negative thinking about herself. Just as Jesus freed the woman from being stoned to death in Palestine, he continues to free people now as they read and reflect on passages of the Bible. The Bible is indeed a love letter from God to us.
There are many other examples of passages that people find helpful. One is the end of chapter 8 of Paul’s letter to the Romans where Paul writes about Jesus pleading to the Father on our behalf:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. (Rom 8:32-34)
A passage in the prophet Jeremiah that people find helpful is where God, through Jeremiah, assures the people during a very difficult time in their history that God’s plans are for their good:
For I know well the plans I have in mind for you . . . plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope (Jer 29:11)
It is good for people to remember that and reflect on it during difficult times when they have questions about their lives. Just as that passage was helpful for the people of Jerusalem during a difficult time, it continues to sustain and give hope today. There are so many helpful and inspiring passages in the Bible. Find your own favorite passages because the Bible is indeed a love letter from God to us.
The second reading today from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12:12-30) assures us of our place in God’s plan. We need all the different parts of our human body, and we all have our own place in the Body of Christ. We cannot all be Ministers of Holy Communion, or lectors, or DREs. We all have our own place in the Church. God in his mysterious plan has equipped us all differently for the role he chose for us.
If your mailman brought you a letter from Jesus, would you open it? Of course you would. You could not wait to open it. You would read it again and again and you would put it in a prominent place in your home. You would probably learn it off by heart. There is a letter from God to us. The Bible is God’s love letter to us. Can you find your own favorite passages in it to bring you sustenance, healing, and hope?
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
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