Another significant document of the Second Vatican Council is Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, promulgated on November 18, 1965, in the closing months of the final council session.
As its title suggests, Dei Verbum is a reflection on the Word of God, Jesus Himself, as the ultimate revelation of God — the mystery of the Trinity, the plan of salvation, the action of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and the world.
Knowing God
Unlike some religions which are a historical and present the divine as essentially unknowable, Judaism and Christianity know God as the One, True, and Absolute, who in His desire to be in relationship with humanity, whom He created in gratuitous love, has revealed Himself in clear and intentional ways, so that we can know, love, and serve the Lord in this life and be happy with Him forever in the next.
We may take this divine revelation for granted since most of us were formed in it all of our lives, but many religions throughout history did not view the divine as knowable, benevolent, or loving.
Just study Greek or Roman mythology and you will see that the gods often simply use humans for their own selfish and evil ends. There is little sense of salvation or mercy in these narratives.
In the beautiful narrative of the Hebrew Scriptures, we see God creating all that exists with humanity as the glory of His heart.
From the beginning of Genesis, clearly, the Lord is seeking a relationship of love and knowledge with every single human being.
Even though sin shatters that loving desire, God still establishes a sacred covenant with the Jewish people, freeing them from slavery, giving them the moral law, sending prophets to speak His divine word, always inviting them to fidelity and holiness in relationship with Himself.
Jesus Christ, as the Jewish heir of this spiritual legacy, is the ultimate and full revelation of God.
As both divine and human, Christ both reveals and accomplishes in His life, ministry, death, and resurrection, the salvation of the human race from the ancient curse of sin and death.
In Jesus, God says all that can be said to us, does all that can be done for us so that we should not seek some further revelation or knowledge that has not already been revealed in Christ.
We come to know God profoundly in the study of Sacred Scripture, as Christians, reading the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus Christ and studying the New Testament, especially the four Gospels as our spiritual roadmap. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
Dei Verbum encourages all Catholics to read, study, and meditate on the Bible daily, drawing knowledge, inspiration, and grace from the perseverance of daily encounters with the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who speaks to us in the words of the Bible.
Scripture and Tradition
This document lifts up the interconnection of Scripture and Tradition as the two-fold source of God’s revelation.
Although the Bible is authoritative and definitive for us as Catholics, God did not cease speaking to the Church when the Canon of Scripture was completed and closed.
Through the teaching authority of the Church, especially in the office of the pope and bishops, what we call the magisterium, the Body of Christ continues to receive the continuation of God’s Truth and Mercy in the person of Jesus Christ.
An example of this dynamic evolution of Tradition would be the doctrine of the Most Blessed Trinity.
Read the entire New Testament and you will not encounter “Trinity” anywhere.
Yet, in the pages of the Gospels, Jesus reveals God as Father, Himself as the beloved Son, and the presence and action of the Holy Spirit.
The Church grappled for centuries to find the theological language to articulate the doctrine that God is of One Essence, and yet exists in a plurality of Three Divine Persons.
The Church resisted many heresies which embraced either Jesus’ divinity at the denial of His humanity or posited that He was simply a man, but not fully God.
Trusting the infallible presence of the Holy Spirit as the guiding force of wisdom and love in the Church, the hierarchy and the entire People of God continue on our pilgrim path to the Father’s House, knowing that the Church will never be fundamentally led astray into error.
Rereading Dei Verbum inspired me to persevere more fully in a daily study of the Sacred Scriptures and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
These two weighty documents are our roadmap to know and love God so that we can live the fullness of relationship with the Lord in this human journey, and enjoy the bliss of eternal beatitude in the glory of heaven.
Additionally, if we are to fulfill our call to be missionary disciples and to proclaim Jesus to those around us, we need to be serious about understanding our Catholic faith and be able to articulate it to others.
That mission is the heart of our Go Make Disciples evangelizing initiative.