Reading Scripture illuminates the glory of the Holy Eucharist

Dr. Steve Smith asks Scripturefest delegates to develop a deeper love for the Eucharist

- Photo by Renato Gandia Dr. Steve Smith of New York talks about the presence of the Holy Eucharist in the Old Testament at this year's Scripturefest. About 750 people attended the annual event.

By RENATO GANDIA
Special to the WCR
Edmonton

The majority of Catholics overlook the beauty and wisdom of the Holy Eucharist because they don't regularly read and study the Bible, says a New York professor.

Most Catholics are just beginning to fall into the habit of reading the Bible and some are just not sure how to read it, Dr. Steve Smith said at Scripturefest 2007.

But on Sept. 22, participants of the Scripturefest created a symphony for Smith as they flipped through their Bibles to follow his lecture on the images of the Eucharist in the Old Testament.

"It's music to my ears to hear Bible pages turning, especially for us Catholics," Smith told approximately 750 people at Ramada Inn on Sept. 22.

"For many of us we either feel it's more of a Protestant thing to read the Scripture or maybe we're just not sure how to read it," he later told the WCR.

Scripture-centred life

Some people only hear the Scripture at Mass, but the Second Vatican Council made it clear that the faithful should read the Bible and their lives should be centred on it, Smith added.

During the two-day annual event, the professor taught participants that the Word of God in Scripture is the same Word of God in the flesh. He taught them that Jesus is the bread of life and that the whole Bible speaks of the Holy Eucharist.

He outlined how St. John the Evangelist made clear that Jesus was the fulfillment of the priesthood, sacrifices and offerings and the Passover in the Old Testament.

"The Eucharist is a Passover, but it's a perpetual celebration. God in his mercy gave us the perpetual Passover through Jesus," Smith told the crowd. "He gives us life. He gives us his own life."

A new love

A new appreciation or a new love for the Eucharist, Smith said, is what he'd love for participants to take away from Scripturefest.

People celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday or every day, but often Catholics take for granted its meaning and beauty because they have fallen into a pattern. Smith's goal is to help people consciously remember the many ways the Eucharist shows up throughout salvation history and throughout Scripture.

"That's my hope that (the Scripturefest) brings a renewed thanksgiving and a renewed joy for the ways in which the Eucharist is present all the way through the New Testament, and sometimes in hidden ways in the Old Testament," he said.

Smith teaches at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in New Jersey and St. Joseph's Seminary in New York.

While growing up in a large Catholic family, he became a skeptic as a teenager and eventually left the Catholic Church. He had a conversion experience in college and dedicated his life to Christ as an evangelical Christian and eventually as a pastor in a church in the United States.

In 2000, he returned to the Catholic Church due largely to a deep and serious study of the Bible which led him to complete a doctorate degree at Loyola University in Chicago.

"For those who may be away from the Church or are skeptical, it's a wonderful thing to read through the Scripture to begin to make these beautiful connections and the Lord will help (them). We don't have to have all the answers, but if we really pray, the Lord will help us along in our journey."

Make it a habit

For many people, he says, reading the Bible is a new habit.

"And so Scripturefest is a great event because it reminds people, especially when (they) have someone prompting them to do so, it's a good thing to read the Bible."

Don Powell, a parishioner at St. Joseph Basilica agreed with Smith that the occasion is a good venue to explore and to widen one's knowledge of the Bible and to strengthen one's faith.

"I think it's wonderful . . . and refreshing," said Powell, who has written a book called The Human Equation: Science and Spirituality. "What we need to do is re-appraise the inspiration that comes from within and this is what I get from Scripturefest."

Cheryl Bergstrom, who was visiting Edmonton from Winnipeg, attended the weekend event with her friend. She said she was skeptical at first, but she concluded the event was worthwhile because it gave her the perspective that the Eucharist is deeply rooted in the Bible.

"It was definitely worth my time," Bergstrom said.

The more people get in touch with the Scripture the more they get in touch with Jesus, said Smith, adding, ministries, such as the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, are a good venue to help people understand the Eucharist better.

People journeying through the RCIA "are encountering the faith in a more serious way as adults," he said. But youth groups and preparation for the First Communion are also excellent settings for teaching the scriptural basis of the sacrament.

Pathway of the Mass

The Mass, he says, is the most common and accessible way to help people understand the scriptural roots of the Catholic faith.

Prior to coming to Edmonton on Sept. 21-22, Smith gave the same talks to 155 people at Sacred Heart Parish in Red Deer on Sept. 14-15.

To culminate the Scripturefest, Archbishop Richard Smith presided in a concelebrated Mass on Sept. 22 and spoke on the Eucharist, God's gift for the life of the world.

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