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00:00The Bible is a very attractive book, we could say it's almost magnetic, but something very important happens
00:12I'm having trouble with this very special book. We usually read it in parts, and this happens mainly
00:19Because it seems difficult to understand, but let's understand something very simple. The Bible
00:26It's not just any book; that is, we can't simply start reading on page
00:32Number one, finish last and draw our own conclusions because we believe
00:38to have understood what we have read. The truth is that it is a book and a way
00:44of different readings. We are not dealing with a text with a single author and a single intention
00:50When writing it. The Bible is not like a book by our favorite author, as it might be
00:56Gabriel García Márquez, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, etc., who deal with themes
01:04that are understandable and appealing to us. These are modern books that we understand.
01:10The intention, the language, and the vocabulary. To better understand what kind of book we are looking at
01:18When we read the Bible, we can use certain comparisons with situations we face.
01:23of life that help us to better understand what God wants to communicate to us through it.
01:30I remember that on one occasion I was with a good friend and we were reminiscing.
01:36from our childhood and adolescence. This friend shared with me that when she was just a little girl
01:42She visited her grandmother quite often. Here I tell you this beautiful story just as it happened.
01:47She would tell me. My grandmother was usually busy with household chores.
01:54But one day he sat down with me, took out a small cardboard box and emptied it onto the table
02:00Its contents included photographs, letters, prayers for special occasions, and some titles.
02:08of property, sheets with some famous song, in short. Seen separately, none of these
02:15The pieces made sense. They were things of no value in anyone's eyes. Disposable material.
02:23If they had asked me. But the light dawned when my grandmother started taking each
02:28He showed me one of these pieces and explained what each thing was. He showed me a math exam.
02:35whose value wasn't in the grade, but in the note written on the back. My grandfather
02:42I had written to her telling her that her smile was very beautiful. Events unfolded quickly.
02:49They made friends, began living together, then came love, courtship, marriage, and children.
02:56My grandmother loves to say that love was born from that exam, and it showed in her smile. Afterwards, I
03:04She showed me a photo album, a series of unfamiliar faces, but when my grandmother tells me about her
03:10mother carrying her in her arms or her brother who had a broken arm because he fell off a swing or
03:17Aunt Dora, who never married because she cared for my great-grandmother. Then the series of faces
03:25Strangers begin to have meaning for me. Strangers become beloved family.
03:33people who had previously meant nothing. Then he pulled out an old, torn piece of paper. This was the contract of
03:42purchases of his house. It wasn't just a title deed. Behind that piece of paper was a
03:49A history of effort, sacrifice, pain, and struggle. And all of that had borne fruit in the
03:57She owned a home, and it was entirely hers. That place became her paradise. That's where things happened
04:06wonderful and beautiful things, although they also had to face some wars and lose
04:13some battles. In fact, they lost an uncle there whom I never met because he had a stroke when he was little.
04:19measles. She also read me a poem my sister wrote when my grandfather was seriously ill. In a
04:27A small sheet of paper was written in the grandfather's handwriting, the handwriting of a poem by Amado Nervo, and on the back
04:34A love song by Agustín Lara. Sometimes, my grandmother would go back in time to explain it to me.
04:41The same events, but for different reasons. A photograph, a letter, a newspaper clipping,
04:51a note on a piece of paper. That day we had a wonderful evening. My grandmother summarized it in a few
04:58hours the story of her life, her marriage, her children, her joys and happiness, her grandchildren,
05:07The pains and sorrows. The story of that house acquired with so much effort and in
05:13where she swore she would die when God called her. But her narration did not follow a logical order.
05:19chronological, but that required by each of those treasures that I guarded jealously and that I
05:26He explained things so vividly that it seemed as if he were reliving them. Well, then, the Bible is
05:34Something similar to this story. Those who wrote the stories we find in it, those
05:40We call sacred authors; they offer us a wide variety of elements. Lists of people,
05:48Poems, prayers, letters, contracts, laws, narratives about important figures. Things that
05:58Reading them tells us little or nothing, since they are not part of our own history. But if someone
06:06It gives us a clue, like my grandmother did when she explained her life story to my friend, that
06:12It was contained in that small cardboard box, then the Bible will open to us and reveal its
06:20wealth. It will show us the God hidden in the text behind these narratives.
06:27If we wanted to summarize our biblical knowledge, we could explain it
06:36as follows. God created the universe. Adam and Eve sinned, therefore, God expelled them.
06:43from paradise. Then came the great flood, but God saved Noah from it. Then came
06:50The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, with the exodus and the covenant. Then came
06:57Samuel, King David. We find many narratives of wars between God's chosen people and the
07:06kingdoms that ruled them at different times. Jesus, who preached, was born from the family of David.
07:12The kingdom of God, called his twelve disciples to found his church. Jesus suffered, died and
07:20He rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father. The church grew thanks to the apostles and the
07:27Paul's missions and all of us, as God's new people, await his glorious return. But because
07:36our dialogue with brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations or with atheists or agnostics,
07:43It's that we started noticing some other details that we don't know how to explain, or that we simply don't.
07:52We understand. Such as creation in six days, Adam and Eve expelled from paradise, the punishment
08:00of Cain, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the holy wars, the destruction by the
08:07the flood, the sexual scandals of some biblical figures, the miracles
08:13about Jesus, the founding of the church, and many other details. Now, the Bible can
08:22It can eventually cause us real confusion, and that's why we avoid it.
08:28personal reading, although we enjoy listening to its reading during Mass or some other celebration
08:35liturgical. But why does reading it cause us these discomforts? A very common attitude at the moment
08:45One of the challenges we face when approaching the Bible is that we do so with preconceived ideas that we need to overcome.
08:53We inherited it from our brothers and sisters in other Christian denominations, and that is what is known
08:59as fundamentalism. Fundamentalism consists of believing that everything we read in the Bible is
09:07truth as it is presented to us in the text, that is, in its mode of expression as we
09:16We understand it literally. Believing, therefore, that everything we read must be precisely as written.
09:26Something true, that is, a verifiable truth, is then what makes the Bible a book of
09:34natural sciences, where we think we will find the explanation for everything related to formation
09:42of the universe, the birth of science, the explanation of the laws of the cosmos, and so on.
09:49Another problem we encounter when approaching the Bible is that we have also
09:55I wanted to turn it into a history book, where what we hope is to be able to find the details
10:01detailed and chronologically ordered accounts of all the events of antiquity and of
10:09everything that the sacred books tell us, as if it were just one of many books
10:15of history that we see in school textbooks. We have also wanted to turn the Bible into
10:22a compendium of religion or morality, hoping to find in it the guidelines that govern our
10:30behavior in our relationship with our neighbor or with God in worship. Well, although the Bible is not
10:38It's a history book, yes, it's part of history. It's not a science book, but it tells us about science.
10:47It's not a morality book, but it teaches us how to do good. It can be many things at once.
10:56Just one thing, a book that shows us a truth of faith. We already said that the Bible is not a book with
11:06historical claims, but it is indeed nourished by historical facts. The faith of the Jewish people and of our
11:14The church is, above all, a historical faith, for what we celebrate is God's saving action in the
11:21human history, a history that we can call one of salvation.
11:25But this story is similar to what my friend's grandmother told through all those
11:35treasures contained in its small cardboard box. The Bible doesn't tell the story as it happened, but
11:43how it was interpreted by the sacred author and the Jewish people, or at the time, the early church. The story that
11:51The Bible presents us with the one that originates within the human heart. Therefore,
11:58It's a story where time is flexible. Therefore, its message is relevant for men of
12:04all eras. Now, speaking of different concepts of history, chronological history and that of the
12:12Salvation, how can we understand the difference between history proper and history as seen
12:19From within the heart? Let's explore this with the help of these examples.
12:25Walking through the park, I come across three people. One is walking slowly. Another is sitting down.
12:34Eating on a bench. And the last one, well, she seems to be coming from work. At first glance, this doesn't exactly stand out.
12:42The attention is there because we've seen millions of people walking, eating, or returning from work. So,
12:49So, what's so special about that? Apparently, nothing. But what if I find out that...
12:57A man who walked slowly a year ago had a terrible, very serious accident. He was paralyzed.
13:06During that time, he had excruciating rehabilitation sessions, and the day I ran into him was his
13:14First walk alone. And if I find out that the person eating on a bench was hospitalized for a severe
13:22gastric cancer and during her convalescence she was fed through a gastric tube and the day she
13:28We had him eat his first meal normally. And if you tell me that the man who was returning from work
13:35He lost his job months ago and looked for work in many places, but was always turned down, and the day we met him
13:42He had just started his first few days of work and that day he received his first paycheck. We see how a simple image,
13:52But without knowledge of everything behind it, can one determine its conception?
13:57In this way we can realize that what is normal, what seems simple at first glance,
14:04It can have a different meaning for the person experiencing it and when it is appreciated from their own perspective.
14:11What the Bible shows us is not simply facts presented in chronological order,
14:18but the way in which they were interpreted by the writer or the community where they originated.
14:23The story told by the narrator is not viewed in the same way as the person who experiences it, and
14:30This story only resonates with those who have experienced something similar. There are moments in life when we are...
14:38It requires a pause to look back, a failure, a wedding, the birth of a child,
14:45The death of a loved one, a great success. And in any case, we always wonder
14:52How did I get here? That's when I reconstruct my past and try to put each piece together.
14:59piece in its place. Time teaches us that the past only makes sense and can only be understood
15:07then in light of new and recent events of what I am experiencing today.
15:14With each passing day, it is always possible to look back to understand our present.
15:21What sacred authors do with regard to history is that they always look back.
15:27Looking back will illuminate their present. Perhaps some of them will look back at events they have already reflected upon.
15:34by their predecessors, but the more light, the more clarity for us to see.
15:41What the sacred authors show us through the biblical narratives has
15:47The purpose is that, by looking back and getting to know those who experienced each
15:53Let us see this moment narrated in this story of salvation through the eyes of those who...
15:59They lived, and in this way we can identify with them. So that little by little these
16:08narratives that resonate in our own lives and that we come to fully identify with
16:14with them, not only as mere spectators, but as true actors in them.
16:29Thank you!