Table of Contents
Preface 9
1 On the Essence of the Bible 11
Divine Word 11
The Infinite in the Finite 13
To See the Bible in Its Whole Perspective 15
The Meaning of Life 19
A Book of Unity and Reconciliation 21
Not Theories but Life 24
To Surrender to God's Word 28
2 The Relationship between the Old and the New Testaments 33
How Does Jesus See the Old Testament? 34
The New Is Born of the Old 36
Christ Is the One Who Opens the Book (cf. Revelation 5:5) 40
Continuity and Distinction in Synthesis 44
Christ in the Old Testament 48
3 Spiritual Interpretation of the Bible 53
Pray in Order to Understand 53
The Fourfold Meaning of Scripture 55
The Spiritual Meaning Comes from the Spirit 61
Some Examples 63
The Meaning of the Words of Scripture in the Liturgy 69
The Playful Interpretation 71
4 How the Mystics Interpret the Bible 77
The Spiritual Interpretation of the Carmelite Mystics 77
The Bible's Teaching about Union with God 81
The Bible Expresses the Mystical Experience of Saint John of the Cross 87
5 Praying with the Psalms 94
To Pray with God's Own Words 94
We Pray with the Same Words as Jesus 96
The Vengeance Psalms 98
A Song of Praise to Our God 100
Thy Heart Shall Wonder and Be Enlarged (Isaiah 60:5, Douay-Rheims) 106
A Universal Prayer 109
6 On Reading the Bible Regularly 113
Different Ways of Reading the Bible 113
"Lectio Divina" 114
A Concrete Example 118
Time and Scripture Reading 121
How Is It Done? 125
Faith and Openness 126
To Become a Reflection of the Scriptures 133
To Hear the Silence in the Word 135
Epilogue 139
