Words of life: the transformative power of the Bible

On Sunday 2 February, Word of God Sunday is celebrated in Australia, an opportunity for the Church to celebrate, study and share the Word of God with others. In that spirit, we speak to three Melbourne Catholics about the powerful and transformative role that reading, studying and sharing the Bible has played in their lives.

Mary Ann Payne: ‘a lamp for my feet and a light on my path’

Mary Ann Payne has keenly studied the Bible for much of her life. The coordinator the RCIA program at Our Lady of the Pines Parish, Donvale, for 20 yea, she explains how her love of Scripture has deepened through the years, and how it has guided and inspired her.

Catholics who came of age before Vatican II (1962–1965) were actively discouraged from studying Scripture. ‘You’ll lose your faith!’ my mother used to warn. But the Ecumenical Council changed everything!

I have a vivid memory of a parish priest, fond of dramatic effect, who picked up the Lectionary one Sunday and then slammed it down. Everybody jumped. Then he held it high, while loudly proclaiming, ‘This is God’s Word, written for you!’ It was a wake-up call. Bible-study groups sprang up and I joined in.

Perhaps it was my enthusiasm for Scripture study that prompted a Sister of Our Lady of Sion who had taught me so much to suggest, ‘You should study in Israel!’ I had never considered this idea, but the seed was sown.

Subsequently, on three occasions and following a modest mastery of Biblical Hebrew, I travelled to Israel to study Torah at the Bat Kol Institute in Jerusalem. It was amazing and a wonderful blessing to be immersed in the Scriptures that Jesus knew and loved and to visit the holy places.

Scripture study has provided an opportunity for me to share the light of God’s Word with others.

But one must return home, and the next challenge presented itself when my parish priest asked me to coordinate the RCIA ministry in my parish of Our Lady of the Pines, Donvale. My only qualification for RCIA was a willingness to help people who wanted to join the Catholic Church. How could I justify refusing them? That was 20 years ago. My focus at that time switched to offering the best formation for the people I had pledged to help.

I soon realised the need to deepen my learning. The Catholic Theological College, East Melbourne, welcomed me as an audit student, and as such, I enthusiastically participated in units of study without the stress of sitting exams and writing papers. I did not seek to earn a degree and found that learning for the simple joy of learning was invigorating and very satisfying. To date I have completed 32 units of study at CTC. To quote the psalmist, God’s Word has become ‘a lamp for my feet and a light on my path’ (Psalm 119:105). But more than that, Scripture study has provided an opportunity for me to share the light of God’s Word with others.

Dr Rosemary Canavan: ‘the light of the Word’

Dr Rosemary Canavan is a Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Catholic Theological College and also serves as Vice President of the Australian Catholic Biblical Association (ACBA). She describes the insights, experiences and opportunities to serve that studying the Bible has opened up to her.

It was like a light went on, illuminating my path in life. Since my earliest school days, I was enthralled by the stories of Jesus told by my teachers, Sisters of Joseph in Woomera. Each day a new page turned on the biblical images revealing a new episode.

So many years later, when our own children were teenagers, and I was working full-time as a manager, I attended an adult education session at our local parish in Para Hills. Fr Michael Trainor was the guest speaker. As he taught, I was mesmerised as the Word was broken open. My soul filled with light as I could see this was what I was drawn to, what I was called to do: to teach the Word.

This moment began a journey of adult education then academic education leading to a Bachelor of Theology, honours and doctorate, all of the time working full-time or, later, part-time.

Mustering the courage to go to a session on the Bible turned my life upside-down in a very good way. The light burns on and continues to draw me to new horizons of spreading the Word.

Eventually, just before I completed my doctorate, I had the opportunity of a job interview at Catholic Theological College in East Melbourne. I felt like my dream came true when I was successful. This journey was the cause of much prayer and discernment over the years as it brought me to change my career, my home and state, and to bring my family along with me.

It is now 14 years since I commenced at CTC, and I am so grateful for the opportunity, so privileged to teach the Word and to have the chance to do that not only through formal teaching but also through research, taking biblical tours and engagement in biblical associations across the world.

Mustering the courage to go to a session on the Bible turned my life upside-down in a very good way. The light burns on and continues to draw me to new horizons of spreading the Word in our unfolding synodal way of Church and in this Jubilee Year of Hope.

Deacon Joshua McDermid: ‘the connection I needed’

Deacon Joshua McDermid is a seminarian at Corpus Christi College, Carlton, the regional seminary for Victoria and Tasmania, and was ordained to the transitional diaconate in November last year. He tells us about the important role the Bible played in helping him discern and clarify his vocation to the priesthood.

For a few years before I entered the seminary, I struggled with discerning my vocation. A particular struggle I had was that while I sensed God may be calling me to the priesthood, I really enjoyed my career as a secondary school teacher, which seemed to me to be a good and worthwhile career—which it is. So I questioned how God could be calling me to the priesthood, which would take me away from my teaching career. In dealing with this dilemma, a key moment occured when I was attending Eucharistic adoration. The gospel for the following Sunday was proclaimed. It was Luke 9:57–62, which speaks of the cost of following Jesus.

The Word of God played a large part in helping me to realise that I had to choose the good of the priesthood over my teaching career.

In this passage, a would-be follower of Jesus explains that he wants to follow Jesus but first wants to go back and bury his father. Jesus responds, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.’ The would-be follower, however, wants to go back home and say goodbye to his people. To this Jesus says, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Later during the period of adoration, a priest reflected on this passage, and his words really spoke to my dilemma. He pointed out that burying the dead or saying goodbye to one’s family are not inherently bad things; in fact, they are good things. He reflected, however, that sometimes in life there are choices between two goods, and you have to choose which one comes first. This was the connection I needed. It crystallised in my mind that my passion for my teaching career did not mean that God would not be calling me to the priesthood. In this way, the Word of God played a large part in helping me to realise that I had to choose the good of the priesthood over my teaching career.