A Catholic reads the Bible, Week 30: Browsing the airport bookstore
Story highlights
- Laura Bernardini, a lifelong Catholic, is reading the Bible from cover to cover; this is week 30
- Three books of the Bible offer different lessons on worshipping God, she says
- Ecclesiastes is all business, Song of Songs is poetically romantic, and Sirach is all common sense
(CNN)This was the week of three totally different books and stories.
I read through Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Sirach. You couldn't pick three more different ways to carry the same themes of wisdom -- learning how to worship God.
These three reminded me of the display table at an airport bookstore. You know the one -- you pass it to get your water and snack. It's always stacked with so many different genres that might appeal to the taste of any weary traveler.
Ecclesiastes struck me as your Harvard Business Review-type book -- it's deep, serious reading. Authored by Qoheleth, it focuses on the "vanity of vanities."
The book looks at the human condition and everything "under the sun" and how that affects your individual relationship with God. It is an instructive way of looking at how to live. It's a business book.
Of course, Ecclesiastes contains one of the most famous passages in the Bible. "There is an appointed time for everything and a time for every affair under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) I happened to be reading that passage on the anniversary of my father's death. It just struck me: "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance." On the day that I call the worst day of the year, I always forget the "time to dance" part and find myself on the verge of tears all day.
And my dad wouldn't want me to forget to dance.
Moving across the bookstore display table, we get to Song of Songs -- or a romance novel. This book is quite racy. Now I understand why we weren't taught it in ninth grade. I don't think a 14-year-old would get the allusions. It's about the love of God through the allegory of a bride and groom. There is a lot about "my beloved" in this chapter.
The professions of love and the act of love are poetically described. I enjoyed this line in particular: "My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag," says the bride. (Song of Songs 2:8) OK, really?
But I will never look at a goat the same way again after this line:
"Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, ah you are beautiful. ... Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down the mountains of Gilead." (Song of Songs 4:1)
Now that is an image that sticks in your mind.
And when you decide it is too embarrassing to buy a romance novel and you don't want people to judge you on the flight, you opt for the popular fiction. And that is the Book of Sirach.
This book was just so easy to digest and ranks as one of my favorites. It's all common sense. (My editor says I am a good Catholic because I usually like the books that are part of the Catholic Bible, but aren't found in many Protestant versions of Scripture.)
Sirach is like the books of Psalms and Proverbs rolled into one. Once again, the guidance is on how to conduct your relationship with others and with God.
The portion on friendship is what struck me. My dear friend, Pam, is someone that I met at the age of 3.
"Discard not an old friend, for a new one cannot equal him. A new friend is like a new wine which you drink with pleasure only when it has aged." (Sirach 9:10)
And I like wine, too.
Getting back to that book table at the airport, the best part is that you have so many choices to pick from. And that seems to be the same with the Bible.
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