 St. Jerome's comment that ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ Well, what do we do about that as? The principal teacher of the diocese of Steubenville. I have to ask myself that same question each day As well as when I get out into the schools. We have 11 Catholic schools, and I engage in a Program called ask the bishop Except in the junior high. It's more stump the bishop but I did that I produced a book a couple years ago and It was called ask the bishop and it's a compilation of questions from K through 12 over seven years And I remember running into a lot of people at the grocery store saying, you know More our age and they'd say, you know, I don't it's been so long I forgot that we were taught that and I said you you may not have been so Get it to get that out there. The audience is supposed to be vast now when I visit the classrooms we do invariably talk about the Bible and When the kids run out of questions or they're very reluctant then the I flip it it becomes ask the class and Invariably each year. I'll ask one of the later one of the older classes will be the high school later in junior high I'll ask them How many Gospels How many Gospel writers do we have and they'll look at me and they'll go for you know The rolled eyes of teenagers and then I'll say well, who are they to go Matthew mark Luke and John? Okay, great You're on a roll and Variably, this would be the religion class and then I ask another question Where in the Bible? Does Jesus say you can tell me which which which Evangelist records this when Jesus looks at his disciples and says Remember the most important thing in life is that you're happy Because in the end Everybody is going to heaven. Well at that moment. I get a lot of confused looks which actually is good and And Except for the teacher the teachers usually look around at the students and he or she has that look of don't embarrass me Don't embarrass me and then finally one of them will raise the hand and go Nowhere and I'll look at that person and I'll say is that a question or is that your final answer? You see we need to engage because especially our youth when they go out into the world They're going to of course be confronted with the issues of sacred scripture and Encountering Christ My hope is I'm at least giving them a tool set that they can address and even evangelize not such Not just defend but to be apologists And that's starts with encountering Christ does it not we do it through sacred scripture We're all aware that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ possesses an inexhaustible Treasury of parables that illustrate the kingdom of God Yeah, Bishop tell us something. We don't know this is a Bible gathering. No We are reminded Time and time again that we cannot exhaust the meaning of any of Jesus parables each day each Revisit if we take it seriously we delve deep enough. We find something anew as in all Jesus parables There's an underlying theme of really cutting to the quick today it's life Eternal life and destruction or Eternal damnation do we have a happy? life existence Which is holy or do we pursue our own? personal happiness that concludes in the fire of purification And perhaps destruction We have seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. We received in the sacrament of confirmation Wisdom understanding counsel fortitude knowledge piety and yes fear of the Lord That last of all is not the least of all We are called each day to fear the Lord It is a gift This is a form of our own trepidation in our own human dignity is it not You see dear friends when we banned God from our existence our daily existence We are modifying our lives From thy will be done to my will be done Nothing good can come from that You see We are called to embrace that fear of the Lord It comes with consequences as the light of God the father Jesus Christ will judge how The baptismal fire has been burning or not within our hearts It seems to me one of the greatest dangers in the study of sacred scripture is the rendering of God to an abstract concept Instead of a person to be encountered and to live in his love The concluding words of Jesus are dark But they are intended to awaken our conscience and To enliven our heart. Yes, there are consequences. I suspect that Over time We can engage society our culture if we remain strong if we exercise that Fortitude we receive at confirmation To be those light burning brightly to be the salt of the earth as Jesus puts it You see Jesus reminds you and me we will all participate in the epilogue of the parable. We just heard as Will all of the human race Yes, it should Strike fear of the Lord in our hearts our bodies of minds our souls in the meantime My dear friends my brothers and sisters in Christ We should Remember daily that you and I our fellow Protagonists in this story of human redemption We're not some sort of static agents sitting out there watching. No, we are involved And we do so credibly and efficiently or effectively After and in encountering our Lord Jesus Christ in the word of God in the meantime Each one of us can certainly encounter others to assist them in their pilgrimage for conversion of heart Because we know you and I write that conclusion of the parable with our own lives Amen