Sir, - Al Byrne (Rite and Reason, August 3rd) suggests dropping Old Testament readings as a way of making Mass more comprehensible to the congregation, asking the question, "Since many clerics will admit they don't understand a lot of the Old Testament, what hope is there for the untutored?"
This attitude reinforces the popular opinion, which has almost taken on the dimensions of an urban legend, that the Bible must always be inaccessible to the individual human being. It is time this misconception was challenged.
Rather than being inaccessible, the reading of the Scriptures, whether during Mass or in any other public forum, must always be the most vital and approachable part of worship as it comes with God's own promise to reveal Himself through His Word to the heart of the individual.
Mr Byrne questions the relevance of Old Testament passages to the hearer in the third Christian millennium, going on to comment: "Most of us do not know who Micah and Ezechiel were, for example, or have little interest in what is being said by or about them because it is so obscure."
Actually, Micah and Ezechiel, together with all the men and women who people the Old Testament, were just like us. They lived, loved died. They held down day jobs, raised families, balanced precarious finances and coped with all the ups and downs of life just as we do.
All the while, in their hearts and souls they were engaging in the same timeless spiritual debate that occupies us also when we are brave enough to turn from the relentless noise of life and think our own thoughts: "Why am I here?" "Is there more to life than this?" "Does God exist?" "Can I know him?" Far from being obscure, the Old Testament is simply the stories of men and women seeking to resolve those issues in their own lives as we all eventually must and as such, it has urgent relevance today.
The material milieu in which the lives of Micah and Ezechiel were played out was dramatically different from ours. However, not one of us today will experience an emotion which has not been documented for us in the pages of the Bible.
Great literature deals with timeless themes. We take it for granted that with a little time and interest we can learn much about life's deep issues from, for example, the works of Shakespeare. Why then, if we readily acknowledge this capacity in ourselves, do we allow ourselves to be so easily deceived into believing that the Bible must remain impenetrable to us? After all, the Bible holds a singular advantage over any work of literature - the listener or reader can quite simply ask the author Himself to explain the meaning. - Yours, etc.,
Lorna Lennon, Novara Avenue, Bray, Co Wicklow.