These Words of Ordination Should be the Personal Credo of Every Catholic

"Receive the book of the gospel whose herald you have become. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you teach…"

These words are part of the ordination rite for the holy diaconate. The Bishop professes this solemn instruction to the newly ordained as they kneel before him, and he presents them with the Book of Gospels. These words of ordination should be the personal credo of all who call themselves Catholic and who seek to live in sincere imitation of Jesus. Truly, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."

Although often described as such, the Christian faith is not a “religion of the Book”, but of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son, born of the Father before all ages. We do not merely subscribe to a millennia old collection of objective moral commands. We bow to a Person, a historical and ever-living “Someone”, who won our salvation by paying the ultimate ransom for man’s sins. In the words of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, our Faith is “not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living.” The fact that God would assume our humanity, even unto death on a cross – as the exemplar of love – marks Christianity apart.