What Does Rushing Through Ice Cream Have to Do with Reading the Bible?
A Lesson in Patience
🍦 If you eat ice cream too fast, you miss out on the richness of its taste or worse, you could get "brain freeze"!
Don Dolindo teaches us something similar about reading Sacred Scripture. When we encounter passages that seem obscure or difficult to understand, we shouldn't be discouraged. Following the wisdom of St. Augustine, he writes in his commentary on the Song of Songs:
"God wanted to scatter these obscurities... to tame man's pride with the labor of investigation... to prevent satiety of the intellect, to which what is easily found becomes vile, and to ensure that truth insinuates itself into souls with greater delight when it is discovered."
In other words, God deliberately allows certain passages to be challenging so that we approach them with humility rather than arrogance, putting in the effort to truly understand rather than skimming superficially. When we work patiently to comprehend His Word, the discoveries we make bring us deeper joy and transformation.
Don Dolindo emphasizes that the Catholic Church encourages Bible reading, but always prayerfully and with good approved commentaries rooted in apostolic tradition and the Church Fathers. We shouldn't interpret Scripture randomly or rely solely on our own understanding, but rather seek guidance from the wisdom accumulated over centuries of faithful study.
Just as ice cream should be savored slowly to appreciate every flavor, God's Word requires time, reflection, and humility. We cannot "devour" it hastily expecting to understand everything immediately.
Some might argue, "The Holy Spirit will explain Scripture to me directly - why do I need the Church?" But the Holy Spirit doesn't work in chaos, giving different explanations based on individual desires or conceptions. Consider the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit from Isaiah 11:2-3: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Notice how these gifts emphasize order, guidance, and reverence. The 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23 reveal the same pattern: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control, Generosity, Modesty, and Chastity. These fruits show harmony, not confusion. Just as any successful leader guides an organization through wisdom, order, and design, the Holy Spirit guides the Church with divine wisdom and unity, not individual chaos.
The Magisterium is part of God's divine design because Christ Himself established it. Jesus said to Peter: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). The "gates of hell" include doubts about the Magisterium and Peter's role as Christ's vicar. Did not Christ also say, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19)? After His resurrection, He breathed on the apostles saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" (John 20:22-23). And "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). This is divine order, not human invention.
While our ice cream analogy serves merely to illustrate a simple lesson about patience, Sacred Scripture calls us to something infinitely greater - trust in God's perfect design and submission to His divine wisdom.
Don Dolindo reminds us: "One must have trust and humility to submit to God, since He knows well how to guide us."
Haste in spiritual reading, like haste in eating ice cream, deprives us of true joy and understanding. Let's take the necessary time to savor every divine word!
But here's the crucial difference: missing the flavor of ice cream only disappoints our taste buds for a moment, but missing the Word of God impoverishes our soul - though God's mercy always offers us new chances to return and taste His sweetness. As Don Dolindo beautifully explains, divine love is "sun that fertilizes on contact" while earthly pleasures are mere "fire that consumes on contact." The cost of spiritual haste is infinitely greater than any earthly consequence. 🙏
(This meditation is inspired by Don Dolindo's Commentary on Sacred Scripture - Volume 12: Song of Songs, Chapter 4)
Author’s Note: If you would like to read more about Don Dolindo’s spirituality, check out those books: Don Dolindo’s Books.