2705 But above all it’s the gospels that occupy my mind when I’m at prayer; my poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I’m always finding fresh lights there; hidden meanings which had meant nothing to me hitherto.’°3

The unity of the Old and New Testaments

128 The Church, as early as apostolic times,’°4 and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine

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plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in

God’s works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he

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accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate

Son. 129 Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of

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Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the

inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as

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Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself.’°5 Besides, the New

Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament.b06 As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the

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Old Testament is unveiled in the New.’°7

130 Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfilment of the divine plan when ‘God [will] be everything to everyone.~b08 Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God’s plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages.

V.

Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church

131 ‘And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life.”09 Hence ‘access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful.”° 132 ‘Therefore, the “study of the sacred page” should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too — pastoral ~ preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place — is