Bibles in Church?

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I know that any person going to a Catholic Church may bring their own Bible if they wish, or may look at and read of the Churches, but how come in Catholic Churches there are no Bibles in the seats?

I relize there are booklets with music and Bible verses and quotes, but why are there not any Bibles for visitors?

-- Jason Baccaro (LegendsRborn@aol.com), May 12, 2003

Answers

Because there is a time for private scripture reading, and a time for full participation in the communal worship of the Church. Mass is not the time for reading the Bible, saying the rosary, or other such holy practices. At Mass, we give our full attention to the real presence of Jesus Christ, in light of which anything, even the Bible, pales by comparison.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 12, 2003.

Paul, I get from your response that perhaps you don't like the missalettes either (because they are a distraction), or am I reading something into your response that isn't there? I even remember those awful laminated order of worship cards being used at one time.

I ask because I have run into people (priests and others) who don't like the misslettes and their reason is that we are supposed to "listen" (as opposed to just "hearing") to the Word of God, not read it.

My own feeling is that I have heard a lot of very poor reading of the Word in Mass, and would rather read and reflect myself. Not to mention people's learning styles--visual, auditory, kinetic, etc.

Jason, I think the reason for the missalettes is so that everyone is working from the same page, so to speak. When I was younger, people used to bring their own hardbound missals, but the translations have changed over the years, which can be confusing, and the Mass itself has changed over time.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 13, 2003.


I have nothing against missalettes or missals for people who prefer to use them. Some people find these helpful in following what is going on in the Mass, especially in big churches with rather poor sound systems, where it not too easy to hear everything clearly. And for the hard of hearing, or anyone else who likes to use them. That constitutes participation in the Mass, and is very different from simply sitting there reading the Bible on your own during Mass.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 13, 2003.

It is nice to have the scripture readings for the day right there for you, with the responsorial song, etc. I like to get there early and read through beforehand so I have a better understanding.

I have seen people in my parish bring their own Bibles too. It is nice to carry your personal Bible with you, but then you have to flip around to find the passages unless you mark them beforehand.

Love,

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), May 16, 2003.


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