Excellent introduction to the scriptures

A friend from my Wonersh days back in the late 1970's, Canon Michael Lewis of Menevia Diocese, has kindly sent me a copy of his pamphlet "The Depths of Scripture. The Bible in the Light of the Catechism." which has recently been published by the Catholic Truth Society (CTS) in its "Deeper Christianity Series."

Canon Lewis has provided a balanced and truly Catholic introduction to the Scriptures in this very sound guide that is underpinned by a love of the Hebrew language and of the Fathers of the Church, without ever losing the ordinary reader. There are many insights that prompted me to stop and think. For example, he says:
Strangely enough, there is one mystery of Christ that is often overlooked: the mystery of Christ as the perfect reader of Scripture. We forget all to easily that the incarnate Word himself read and loved the Scriptures as he received them as a child, from within the community of the Jewish people. The way in which Christ read the Scriptures is, of course, definitive for all who would follow him.
He refers to the Jewish establishment of a nationwide system of "primary schools" to study the Torah. He shows how the living interpretation of the Torah (which our Lord himself respected) is fulfilled in the magisterium of the Church. He offers a readable and intelligible debunking of the rationalist attack upon the Scriptures and provides some very sensible advice on choosing a translation of the Bible.

The sections on interpreting the Scriptures and on the spiritual sense of the Scriptures give the ordinary Catholic solid guidance in accord with the teaching of the Church and particularly the expression of that teaching in the Catechism. There is a very good short exposition of the texts that the Church has chosen for the Mass of Our Lady of the Assumption to illustrate this spiritual sense.

Often people write to me with questions about how Catholics should read the Bible. I heartily recommend this pamphlet as a guide. The pamphlet is 60 pages, £1.95, available from the CTS.

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more

Erasure releases "Gaudete"

Image
A brother priest has alerted me to the digital release today by Erasure of the track "Gaudete" which is apparently the first single from a new album "Snow Globe" which is to be released as a CD and download bundle in a couple of weeks. I confess that my knowledge of popular music nowadays is as close to zero as makes no difference so I had to look up the above details from the Wikipedia article on Erasure . This also informs us that one of the duo is a gay icon, which made me hesitate about posting this at all. However, on balance I agree with my correspondent that the problem is outweighed by the possibility of making Christ known to a secular audience at Christmas. It is a good idea to know what singers are singing. This would apply to Lady Gaga's recent celebrated performance: I guess some of those cheering it might be less enthusiastic if they knew what she was actually singing about. So here are the lyrics to Gaudete and a translation to help along ...
Read more