To me, one of the most maddening allegations against the Catholic Church is that they do not "preach the Gospel". I cannot even begin to tell you how wrong this is. I grew up loyally attending a Protestant church (LCMS to be exact) and I now attend Catholic Mass. I can see no difference in the amount of Bible readings between the two. Now some folks are going to attack both by saying that the LCMS is just a toned down version of Roman Catholicism. Well, that might be your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it. But I would just like to share all of today's Bible readings and then open the floor and allow you to tell me how little the Catholic Church uses the Bible during Mass.
(Please note that I am typing only part of the reading. I am listing all of the verses that were read aloud, though)
Readings for September 8-9, 2007: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading - You sent your holy spirit from on high and thus were the paths of those on earth made straight. (Wisdom 9:13-18b).
Psalm - in every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge (Psalm 90).
Second Reading - I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary (Philemon 9-10, 12 - 17).
GOSPEL - Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? (Luke 14: 25-33).
~Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ~
Following the Gospel reading was the homily that was based on (prepare yourselves for a real shocker here!) the Gospel reading.
***If you would like to go ahead and attack the reading from the book of Wisdom please do some research first about why the Catholic Bible contains these books and the Protestant Bible does not. Research from jackchick.com, jesusislord.com, etc does not count and will be DELETED if left in a comment here. I will only accept research material that would be considered historically valid by reliable sources -i.e if you could use it in a college thesis paper then you can use it here. Anything less will be deleted immediately.***
Here is a list of the readings of the week:
Monday: Col 1:24 - 2:3: Lk 6:6-11
Tuesday: Col 2:6-15; Lk 6:12-19
Wednesday: Col 3:1-11; Lk 6:20-26
Thursday; Col 3:12-17; Lk 6 27-38
Friday: Nm 21:4b-9; Phil 2: 6-11; Jn 3:13-17
Saturday 1 Tm 1:15-17; Jn 19 25-27 or Lk 2:33-35
Sunday: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; Ps 51; 1 Tm 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32 [1-10]
As you can see, there are readings listed from both the OT and NT. There is a Gospel reading listed for every day of the week. Father Pete encourages us to study each reading at home before Mass so that we are fully prepared to participate.
I just can't understand why some people still believe that Catholics do not read the bible or hear the Word at Mass. Some folks go so far as to allege that they have attended Mass and have been saddened by the fact that Catholics did not bring their Bible and the Priest did not read the Word. I absolutely do not bring my Bible to Mass, it's true. I did not bring it to any LCMS services either. Both denominaitons provide copies of the readings for the day to all those in attendance. Since I try to study the readings before I go, the copy of the readings in the Missal is good enough for me.
I hope that this will help in some small way to clarify any misconceptions that one may have concerning the "lack of the Gospel" at Catholic Mass.
Have a wonderful weekend! :)
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7 comments:
Here's a question (and NOT an attack, but a serious question and conversation starter - and I'll post the question and why "back at home".)
How do define "Gospel"?
;-)
Ellen, that is a great question. And no, I do not take that as an attack. :) I guess that my personal definition of the "Gospel" comes mainly from my LCMS upbringing. I view it as the Greek definition of "good news" (of salvation) and from the four books of the New Testament that are traditionally considered "authoritative" in their stories of the life of Christ: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Good question, and I think that I see the point that you are making. Other folks may have a different definition. I guess that mine is rather narrow.
What a lot of people don't realize is that the ENTIRE liturgy is straight from the Bible. Everything that we sing, say and chant back to each other is Scripture. You get MORE God's Word in a liturgical church than a non-liturgical church!
Exactly, Unashamed!! Like I said on your blog, your faith is so strong and you share it so eloquently. Just like a Sunday School Teacher should. ;)
Hi Kitkat! I'm a conservative Anglican, and I've been reading and appreciating your comments on Candy's blog, concerning this same subject.
I do wonder if Carrie and the others consider the Lutherans, Anglicans and Greek Orthodox to also be worshipping "another Christ" and using "another Bible", and I wrote a comment over there to that effect, though of course Candy will never allow it to appear.
The funny thing is, everything that is in the KJV is also in the Catholic Bible, with the addition of the Apocrypha.
Well, I have to admit that she did publish that comment, though she has deleted my previous ones.
Hi CJ! Sorry that I am late in noticing that you commented on my little blog. :) I have been a tad busy on the homefront. Your quetion about their thoughts of Lutherans, etc. is one that I often wonder myself. I am really not sure what they all think. I have a good idea that they do not like any type of Liturgical church service, but I must stress that statement is only my opinion. I don't know for sure what she thinks. I'm just guessing.
I'm going to have to hop over and see your comment that actually made it through. All of mine but two made it through this time. It is a personal record! :)
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