Review: The Mass in Sacred Scripture

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, who many of you have seen on EWTN, recently published a small booklet, perfect for a Kindle or E-Book, entitled The Mass in Sacred Scripture.  While there have been a number of important books, many longer than this one, that have been published over the past year or two dealing with the New Roman Missal (3rd Edition), this booklet is unique in that it goes through the entire prayer of the Mass and shows the Scriptural source for almost every word heard or read.  While he certainly touches on the main Mass parts, like the Gloria and Creed, he also goes into the numerous dialogues between priest and people, as well as an indepth look at Eucharistic Prayer II. 

The Mass in Sacred Scripture has four main sections: 1) The Mass and Vatican II; 2) The Mass and Sacred Scripture; 3) The Order of Mass; 4) Question and Answer.

As the book description explains:

"The Mass in Sacred Scripture was inspired by the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and its desire that “the treasures of the bible be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 51). The Mass in Sacred Scripture walks the reader through a brief history of the liturgical changes at Vatican II that led to the 2010 Roman Missal revision in English, presents the approved English texts of the Roman Missal alongside some of the Scripture passages from which the Mass texts were derived, and shows the intimate connection between the Mass and the Bible. The booklet ends with a short question and answer section designed to root what happens at Mass within the fertile soil of our every day lived experience. The Mass in Sacred Scripture clearly shows that, without a doubt, the Catholic Church fosters great reverence and respect for the Word of God, and recognizes the vital role Sacred Scripture plays in the lives of the Church and her children."

This is one of those books that is a helpful reminder to me, at least, that the Mass is thoroughly soaked in Sacred Scripture.  Coming in at a little over 30 pages, and only costing $2.99, it truly is a wonderful deal for such a handy resource.  For more information on the ministry work of Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, check out his website Aurem Cordis.

Thanks to Therese from Aurem Cordis for providing a review copy.

Review: Bible Top Tens

Pope Benedict XVI, in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, expressed his hope for "the flowering of a new season of greater love for sacred Scripture on the part of every member of the People of God, so that their prayerful and faith-filled reading of the Bible will, with time, deepen their personal relationship with Jesus (72).” Many of us who are involved in the promotion of the Bible in the Church wholeheartedly respond to that statement with a loud: "AMEN!"

One of those people, is our friend Mary Sperry, Associate Director for the Utilization of the NAB at the USCCB, who has just written a book, published by OSV, entitled Bible Top Tens: 40 Fun and Intriguing Lists to Inspire and Inform. This fun book is "intended to open Scripture in a brand new way. By organizing important people, places, and events into lists, we can reframe our experience and understanding of God's Word, while serving as a memory aid or providing ideas for further reading and study." It certainly accomplishes this goal. I could easily see this book becoming popular with youth and young adult groups, not to mention being a great gift for Confirmation, RCIA, or Easter.

After the brief introduction and three introductory top-ten lists about reading the Bible, this book goes on and consists of three distinct parts. The first deals with people, and includes lists of the top-ten sibling rivalries, unsung heroes, villains, among others. Part two covers both important places and events, for example battles and miracles. Finally, part three looks at the top ten "sayings and such" which consists of famous sayings, parables, promises, etc... Mary leaves the fortieth list blank and encourages the reader to "think back on the Bible stories you have read or heard throughout your life" and list which ones have been most meaningful and why. I found this to be a nice touch and wonderful conclusion to the book.

Probably the most enjoyable thing about this book is seeing where I agree or disagree with Mary's selections and orderings. For example, in her list of top ten friends, she puts "Jesus and the Beloved Disciple" at #1, while "David and Jonathan" are #2. No way! Nothing in all of Sacred Scripture can compare to David's lament for Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1:25-26. At times, I have found myself while reading saying things like "yes, I totally agree" or "now why did she forget to leave that event of the list?" But that is what makes this book so fun to read. Of course, Mary is certainly aware that some people would order these lists differently, so she encourages the reader to "write in their own selections and rankings (10)." She has even provided an email address, bibletoptens (at) gmail (dot) come, for people to submit their own lists. Do I smell a sequel in the future?

Again, if you are looking for a highly enjoyable book about the Bible that you can just pick up and read in short settings, this book will definitely meet your needs. Bible Top Tens is a fun and informative read that will entertain the everyday person who is already reading the Bible, as well as the person who is looking for a good place to start. We need more books like this! (To view a few sample pages, go here.)

Stay tuned, since I plan on having a contest in the next week or so for a free copy of this fun new book.

A quick thanks to OSV for providing me a review copy.

Review: Oxford NABRE Concise Concordance

Although Oxford University Press dropped the ball in regards to their Catholic Study Bible NABRE by not keying the reading guides to the NABRE text, they have done a fine job with the release of the The New American Bible Revised Edition Concise Concordance. Although some retail bookstores have a publication date of mid-February, I received mine yesterday from Amazon.com. This concise concordance, printed in the USA, covers all 73 books of the Catholic canon, with 40,000 references and 5,890 key words. This is not an exhaustive concordance, like the RSV edition from Emmaus Road, but it does cover the most significant words needed for "personal and professional Bible research (v)" found in the NABRE. Also, there are capsule biographies for 435 of the most prominent personalities of the Bible.

Those of you who have the original NAB Concise Concordance will be quite familiar with this product's page layout. If you are interested in seeing this for yourself, Amazon.com does preview some pages which you can see here. It comes in a hardcover edition, with glued binding. The book's dimensions, coming in at 9.1 x 6.6 x 1 inches, make it very easy to carry with you to class or Bible study.

All in all a very good and helpful Bible study tool. While not being an exhaustive concordance, which I think the NABRE needs, it certainly is more thorough than the one found at the end of the Catholic Study Bible by Oxford. It will also be an aid for those of you who use the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible, which doesn't include a concordance. Hopefully we will continue to see more study tools released that are keyed to the NABRE.

Life with God Bible Review

While this blog's main purpose is to highlight, analyze, and review resources related to Catholic Bibles, it is clear that there are more and more Bibles and study tools being published by ecumenical Christian groups which may be of some benefit to the average Catholic. This trend is nothing new really, if you consider such study Bibles as the New Oxford Annotated Bible, HarperCollins Study Bible, and New Interpreters Study Bible. These study Bibles, largely academic, included both Catholic and Protestant scholars. There has not been, however, many ecumenical study Bibles that would be more devotional in its emphasis.

However, this has changed with the newly published Life with God Bible. Please note that this edition is a reprint of the original Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible of a few years ago. The main difference being that the Life with God Bible comes in a more portable size and in different cover editions. (I know that in the past one of the main reasons I didn't buy the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible was because it was so large.) The edition I will be reviewing here is the imitation leather version with the Deuterocanonical books. It also comes in paperback and hardcover versions, with or without the Deuterocanonical books.

The ecumenical group responsible for this Bible edition is the Renovare organization. While you can check out more about the group at their website, they describe themselves as "a nonprofit Christian organization headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, and active worldwide. We seek to resource, fuel, model, and advocate more intentional living and spiritual formation among Christians and those wanting a deeper connection with God. A foundational presence in the spiritual formation movement for over 20 years, Renovaré is Christian in commitment, ecumenical in breadth, and international in scope." Those involved in the Renovare ministry team include the full spectrum of Protestant churches, as well as one Roman Catholic. The editors are Richard J. Foster, Dallas Willard, Walter Brueggermann, and Eugene H. Peterson. The main goal of this study Bible is to make "the Bible more accessible for the process of intentional formation in Christlikeness".

On to the Bible itself, which comes in a very portable, though not compact size of 7.3 x 5.1 x 2 inches. Its hard to place it in a particular size category, but I would relate it to the recently published NRSV Catholic Gift Bible, except that it is considerably thicker. The page format/type is very similar as well, although the NRSV Catholic Gift Bible might be slightly larger. My guess is that this is largely due to the inclusion of the Renovare commentary on the bottom of each page.

There are other similarities to the NRSV Catholic Gift Bible. First, it uses the NRSV translation, including all of the Deuterocanonical Books of both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It is also nice that they are referred to as the "Deuterocanonical" books, not the "Apocrypha". You also find frequent reference to the Deuterocanonical books themselves in the NT commentary, most notably the Gospel of Matthew. Secondly, both editions include a concise concordance, which does reference all of the canon, including the Deuterocanonical books. Thirdly, the same Bible maps that were included in the NRSV Catholic Gift Bible are included in the Life with God Bible. The only difference is that the Life with God Bible places them at the back, which is where they belong. Finally, and unfortunately, one thing that both editions lack are cross-references. To be fair, however, the Life with God Bible does make occasional note of OT and NT references within the commentary. But, this is not done consistently.

The main contribution that the Renovare group made to this Bible edition is the inclusion of study notes/commentary, spiritual exercises, topical essays on key biblical figures, and a topical index which lists important scriptural verses related to the spiritual exercises. All of this can be previewed here. While the commentary primarily focuses on devotional/discipleship themes, there are many places, particularly in the OT, where it relates the kind of important historical information you would find in a typical study Bible. The periodical essays on biblical figures also combines both devotional and historical information. When referring to the spiritual disciplines, they mean an "intentionally directed action by which we do what we can do in order to receive from God the ability (or power) to do what we cannot do by direct effort." These spiritual disciplines include things like prayer, chastity, confession, fasting, meditation, sacrifice, and service. For the most part, I think a typical Catholic reader can find much to consider and meditate upon.

At this point, I have not found anything that a Catholic would really find objectionable. As a matter of fact, there is an emphasis on such "catholic" themes as the sacraments, broadly understood in a ecumenical context, as well as fasting and meditation. I have also found direct quotes in the commentary from Augustine, Brother Lawrence, Catherine of Siena, Francis of Assisi, Gregory of Nyssa, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, amongst prominent Protestant writers like CS Lewis. If you happen to find the New Life with the Bible at a local bookstore, you might want to check it out. While it doesn't have the much demanded cross-references that I always champion, it is a very nice edition which I plan to try out over the next few months. It's size and the resources it includes makes it a very handy day to day Bible.