My Advent 2015 Devotional: Miracles of Mercy by Ann Naffziger
This past Lent, part of my prayer each day was using Turning Around: Daily Lenten Reflections with The Message published by ACTA. I appreciated the reflections by Ann Naffziger, which were both short yet thought-provoking, that accompanied the daily lectionary readings in the The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition translation. Each day, I found the length of the reading and reflection were just enough and fit what I needed, particularly with a growing family and two jobs. I also appreciated that it was very portable and produced in such a way that I didn't feel bad if it got bent up or written on.
As we enter Advent 2015, as well as the Jubilee Year of Mercy, ACTA has published two new devotionals by Ann Naffziger for Advent and Lent. Both of these devotionals take you through each day of the liturgical season, with a particular emphasis on Mercy. What a great way to participate in this great jubilee! While the Advent devotional Miracles of Mercy has already sold out, you can already pre-order the Lenten edition Doorway to Mercy through the Pastoral Center. Lent starts early this year, February 10th, so make sure to pick one up before they become sold out as well.
18 comments:
I am reading 'Biblical Meditations for Advent and the Christmas Season' by Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. with my daily Mass readings. I have also started reading the New Jerusalem Bible for my daily Mass readings through Advent and Christmas (to change things up a little).
@ ROLF Do you by chance have the study edition of the NJB? I've been considering getting one for the sake of the notes (The introduction to the Pentateuch seem'd quite nice).
I've started reading volume one to Dom Gureanger's Liturgical Year. Part of it is here http://www.theliturgicalyear.org/Advent/the_liturgical_year_advent.html
This work is gold!
Pax
CatholicSteve, I have the Standard edition from Doubleday which has all the study notes and I have the Reader's edition in bonded leather also from Doubleday.
Just for info: The New Jerusalem Bible from DLT black leather bound hardback normally $120.00 is on sale from bookdepository.com for $85.11 with free worldwide shipping and no tax. It ships from the UK. This edition has the full study notes, gold gilt page edges and two ribbon markers. It is a deluxe version of the Double Day version (which sells for $50.00).
This is going to be my early birthday gift.
Rolf, I'll look forward to hearing how you like that black leather NJB! I'm having trouble justifying it at the moment, but it looks like a beautiful edition. I'm also worried that they might stop printing it due to low demand. I don't want to miss out on a chance to buy one!
Wxmarc, I saw this edition at my local Catholic bookstore years ago for $125.00 but I couldn't afford it at the time. I have been reading the NJB for the last week and I have really enjoyed it, when I saw the Bible at this price I decided to jump on it.
@ROLF Hope you'll do a review of it! By the way, how would you rank the quality of the notes? I'm a former fundamentalist myself and the Catholic approach to the Bible was not covered that much in RCIA.
CatholicSteve, the notes are historical critical in style which is not a problem to me but for some it is. If his style of scholarship bothers you, then I would pickup a readers edition of the New Jerusalem Bible ( in bonded leather) by Doubleday, which has very limited notes and no Book introductions.
Thanks, I'm actually looking for a Bible that's a good introduction to historical criticism so it should do well.
Pax
In my opinion, the New Jerusalem Bible notes and introductions provide an excellent historical critical overview. They treat the recent debates about authorship in a surprisingly even-handed way, discussing differing theories and providing a broad overview of scholarly debate. I find it frustrating when a study bible presents a single scholarly opinion as authoritative. The New Jerusalem Bible admirably avoids that problem in its introductions. The notes occasionally seem to present a speculative opinion as fact, but I think that's primarily because of conciseness. There isn't enough room in a short note to discuss differing opinions or use wordy, tentative language.
@wxmarc
That sounds good, the NABRE only gives one view so it would be nice to get a more balanced view. The NJB is supposed to be more accurate the the orginal JB I think, right?
Pax
CatholicSteve,
I think that's correct. I don't know Hebrew or Greek, though, so I'm relying on the consensus of opinions I've read about it. Here's a quote from the editor's foreward, written by Dom Henry Wansbrough, about the translation principles used in the NJB:
"The biblical text of the first edition [the Jerusalem Bible] was occasionally criticized for following the French translation more closely than the originals. In this edition the translation has been made directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. Only where the text admits of more than one interpretation has the option chosen by the [French] Bible de Jerusalem been followed, unless permission to adopt another view was granted by the editors of that work...
"The character of the Jerusalem Bible as primarily a study Bible has been kept constantly in mind, and for that reason accuracy of translation has been a prime consideration. Paraphrase has been avoided more rigorously than in the first edition; care has been taken that in parallel passages (for example in the first three gospels) the similarities and differences should be mirrored exactly in the translation. Key terms in the originals, especially those theological key concepts on which there is a major theological note, have been rendered throughout (with very few exceptions) by the same English word, instead of by the variety of words used in the first edition."
Wxmarc, I received the DLT NJB from England yesterday. As in most new Bibles with gold gilt page edges, I turned each page (2000+) to unstick them, an found about 12 pages that were defective creased and blurry due to a printing malfunction. I contacted bookdepository.com and they responded right away and are sending me a new one. Their service so far has been great! It took only 5 days after shipping to receive the Bible. The DLT NJB printing format is almost exactly the same as the Doubleday version here in the US. The DLT version has a leather wrapped hardcover, Bible paper, a better sewn book block, gold gilt page edges and two black ribbon markers. With that said, I would buy the DLT version over Doubleday's version at the 85 dollar sale price, but not at the 120 dollar list price. The Doubleday NJB lists in the front cover that it is a photo copy, sent from London and the DLT NJB is printed in India. But with that said, I think that the Doubleday Bible is just as sharp (not like Doubleday's Jerusalem Bible photo copy which is bad).
Rolf,
I'm discouraged after reading your post. I ordered the
same NJB as you (along with the paperback Reader's Edition of the NJB)
from Book Depository on December 3 and they emailed me today to say
each one was mailed today (separately). I hope when I go through the
pages that I'm luckier than you. Given that these are sold through
Book Depository at roughly a 30% discount, perhaps the old cliche is true about getting what one pays for. But perhaps it was just a fluke and happens only one time out of a hundred. So in a week to two weeks
I'll give my feedback on the quality, whenever the two versions arrive.
In addition, I also bought directly from DLT the
"JB Popular Cased Bible" and "NJB Reader's Edition Cased Bible" since
at least one of those two is actually cheaper from DLT than from the
Book Depository.
Will give feedback on them too, when they arrive.
Jeff S, my service from bookdepository has been excellent so far. They are sending me another Bible (I sent them pics of the defects) and they don't want the defective Bible back so I don't have to deal with the hassle of shipping it back to the UK!
Thank you for sending the update on the DLT NJB, Rolf. I'm also disappointed to hear about the defects. How is the quality of the gilding? I've purchased a couple of bibles recently with mediocre gilding that rubs off on my fingers every time I turn pages. I've never had that problem with my gilded Liturgy of the Hours set. That set uses thin, underwhelming, bonded leather, but the gilding seems top-notch. It is completely smooth to the touch.
Wxmarc, the gold gillding is good on the DLT Bible.
@Wxmarc
Thanks, I ordered the Blue hardcover one with the footnotes.
Pax
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