Sunday Knox: Wisdom 18:6-9

Knox Bible:

"Of what should befall that night, our fathers had good warning; confidence in thy sworn protection should keep them unafraid. A welcome gift it was to thy people, rescue for the just, and doom for their persecutors; at one stroke thou didst punish our enemies, and make us proud men by singling us out for thyself.  In secret they offered their sacrifice, children of a nobler race, all set apart; with one accord they ratified the divine covenant, which bound them to share the same blessings and the same perils; singing for prelude their ancestral hymns of praise."

NAB Lectionary:

"The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,
that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,
they might have courage.
Your people awaited the salvation of the just
and the destruction of their foes.
For when you punished our adversaries,
in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.
For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice
and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution."

Consuming the Word 8: The Canon of the New Testament

Hahn begins this chapter on Canon with an exposition of the thought of Marcion, who attempted to "separate the law from the gospel; the God of Justice and creation from the God of grace and redemption; the God of the Old Testament from the Father of Jesus Christ (67)."  While he was eventually excommunicated, the whole affair began a slow process by which the New Testament books were officially canonized.

Hahn points out Eusebius does not initially call this list of books as kanon, but diatheke.  In this way, for the Church in the fourth century these sacred books were known as  "the covenant documents, the testamental documents (70)."  And again, as pointed out in earlier chapters, these books were the ones that were read in the liturgical assembly.

After giving a brief historical sketch of how the Church discerned finally which books belongs in the Canon, Hahn concludes the chapter by pointing out how even today the Marcion heresy persists.  Veiled in forms of "unconscious anti-Semitism" some still try to avoid the teachings of the Old Testament law and culture in order to create an even a "New Testament more to this or that individual's liking (74)."

Is the ESV Lectionary Dead in the Water?

Thanks to reader Charles for this link which seems to suggest that it is.

If this is true, what is next for those in the English speaking Church outside of North America?  Here are the options that I came up with:

* Go with the newly revised New Community Bible.  (Remember this?)

* See if something can be worked out with the NCCUSA and start again with the NRSV

* Wait for the revised NABRE to be published in ten years which will supposedly provide a text that is both approved for Mass as well as available in print.

* RSV-2CE

* Re-work the Jerusalem Bible

* Do nothing and stay with the original Jerusalem Bible

A Catholic Parallel Bible

One of the interesting Bible resources that I always seem to spend time looking at when I go to a Christian bookstore are the various parallel Bibles available. These typically have two different translations placed side-by-side on a page, with limited notes or cross-references. They seem to be quite popular since you can get them in any combination including the KJV, NJKV, NIV, ESV, NLT, and even the Message.  There have not been many specifically Catholic editions out there, the notable exception being the out-of-print Oxford Catholic Comparative New Testament.  It contained the Douay-Rheims, Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, RSV, NRSV, NAB, Catholic Community Bible, and Good News Bible.  It is quite a nice resource really, unfortunately for me the copy I had had some structural issues.

So, I am interested to hear from you two things: 1) Does a complete (OT + NT) Catholic parallel Bible interest you?  2) If so, which two translations would you choose?

My thought: I would like one that contained the Knox Bible and the NRSV (with its textual notes).  This would provide me a text that references the Clementine Vulgate (Knox) and an eclectic translation that uses the MT, LXX, and DSS (NRSV).  In addition, the Knox is properly a dynamic-equivalence translation compared to the more formal NRSV.

7 Questions: David Calvillo

David Calvillo, and his wife Valerie, founded the apostolate Real Men Pray the Rosary (RMPTR) on the Feast of the Annunciation in March 2009 as an attempt to “promote [the Rosary] with conviction” to all Christians but especially Catholic men and their families.  Most recently, David published Real Men Pray the Rosary: A Practical Guide to a Powerful Prayer which calls all men to deepen their devotion to Christ through Our Lady.  It is a fantastic book which should be read in every men's fellowship group throughout the country.  It has helped to re-ignite my devotion to the Rosary.  Thank you to David for taking the time to answer the following "7 Questions":

1)    Could you talk a little bit about your own faith journey, in particular the role the Rosary has played in it?

It took me almost 50 years of life to finally realize that Mom knows best. I was blessed with a Mom who always emphasized praying the Rosary and to have a special devotion to our Blessed Mother. But I was way too cool for that. It took me until I attended a retreat, an ACTS retreat, for me to finally receive the Holy Spirit’s message. That retreat and the ecstatic experience granted me during that retreat started me on a journey that brings me to today with my life’s mission to promote the Rosary with conviction. Praying the Rosary and promoting it is now a central theme in my life. I find that I need prayer in order to have a fighting chance to combat the things that we all face in life and the Rosary provides that excellent structured nourishment of faith that feeds my soul. I am especially grateful to God that I was able to finally pray the Rosary with and express my love to Our Blessed Mother with my beautiful saintly mom before she passed in 2010.

2)      How did RMPTR get started and what is its mission?

RMPTR was ignited when I was serving on a retreat team and I was working with some men are faithful in praying the Rosary. Those “real men” provided the backdrop for the Holy Spirit to spark a message within me to visualize the our logo and to promote the Rosary to all, but especially the knuckleheads like me, to know that the Rosary nourishes our faith in a way that few other things can do.

We take our mission directly from Blessed Pope John Paul II’s 2002 Apostolic Letter on the Rosary. Our mission is to “promote the Rosary with conviction… in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the liturgy, and in the context of our daily lives.”

3)      Your book "Real Men Pray the Rosary: A Practical Guide to a Powerful Prayer" is a fantastic reintroduction and encouragement to men to pray this devotion daily.  How has the response been from those who have read it?

I believe the book has been well received. I pray that all men, but especially those of us who find it hard to pray the Rosary or who don’t have that special love for the Mother of God, can see that if knuckleheads like me can eventually be enlightened to the power and beauty of the Rosary and how indispensable our Blessed Mother is in our lives, then hope exists for all. In other words, if I can do it, anyone can.

4)      What do you see as the biggest obstacle to getting men to pray the Rosary regularly?

Part of it may be that we are conditioned by society that somehow or other praying and relying on others is a sign of weakness. We fall prey to the notion “Real Men” are strong and stoic and don’t need anything from anyone. The real man, however, is Jesus and his life is how the ultimate real man conducts himself. We also need to set forth St. Joseph as the example of a real man. A working man, he listened with an open and loving heart and helped raise the Savior of man.

5) I really appreciated your "Tool Box" question for chapter 3 concerning having a well-made, high quality Rosary for praying.  On my blog, I often discuss this same issue in regards to owning a well-made Bible, not simply the cheapest paperback available.  Why, then, is it important for men to have a high-quality Rosary instead of one of the many plastic ones you see in churches or those we seemed to get  mailed to us from various Catholic agencies each month?

 There is a physicality that is part of praying the Rosary that appeals to men. If we have a good quality Rosary in our hands as we pray, then it “feels good”. Not only does it feel good in our hands when we have something sturdy and weighty in our hands but it also feels good to know we’re doing something manly and natural for our families and ourselves when we take that weapon and pray it. We’re taking care of business: taking care of our ladies and our families! The Rosary. Don’t leave home without it. 

6) Speaking of the Bible, what role does it play in praying the Rosary?

The first component of our mission statement and of the 2002 Apostolic letter is “in the light of Scripture.” As I began my rebirth journey, I was somewhat surprised at the Rosary’s biblical basis. I did not know that the traditional rosary prayers and the mysteries are directly connected with and derived from Scripture. As I say in my book, the Rosary is an “executive summary” of the Gospel.  That message should appeal to all Christians.

7) As is my custom for the last question, what is your favorite scripture verse or verses?  Why?

I am learning every day so I don’t know that I should have a favorite or favorites but I do feel a special connection with several, including:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all things for this is Christ’s will for you in all things.” 1 Thess. 5:16-18.

“Live justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with God.” Micah 6:8.

“God is love.” 1 John 4: 8. 

Sunday Knox: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23

Knox Bible:

"A shadow’s shadow, he tells us, a shadow’s shadow; a world of shadows! 

What, should one man go on toiling, his the craft, his the skill, his the anxious care, leaving all to another, and an idler? That were frustration surely, and great mischief done.  Tell me, how is a man the richer for all that toil of his, all that lost labour of his, here under the sun? His days all painfulness and care, his very nights restless; what is here but frustration?"



NAB Lectionary:

"Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!

Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property. 
This also is vanity and a great misfortune. 
For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart
with which he has labored under the sun? 
All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation;
even at night his mind is not at rest. 
This also is vanity."

Your Bible: Jonny's RSV-CE

I wrote a post for this blog a while back about the Douay-Rheims Bible, and how it was instrumental to my conversion to the Catholic Church.  I will always have a deep affection and appreciation for the Douay-Rheims Bible, and it continues to be one of the few translations I read on a regular basis.  However, after I became Catholic, I began to be active in various ministries throughout my parish, and found I needed a more modern translation to communicate the Scriptures more effectively.  This post is not only features the Bible I use for ministry, but is also the story of how I came to use that particular edition.

The first modern English Catholic Bible I bought was a 1991 NAB.  I was excited about this because as a Protestant I had general distrust in modern translations, but I felt like I could trust the NAB because it had official Catholic approval.  I turned out that I really didn’t care for the translation after being spoiled on the D-R and more literal non-Catholic translations.  Then one day, in a parish gift shop, I spotted the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.  It was the blue-covered, Ignatius Press reprint of the original 1966 edition.  As I thumbed through and read here and there, I saw that this Bible had more formal language, and the font and page layout were more traditional looking as well.  When I saw the self-pronouncing text I was sold for sure, despite the Bible’s overall humble appearance.

I have really enjoyed reading out of this edition, and definitely got my money’s worth, but I was a little disappointed as the glossy blue cover began flaking away.  I then began looking for another edition that was a little nicer.  I think I got one of every edition of the RSV-CE available, but there seemed to be some serious defect with each of them: cheap leather, no cross-references, glued binding, manifold typos (that edition is no longer available), or any combination of the above.  I also searched web and bookstore for any and all Catholic translations and available editions, and collected what I considered the best specimen of each.  In the end of this search, I was left even more frustrated than what I was in the beginning!

For it was during this time of intense Bible collecting I increased in responsibility with the various ministries in my parish.  As I interacted with an increasing number of Priests, Deacons, and lay people of all ages, I came to realize there are four points that need to be true of a Bible I use for ministry:

a)      Must be translated from the original languages

b)      Must have an imprimatur

c)       Must not use excessive inclusive language

d)      Must say “Hail, full of grace” in Luke 1:28

I know that list might seem like a bit superficial, but my experience has been that those are the four points that are recurring obstacles to using a Bible to interact amongst Catholics.  Long story short, the RSV-CE has proven, in my experience, to be the most universally accepted translation for use in ministry.

So now back to the story of “My Bible.”  Given the information above, I found it meet to give Ignatius RSV-CEs as gifts to some of my Catholic friends.  This was a couple of years after I had purchased mine with the flakey cover, and I noticed on the new ones I bought that the deep blue color was replaced by a brighter blue cover of the same design.  I wondered if the new one was better, so I ordered one for myself.  I found that my old one was published by Thomas Nelson for Ignatius Press in the U.S., while the new one was printed in Colombia, apparently with Ignatius applying the covers themselves.  The new cover was of better quality, and didn’t peel, but the book was not bound together well.  I decided to grin and bear the imperfection.  A year of so later, I gave the newer copy away to a friend and ordered another new copy for myself.  This one was slightly better, but still not acceptable for a plain hardcover reprint of a book published in 1966 that costs over 30 dollars!  I finally called Ignatius Press and told them of the trouble I had with that particular book, and they sent me a very nice copy with an even, tight binding. This is the Bible I have used as my basic, primary Bible for all things officially connected to my parish ministries ever since.

A few more details about the Ignatius RSV-CE are in order.  As I mentioned before, this is a self-pronouncing edition, meaning that most of the proper names have the phonetic markings printed on the first occurrence of each name per paragraph.  This is also the only edition of the RSV-CE that has the original RSV-CE cross references.  There are a lot in the NT, less in the OT, and none in Deuterocanonical books.  Yet it has more than any other edition of the RSV-CE, which have none at all.  It is actually an exact reprint, page for page, of the original 1966 edition.  I know that because I know someone who owns the 1966 Thomas Nelson edition.  It has the burgundy hardcover with gold lettering just like the original Thomas Nelson Protestant RSVs did.  Like the original, it is also sadly lacking a map section.  I carry my copy in a Bible cover loaded with glossy inserts available from Rose Publishing.  One of the inserts is a booklet entitled “Then and Now Bible Maps Insert,” which has proven to be more useful than the map sections in other Bibles I own.  So that’s it.  No fancy leather or ribbons, just the basic stuff I need to get the job done.  I hope you are as surprised as I was!

Thank you Jonny!  The plan is to make this a monthly series.  So, if you are interested in participating, just send me an email, mccorm45(at)yahoo(dot)com, and we'll talk.