Good Catholic Bibles - Why RC vs Protestant Bibles? - Prayers for reading the Bible

In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.

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Good Catholic Bibles 

(Quotes included shipping – check the links to verify a Bible has good study notes.)

1.     Saint Joseph New Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible Hardcover – Jan. 1 1963                                 $76 used

2.     The New Jerusalem Bible: The Complete Text of the Ancient Canon of the Scriptures
with Up-to-Date Introductions and Notes Hardcover – Nov. 1 1985                                                     $41 used

3.     The New Jerusalem Bible: Standard edition Hardcover – March 16 1999                                          $37 new

4.     Christian Community Bible: Catholic Pastoral Edition, Green Hardcover – June 1 1999                   $40 new

5.     Ignatius Catholic Study Bible  New Testament only Hardcover – Illustrated, June 1 2010                  $49 new

6.     The Catholic Prayer Bible, Lectio Divina Edition Hardcover – Illustrated, June 26 2010                    $59 new

7.     Fathers of the Church Bible-NABRE Paperback – April 25 2013 by Our Sunday Visitor                      $62 new

8.     The Catholic Study Bible New American Bible Paperback – Illustrated, Feb. 25 2016             $51 new

9.     The Catholic Youth Bible, 4th Edition, NRSV: Paperback – Jan. 10 2018                                         $47 new

10.  The Catholic Youth Bible, 4th Edition, NRSV: Hardcover – Jan. 10 2018                                          $60 new

11.  The Great Adventure Catholic Bible Leather Bound – Sept. 4 2018                                       $92 new

12.  The Revised New Jerusalem Bible: Study Edition Hardcover – Dec 3 2019                          $77 new

What is the best edition of the Bible for Catholics? Short answer: There isn’t just one because none are perfect. The best approach is to have more than one different translation, even in a language other than English, and to compare the different versions of the same text in order to get a richer understanding of the meaning.

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SIMPLE APPROACH TO READING THE BIBLE

How can we best read the Bible, the Word of God? Short answer: The Holy Spirit who inspired the original people who wrote the various texts is with us now to inspire us to “hear” God speak to us personally. Here are a few steps that will help you enter into a personal relationship of “listening” to God.

1.      Begin with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to be with you to enlighten your mind and open your heart.

2.      WHAT? To understand “what” the Word says, it helps to read introductions to each book, notes at the bottom, and Bible commentaries. This “study” is different from reading the Word of God “prayerfully” but is a good step to better understand what was happening at the time God inspired the Bible writer.

3.      SO WHAT? Once we have an idea of what God was saying the first time, we can begin to wonder that that Word of God has to do with us, with me, now. This is where commentaries and homilies help.

4.      WHAT NOW? Once we begin to see the significance of what God said back then and what light God is shedding on our situation now; then we can begin to discern what God is saying to us, to me, now.

5.      HOW MUCH IS UP TO EACH OF US NOW? We are all under the obligation of obedience – as Jesus was obedient (listening and then doing) to the Father’s will – which also involves keeping the commandments, especially Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies and love one another as He loves us. Beyond that, we have a lot of freedom to discern what more the Lord is asking of us out of love.

6.      Always close with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit for enlightening and guiding us.

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ONLINE SCRIPTURE RESOURCES – in ENGLISH – la Traduction liturgique ou au CHOIX

You can get Kindle versions of most Bibles listed above at Amazon.ca (CANADA) or Amazon.com (USA) You can also get Bible apps for your phone. Look for a Catholic Bible app.

Catholic Scripture Study International – you can explore this option yourself

The Didache Series – Catholic teaching inspired by the Apostles examining the Roman Catholic Christian faith as well as the Sacred Scriptures – a high school curriculum edition and a parish edition – check it out

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Why are there Catholic Bibles and Protestant Bibles? Isn’t the Word of God one?

The earliest Jewish Scriptures trace back old oral traditions, and then to Moses after the Exodus which Scripture scholars and historians long placed around 1250 B.C.; to King David ca 1000 B.C., and subsequently to his son Solomon; both of whom composed a number of the Psalms which were originally set to music for singing.

After the Exodus, Moses and his collaborators and helpers developed the first five books of the Bible, called “The Torah” or “The Law” by Jews. Subsequently some of the historical books were written as well as some of the books by the prophets. There was a concentration of inspiration and writing before, during, and after the Babylonian Exile and Captivity which happened roughly between 597 and 538 B.C. and subsequently included rebuilding and rededicating the Temple. This caused a new edition of the Sacred Scriptures over a century or so.

 Subsequently there were a few more prophets and a lot of spiritual writing. In the few centuries before Jesus there developed a Jewish population of Greek language and culture in Egypt around Alexandria, and some of them composed some new Scriptures in their Greek language. For a time these works were welcomed into the Jewish religious culture even in Palestine / Israel and Judah.

By Jesus’ time the official list of inspired books in the Jewish Scriptures was fairly settled. However, as Jesus’ disciples made extensive use of the Jewish Scriptures, having been taught by Jesus how to trace the many prophecies about the coming Messiah and how Jesus had fulfilled them all; things began to change.

Many of the Scriptures originally composed in Greek, such as The Book of Wisdom, seemed given by God to prepare the way more intensively for the coming of his Son into the world. As a result, when the majority of the Jewish population rejected Jesus and the developing Christian faith, the Greek Scriptures fell out of favor. By coincidence corresponding to the three centuries of Roman persecution of Christians and often also of Jews, the Jewish religious leaders came to exclude those Greek Scriptures from their official list of the Word of God.

At the Council of Rome in 382 under the scholarship of Saint Jerome, the Catholic list or Canon of the Sacred Scriptures was set as it remains to this day. The Council commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Bible into the current language of the people, which was Latin. This translation was called the Vulgate.

In the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century, Martin Luther and most other Reformers rejected this Catholic Canon of Scriptures and opted for the Jewish list or Canon. They therefore eliminated the books that had been originally composed in Greek rather than in Hebrew in and around Alexandria in the centuries before Jesus.

To this day, this remains the main difference between Catholic and Protestant Bibles. Orthodox Bibles have a few different lists but they most resemble the Catholic Canon. Here are the books included in Catholic Bibles but which Protestant Bibles exclude or include in a separate section called Apocrypha or Other Writings.

Tobit – Judith – 1^st Book of Maccabees – 2^nd Book of Maccabees – The Book of Wisdom – Ecclesiasticus also known as Ben Sira – Baruch 

Protestant Bibles: O.T. – 39 + 27 N.T. = 66 books in all

Catholic Bibles: O.T. – 46 + 27 N.T. = 73 books in all

Feel free to check out: Fr. Gilles’ Web Home Page                             Madonna House Apostolate

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PRAYERS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR PONDERING THE WORD OF GOD

(In Saint Joseph “New Catholic Edition” of the HOLY BIBLE – Confraternity Edition, a Revision of the Challoner-Rheims Version Edited by Catholic Scholars under the Patronage of the Episcopal Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine – Catholic Book Publishing Company, New York, 1962.

Before reading the Holy Scriptures

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

℣. Send forth Thy spirit and they shall be created.

Ʀ . And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let Us Pray.

O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit; grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

After reading the Holy Scriptures

(Prayer of St. Bede the Venerable)

Let me not, O Lord, be puffed up with worldly wisdom, which passes away, but grant me that love which never abates, that I may not choose to know anything among men but Jesus, and Him crucified. (1 Cor. 13:8; 2:2.)

I pray Thee, loving Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the Fountain of all Wisdom and to appear forever before They face. Amen.

 

Opening Prayer at the Second Vatican Council – 1962

(By Pope John XXIII)

We stand before you, Holy Spirit, conscious of our sinfulness, but aware that we gather in your name. Come to us, remain with us, and enlighten our hearts. Give us light and strength to know your will, to make it our own, and to live it in our lives. Guide us by your wisdom, support us by your power, for you are God, sharing the glory of Father and Son. You desire justice for all: enable us to uphold the rights of others; do not allow us to be misled by ignorance or corrupted by fear or favour. Unite us to yourself in the bond of love and keep us faithful to all that is true. As we gather in your name may we temper justice with love, so that all our decisions may be pleasing to you, and earn the reward promised to good and faithful servants. You live and reign with the Father and the Son, One God, forever and ever. Amen

 

Saint Pope John XXIII, pray for us.

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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.

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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Praying with Sacred Scripture – the Living Word of God – is a path of love

In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.

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PDF - Intro             PDF - Take some steps   

GOD SPEAKS TO US FIRST

This fundamental truth makes it possible for us to pray to God. God has been concerned for each of us long before we became concerned for ourselves.

God desires communication with us, speaks to us continually,

Ø  through Jesus Christ, His Word;

Ø  through the Church, the extension of Christ in the world (because we are joined together in Christ, God speaks to us through other people);

Ø  through visible creation around us, which forms the physical context of our lives. (Creation took place in the Son, and it is another form of God's self-revelation);

Ø  through the events of our lives;

Ø  through Holy Scripture, a real form of the Divine presence. This is the mode of communication we are most concerned with in prayer.

GOD INVITES US TO LISTEN

Our response to God's initial move is to listen to what God is saying. This is the basic attitude of prayer.

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HOW TO GO ABOUT LISTENING

What you do immediately before prayer is very important. Normally, it is something you do not rush into. Spend a few moments quieting yourself and relaxing, settling yourself into a prayerful and comfortable position.

In listening to anyone, you try to tune out everything except what the person is saying to you.
In prayer this can be done best in silence and solitude. Select a favorite passage from Holy Scripture, 5 to 10 verses. Put a marker in the page. Try to find a quiet place where you can be alone and uninhibited in your response to God's presence. Try to quiet yourself interiorly. Jesus would often go up to a mountain alone to pray with the Father.

In any age of noise, activity and tensions like our own, it is not always easy or necessary to forget our cares and commitments, the noise and excitement of our environment. Never feel constrained to blot out all distractions. Anxiety in this regard could get between ourselves and God.

Rather, realize that the Word did become flesh and speaks to us in the noise and confusion of our day. Sometimes in preparing for prayer, relax and listen to the sounds around you, God's presence is as real as they are.

Be conscious of your sensations and living experiences of feeling, thinking, hoping, loving, wondering, desiring, etc. Then, conscious of God's unselfish, loving presence within you, address God simply and admit: "Yes, you do love life and feeling into me. You do love a share of your personal life into me. You are present to me. You live in me. Yes, You do."

God is present as a person, in you through the Spirit, who speaks to you now in Scripture, and who prays in you and for you.

Ask God the grace to listen to what the Spirit says. Begin reading Scripture slowly and attentively. Do not hurry to cover much material/ If it recounts an event of Christ's life, be there in the mystery of it. Share with the persons involved, a blind man being cured. Share their attitude. Respond to what Jesus is saying. Some words or phrases carry special meaning to you. Savor those words turning them over in your heart.

You may want to speak or recite a Psalm or other prayer from Scripture. Really mean what you are saying.

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When something strikes you,

Ø  you feel a new way of being with Christ, who becomes for you in a new way

Ø  you experience God's love

Ø  you feel lifted in spirit

Ø  you are moved to do something good,

Ø  you are peaceful

Ø  you are happy and content just to be in God's presence.

This is the time to ..... pause.

This is God speaking directly to you in the words of Scripture. Do not hurry to move on. Wait until you are no longer moved by the experience.

Do not get discouraged if nothing seems to be happening. Sometimes God lets us feel dry and empty in order to let us realize it is not in our power to communicate with God or to experience consolation. God is sometimes very close to us in seeming absence (Ps 139:7-8), is for us entirely in a selfless way, accepting us as we are, with all our limitations -- even with our seeming inability to pray. A humble attitude of listening is a sign of love for God, and a real prayer form the heart.

Spend time in your prayer just being conscious of God's presence in and around you. IF you want to, speak with God about the things you are interested in or wish to thank God for, your joys, sorrows, aspirations, etc....

SUMMARY 5 P's

Ø  Passage from Scripture

Ø  Place

Ø  Posture

Ø  Presence of God

Ø  Passage from Scripture

Read aloud or whisper in a rhythm with your breathing  - a phrase at a time - with pauses and repetitions when and where you feel like it. Do not be anxious, do not try to look for implications or lessons or profound thoughts or conclusions or resolutions, etc. Be content to be like a child who climbs into its father's lap and listens to his words and hist story. When you finish, remind yourself that God continues to live in you during the rest of the day.
 
-Armand M Nigro, S.J. & John F Christensen, S.J.

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Some online Bible and Bible Commentary resources  

RESSOURCES EN FRANÇAIS - If you are comfortable in French, here is a web link which could bring you to some interesting resources.  Once you go there, you can go to the Bible, teachings, and Scripture commentaries – very helpful and nourishing for the spirit! Allez voir: Catholiens    

ENGLISH RESOURCES: For your own reading of the Bible, the most recommended places to start are the Gospels of Matthew (written for Jews) and Luke (written for Greeks). In late Fall you can start with the first few chapters that relate to the advent of Jesus' birth, or in late winter or early Spring you can start with the events leading to Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. You can also start at the beginning and go from there. If you have a bible like the Jerusalem Bible, you can follow the excellent references in the margins to lines in the Old Testament that are directly connected. You can go to those lines and see how Jesus was conscious of the texts in the Jewish Scriptures which were about Him because they were prophecies about the coming of the Messiah promised by God. 

You can find the Bible in several translations online – here is a link to the interesting one used at Mass in Canada for Catholics NRSV Catholic. 

OTHER RESOURCES: 

(1) Study Light tools: Catholic Bible Commentary 
            (2) St. Paul Center: Sunday Bible Reflections 
            (3) Dr. Scott Hahn: Study Tools 
            (4) Agape Bible Study: Sacred Scripture Study Guide & Bible Study Menu 

Another way to pick Scripture texts for prayer in a meaningful way is to take some of the texts that touched you at Sunday Mass (you can get the Sunday Missal with the readings for the year) and look them up in the Bible.  Then you can see what comes before and after the text that was selected for the Mass.  You may find something you want to read more closely.  The bigger context often helps understand the part that was selected.  

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        One simple way to pray with Sacred Scripture, the Word of God 

Using an online Bible, a paper Bible, or Scripture texts in the Living With Christ: 

1.       There you are with the text on your lap. 

2.       You say, out loud if you're alone, otherwise inside your spirit: "OK Lord, here we are - you and me and your words which you inspired so long ago.  I'm going to read them over slowly a few times.  Please let your Holy Spirit - who inspired them to begin with in the hearts and imaginations of those men and women - to inspire in me the understanding and connections you want to give me.  I'm open, I put my trust in you, and I’m ready.

3.       Just sit there a moment in quiet, and let the "waters" of your spirit become a bit more still.  Your eyes might wander out the window, your imagination might wander off somewhere....  until you notice your spirit get peaceful.  At that point, everything might feel ever so natural - that's great - or the peace may be so deep that you may be impressed by it all - that's great too.  Either way, or even if you feel differently, it's fine.  What matters is a bit more peace than when you start - your mind might be racing, your heart might be excited, worked up, or concerned, but your deep inner spirit will at least have a sense "Hey, I want to be here, and I'm glad I'm here. I want to get into this."  That's all you need because God is always ready to do his part.

This 3rd step is simply about relaxing a bit before diving into the text; so don’t worry about feeling anything, but simply try to relax and trust in God to guide you. In time, the effects of your prayer time in your spirit will develop some kind of pattern or familiarity, and you will begin to notice that the sum total of the effects is bigger than what you yourself are doing - it's like 2 + 2 = 15!  The little steps you're taking result in a bigger effect than you would expect. The difference is God's work in your spirit. He works gently and quietly, deep down in the deep waters stirring in your soul. It's his domain. He's at home there, and when we trust Him, we give Him permission to do all He wants for us. 

4.     Then you're ready to start reading your Gospel verses.  Slowly.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.  Like licking an ice cream cone.... over and over and over.... At some point you really get full of the "taste" of it, and your mind and heart begin to make connections - with life, your youth, other people, your hopes, your fears, all kinds of stuff.  It's your stuff.  It might seem to be other people's stuff, but it's really about your part of it, because you're the one who's doing this, and it's you that the Lord wants to be with in this moment. Just go with the flow.

5.       If connections happen, feel free to let your spirit talk to the Lord about it, very spontaneously.  "Hey, that was really nice!  Thank You!"  or "Ouch!  That was a very painful experience - the memory still hurts!  I really felt alone there; so, where were You?"  etc.  etc.  Did you know that the Old Testament book of Psalms is a collection of 150 prayers what basically got composed exactly like this - with the composer praying and reacting to God out of what they were experiencing at the time?  Some of them actually are about being upset with God - imagine - and it's now an inspired part of God's Word!  He really likes us to open our heart to Him with complete honesty.

6.       Since praying with the Scriptures is supposed to be a dialogue, if you do get to the point of making remarks to the Lord, in your spirit, then it's a good and polite thing to give Him a chance to answer you somehow. Nobody likes being with someone who talks but doesn’t listen. Centuries of men and women praying like this hundreds of times has shown us that God is a great personage but He's got lots of time.  He usually isn't in a hurry. 

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What happens as you pray with Sacred Scripture, the Word of God?

So we must be willing to wait for Him to give us whatever impressions He wants to give – in our mind, heart, soul, imagination, memory, even in the body sometimes (warmth, peace, thrill, love, etc.) – or He may awaken our own feelings that we buried when we couldn't deal with them.  Now we are able to deal with them because we're not alone. 

Since we began by letting ourselves be in God's presence, then He really is with us, and we can let Him guide our spirit along the path of the memory, or whatever is happening, and this little "walk" will bring something new: more peace, or resolution, or healing, or simply the realization that it's time for me to do something which has been put off long enough.  When anything like that happens, just acknowledge it, and put it aside for now, and continue with your prayer experience.  Later, when you get up, you can pick up that thought again, ask God to guide you, and in freedom decide what to do about it, when, how, and so on.  This segment is about giving God a chance to respond to us.

7.       In time you can learn to notice God’s response and you just react in an honest way. Thank you. No way Jose! I'm not ready for that now; maybe tomorrow. Thanks for bringing it up, but please remind me again when You think I'm really ready. For now, let's put it on the back burner and let it simmer for a while. OK? And so on like that…

8.       None of this may happen and you will probably get the impression that nothing is happening at all. Resist such hasty conclusions. Remember, we're a hasty bunch, always in a hurry, but the Creator of the Universe isn't. He knows us better than we know ourselves. It's really about learning, in time, to put our trust in Him. If we notice some benefits, that's a bonus. You can't notice a tree growing taller, but when you come back a year or ten years later, you can see the difference. It's a bit like that in terms of our spirit. We don’t see ourselves grow.

9.       Everybody who prays often struggles with “distractions” or “temptations” or “wandering thoughts or images” or any number of other unexpected “developments” or “intrusions” during their prayer time. This is normal and it also is simply the discovery of what our minds, hearts, and spirits are really like. Like the atmosphere and oceans we have “a lot of currents” flowing all the time but generally don’t notice because we tend to “surf on top” and ignore the rest. When you drive you can notice the scenery passing by but you keep your eyes on the road. It is like that with prayer. Just acknowledge the “scenery” passing by and remain focused on “visiting with God”.

10.   We cannot avoid facing the “enemy of mankind” – the bad desires or impulses in ourselves, the bad influences all around us, and interference by the devil and other bad angels. In time we come to recognize “the enemy” which tries to discourage and distract us from getting closer to God, paying attention to God, obeying God, and coming to love God. You can learn more about “the discernment of spirits” from Fr. Timothy Gallagher ovm.

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Well, hopefully this will give you a doorway into the Word of God, and remember – it doesn't have to be painful – you're allowed to enjoy this! So have fun! I join you in prayer for peace in the love of God, for you and your family. As you make use of the gift of faith God offers, you can expect the joy of finding that God is good and even “tastes good”.

The more we put our trust in the Lord, the more deeply we enter into a personal relationship with the Father, with Jesus his Son, and with the Holy Spirit. Making more room for God in our thoughts, our heart, our Marriage and family life, and even in our work and play, brings a peace and joy that the world knows little about.

Living our life in God and with God dwelling in us brings us the peace and anticipation of Advent and Christmas and the sorrow and joy of Lent and Easter. Christian faith is about waiting, sorrow at our human condition, repentance, preparation, and joyful anticipation of joining with other Christians in gathering around our Christian celebration of Jesus' birth, his passion – death – resurrection and abiding presence among us and within us. May the quiet stillness of your heart be filled with the joyful news of the Lord's visitation, because He is “the God who comes”…

Ø  in your life, in your family, in your work and play, in your efforts and in your rest,

Ø  in your close friendships and casual acquaintances, in your comings and goings,

Ø  in your chance encounters and your deliberate meetings, in your adventures and in your returns,

…and may your whole life become more and more a place of Christmas Peace and Easter Joy in the Love of God!

Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Poustinik

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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.

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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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