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Lectionary Statistics - How much of the Bible is included in the Lectionary for Mass? (Popquiz!)
catholic-resources.org ^ | Updated on January 2, 2009 | Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Posted on 11/01/2009 3:53:11 AM PST by GonzoII

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LECTIONARY WEBSITE
by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Lectionary Statistics

How much of the Bible is included in the Lectionary for Mass?
Not as much as you might think, yet far more than was included in the Roman Missal before the Second Vatican Council!

The bishops assembled at Vatican II declared, "The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way the more significant part of the Sacred Scriptures will be read to the people over a fixed number of years" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, #51). As the following tables show, the current Lectionary for Mass does indeed offer a "richer fare" of biblical readings during the Eucharistic liturgy than was available before Vatican II. However, since many parts of the Bible (esp. the Old Testament) are still not included in the Lectionary, one must go beyond the readings used at Mass to cover the entire Bible.

The following tables compare the current edition of the Lectionary for Mass (1981 Latin, 1998/2002 USA editions)
with the pre-Vatican II Missale Romanum (substantially unchanged between 1570 and 1969, with a few modifications in 1951)
and the complete New American Bible (see the bottom of this page for a key to the column headings).

Readings from the Old Testament:

Before Vatican II, each Catholic Mass included only two biblical readings, which were normally referred to as "The Epistle" (since the first reading was almost always taken from one of the New Testament letters) and "The Gospel." Readings from the Old Testament were never used on Sundays, but only at the Easter Vigil, the Vigil of Pentecost, the feast of Epiphany and its octave, during Holy Week, and on some weekdays (esp. Ember days, weekdays of Lent, the feasts of some saints, and some votive Masses).

Since Vatican II, Masses on Sundays and major feast days include three biblical readings, the first of which is usually taken from the Old Testament (except during the Easter Season, when the first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles). The OT reading is normally very brief and thematically related to the Gospel reading of the day, so there is no detectable order or semi-continuous pattern from one Sunday to the next. Weekday Masses usually have only two readings, the first of which is taken from either the OT or the NT, according to a two-year weekday cycle.

OT Name of Book NAB Pre-Vatican II Missal:
Vigils & Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Weekdays
# Chap. # Vv. Total Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used
1 Genesis 50 1533 100** 6.5 % 138 9.0 % 428 27.9 %
2 Exodus 40 1213 28 2.3 % 112 9.2 % 208 17.1 %
3 Leviticus 27 859 0 0 % 9 1.0 % 42 4.9 %
4 Numbers 36 1289 0 0 % 11 0.9 % 81 6.3 %
5 Deuteronomy 34 959 9 0.9 % 52 5.4 % 106 11.1 %
6 Joshua 24 658 0 0 % 9 1.4 % 42 6.4 %
7 Judges 21 618 0 0 % 0 0 % 51 8.3 %
8 Ruth 4 85 0 0 % 0 0 % 21 24.7 %
9 1 Samuel 31 810 0 0 % 31 3.8 % 148 18.3 %
10 2 Samuel 24 695 0 0 % 19 2.7 % 110 15.8 %
11 1 Kings 22 817 0 0 % 37 4.5 % 166 20.3 %
12 2 Kings 25 719 0 0 % 14 1.9 % 100 13.9 %
13 1 Chronicles 29 943 0 0 % 0 0 % 0 0 %
14 2 Chronicles 36 821 0 0 % 8 1.0 % 17 2.1 %
15 Ezra 10 280 0 0 % 0 0 % 21 7.5 %
16 Nehemiah 13 405 0 0 % 8 2.0 % 19 4.7 %
17 Tobit 14 245 0 0 % 0 0 % 71 29.0 %
18 Judith 16 340 0 0 % 0 0 % 0 0 %
19 Esther 16 272 0 0 % 0 0 % 7 2.6 %
20 1 Maccabees 16 922 0 0 % 0 0 % 54 5.9 %
21 2 Maccabees 15 556 0 0 % 8 1.4 % 35 6.3 %
22* Job 42 1068 0 0 % 11 1.0 % 87 8.1 %
24* Proverbs 31 915 0 0 % 24 2.6 % 47 5.1 %
25 Ecclesiastes 12 222 0 0 % 4 1.8 % 34 15.3 %
26 Song of Solomon 8 117 0 0 % 0 0 % 7 6.0 %
27 Wisdom of Solomon 19 436 0 0 % 42 9.6 % 102 23.4 %
28 Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 51 1372 0 0 % 48 3.5 % 208 15.2 %
29 Isaiah 66 1291 24** 1.9 % 166 12.9 % 322 24.9 %
30 Jeremiah 52 1364 0 0 % 38 2.8 % 162 11.9 %
31 Lamentations 5 154 0 0 % 0 0 % 8 5.2 %
32 Baruch 6 213 30** 14.1 % 27 12.7 % 44 20.7 %
33 Ezekiel 48 1273 14** 1.1 % 48 3.8 % 180 14.1 %
34 Daniel 14 530 24** 4.5 % 5 0.9 % 178 33.6 %
35 Hosea 14 197 16 8.1 % 11 5.6 % 38 19.3 %
36 Joel 4 73 0 0 % 5 6.8 % 27 37.0 %
37 Amos 9 146 0 0 % 13 8.9 % 51 34.9 %
38 Obadiah 1 21 0 0 % 0 0 % 0 0 %
39 Jonah 4 48 10** 20.8 % 6 12.5 % 39 81.3 %
40 Micah 7 105 0 0 % 4 3.8 % 24 22.9 %
41 Nahum 3 47 0 0 % 0 0 % 8 17.0 %
42 Habakkuk 3 56 0 0 % 5 8.9 % 12 21.4 %
43 Zephaniah 3 53 0 0 % 8 15.1 % 13 24.5 %
44 Haggai 2 38 0 0 % 0 0 % 18 47.4 %
45 Zechariah 14 211 0 0 % 5 2.4 % 24 11.4 %
46 Malachi 3 55 0 0 % 6 10.9 % 18 32.7 %

* Note 1: The above table does not include the Psalms, since they are used so often in various ways during the Mass.
** Note 2: The 1951 revision of the Roman Missal reduced the number of OT readings at the Easter Vigil from twelve to four,
and omitted all six OT readings from the Pentecost Vigil, thereby further reducing the total amount of the OT read before Vatican II;
remaining were only 33 verses of Genesis, 28 of Exodus, 9 of Deuteronomy, 12 of Isaiah and 16 of Hosea. For details, see the Roman Missal page.

OT Summary:

OT Section NAB Pre-Vatican II Missal:
Vigils & Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Weekdays
# Chap. # Vv. Total Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used
Torah/Law 187 5853 137 2.3 % 322 5.5 % 865 14.8 %
Historical Books 316 9186 0 0 % 134 1.5 % 862 9.4 %
Wisdom Books (w/o Psalms) 163 4130 0 0 % 129 3.1 % 485 11.7 %
Four Major Prophets 191 4825 92 1.9 % 284 5.9 % 894 18.5 %
Twelve Minor Prophets 67 1050 26 2.5 % 63 6.0 % 272 25.9 %
OT Total (w/o Psalms) 924 25044 255 1.0 % 932 3.7 % 3378 13.5 %
Note 3: The 1951 revision of the pre-Vatican II Roman Missal (see note 2 above) reduced the total to only
98 verses or 0.39% of the Old Testament (aside from the Psalms) read at Vigils and major feast days.

Readings from the New Testament:

Before Vatican II, the same readings were used each year for the various Masses in the Roman Missal. The first reading was usually from one of Paul's Letters or the Catholic Epistles. The Gospel readings were most often taken from Matthew or John, less frequently from Luke, and only rarely from Mark.

Since Vatican II, much more of the New Testament is included in the Lectionary for Mass. The Acts of the Apostles is used as the first reading on the Sundays and weekdays during the Easter season. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are read semi-continuously on the Sundays of Ordinary Time on a three-year cycle, while passages from the Gospel of John are used mostly during the seasons of Lent and Easter and on several major feast days. Excerpts from all other NT books and letters are used as the second reading at Masses on Sundays and major feasts according to a three-year cycle, and/or weekday Masses on a two-year cycle. (Click on any of the previous underlined links for more details.)

NT Name of Book NAB Pre-Vatican II Missal:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Weekdays
# Chap. # Vv. Total Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used
1 Matthew 28 1071 373 34.8 % 594 55.5 % 916 85.5 %
2 Mark 16 678 30 3.4 % 414 61.1 % 653 96.3 %
3 Luke 24 1151 188 16.3 % 650 56.5 % 1011 87.8 %
4 John 21 879 256 30.0 % 526 59.8 % 813 92.5 %
5 Acts 28 1007 35 3.5 % 165 16.4 % 492 48.9 %
6 Romans 16 433 69 15.9 % 117 27.0 % 228 52.7 %
7 1 Corinthians 16 437 75 17.2 % 162 37.1 % 244 55.8 %
8 2 Corinthians 13 256 40 15.6 % 48 18.8 % 123 48.0 %
9 Galatians 6 149 45 30.2 % 47 31.5 % 90 60.4 %
10 Ephesians 6 155 57 36.8 % 96 61.9 % 141 91.0 %
11 Philippians 4 104 25 24.0 % 47 45.2 % 73 70.2 %
12 Colossians 4 95 16 16.8 % 35 36.8 % 62 65.3 %
13 1 Thessalonians 5 89 16 18.0 % 39 43.8 % 69 77.5 %
14 2 Thessalonians 3 47 0 0.0 % 17 36.2 % 28 59.6 %
15 1 Timothy 6 113 0 0.0 % 20 17.7 % 51 45.1 %
16 2 Timothy 4 83 0 0.0 % 25 30.1 % 39 47.0 %
17 Titus 3 46 9 19.6 % 8 17.4 % 28 60.9 %
18 Philemon 1 25 0 0.0 % 8 32.0 % 19 76.0 %
19 Hebrews 13 303 17 5.6 % 84 27.7 % 188 62.0 %
20 James 5 108 11 10.2 % 31 28.7 % 99 91.7 %
21 1 Peter 5 105 33 31.4 % 36 34.3 % 57 54.3 %
22 2 Peter 3 61 0 0.0 % 7 11.5 % 15 24.6 %
23 1 John 5 105 13 12.4 % 33 31.4 % 95 100.0 %
24 2 John 1 13 0 0.0 % 0 0.0 % 6 46.2 %
25 3 John 1 15 0 0.0 % 0 0.0 % 4 26.7 %
26 Jude 1 25 0 0.0 % 0 0.0 % 6 24.0 %
27 Revelation 22 404 0 0.0 % 38 9.4 % 129 31.9 %

NT Summary:

NT Section NAB Pre-Vatican II Missal:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Major Feasts

Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Weekdays

# Chap. # Vv. Total Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used
Gospels (4) 89 3779 848 22.4 % 2184 57.8 % 3393 89.8 %
Acts 28 1007 35 3.5 % 165 16.4 % 492 48.9 %
Pauline Letters (7) 61 1493 270 18.1 % 468 31.3 % 846 56.7 %
Deutero-Paulines (6) 26 539 82 15.2 % 201 37.3 % 349 64.7 %
Hebrews 13 303 17 5.6 % 84 27.6 % 188 62.0 %
Catholic Epistles (7) 21 432 57 13.2 % 107 24.7 % 292 67.6 %
Book of Revelation 22 404 0 0 % 38 9.4 % 129 31.9 %
NT w/o Gospels 171 4178 461 11.0 % 1063 25.4 % 2296 54.9 %
NT Grand Total 260 7957 1309 16.5 % 3247 40.8 % 5689 71.5 %

Key to the Column Headings:

Main Lectionary Page 1998/2002 USA Edition 1992 Canadian Edition
Links to Other Websites 1970 USA Edition Roman Missal (Pre-Vatican II)


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TOPICS: Catholic; General Discusssion; Worship
KEYWORDS: bible; catholic; liturgy; scripture
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To: GonzoII

Thank you for the quotes.

Dan 2:21 - God controls what happens in time.

Acts 17:26: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” - God controls what happens in time.

Romans 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” No indication He is outside of time, or that time is not integral to His actions. Eternal, but not necessarily outside of time.

Acts 1:7: “7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” God controls what happens when, but this doesn’t show God outside of time.

So I guess we disagree, but I thank you for your post.


61 posted on 11/01/2009 12:53:20 PM PST by Mr Rogers (I loathe the ground he slithers on!)
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To: GonzoII

Readings where the same passage occurs in more than one book. Almost every verse of Mark, for instance, also appears in Matthew or Luke. Paul repeats certain teachings in more than one of his letters. And various passages of the Torah appear in more than one book. (The Ten Commandments, for instance, appear three times, in Exodus, Leviticus and Dueteronomy.)


62 posted on 11/01/2009 1:00:07 PM PST by dangus (Nah, I'm not really Jim Thompson, but I play him on FR.)
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To: Mr Rogers; papertyger
I’m not interested in philosophy, but revelation.

This is the most interesting -- even radical, at least radically important -- thing you've written. As such, it's one of the hardest to discuss.

"Philosophy" was given a bad name by the gnostic heretics, at whom even the philophers sneered (Plotinus wrote -- and I actually read, decades ago, a treatise "Against the Gnostics.") Likewise with "Metaphysics" and, I would add "Mysticism". In my view all these terms have meanings neither pro- nor con- Xty and revelation. When we use words like "cause" or "change" (or, ahem, "time") we are not able to avoid taking up the tools of philosophers, in my view.

ONE reason I, at any rate, think that 1 AD was a good time for IHS to be born and the Gospel to flower is that there had been a LOT of good philosophers around and there were the rudiments of a common culture with an intellectual class who could respond to and then articulate the Gospel.

Personally I would disagree with PT that you need physical stuff to have time. You just need something that changes, IMHO.

Aristotle says (and I can't think how to disagree) that time is the measure of motion," where "motion" would include the change of a stationary object.

If you think about what a time measuring device is (an ideal clock is a closed system in which something happens -- think about it) it seems hard to imagine "time without any change at all" being a meaningful phrase.

None of that requires (or admits?) recourse to Scripture. It's about what we mean by time, what time "is".

But then, once we nail down what time is, we can wonder meaningfully about God and time.

In fact, I don't see how one can do systematic theology without some kind of philosophical context with which one agrees or disagrees ...

63 posted on 11/01/2009 1:05:45 PM PST by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin: pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
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To: vladimir998; GonzoII

1 Chronicles cntains almost no unique material not found in the Books of Kings. I’m pretty certain I’ve heard Judith 13 at mass.


64 posted on 11/01/2009 1:07:56 PM PST by dangus (Nah, I'm not really Jim Thompson, but I play him on FR.)
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To: Mr Rogers; GonzoII
Again, we would need to do some work on how God can mqanipulate time without being outside of it.

On another track -- philosophical question, I fear -- how can we talk about God in time without slipping into a kind of ditheism :God and Time. Would we want to say God MADE time?

My head hurts.

65 posted on 11/01/2009 1:09:14 PM PST by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin: pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
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To: Mr Rogers
You ASSUME creation is the start of time, then cite creation as proof God is outside of time.

That's my point about not understanding what you read: it's not an assumption, it's a fact. God could not have called something out of nothing if mass predated creation. Without mass, there is no time, and that is an irreduccable fact that is understood by its definition.

66 posted on 11/01/2009 1:09:38 PM PST by papertyger (It took a Carter to elect a Reagan, President Palin....)
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To: papertyger

“Without mass, there is no time, and that is an irreduccable fact that is understood by its definition.”

No, it isn’t. It is your assumption.


67 posted on 11/01/2009 1:23:39 PM PST by Mr Rogers (I loathe the ground he slithers on!)
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To: Mr Rogers

At the time of Christ, there were Jews who read only the five books of Moses as scripture (the Sadducees), Jews who read only the books of Moses plus the Prophets, and Jews who read the entire Old Testament canon plus several books which not even Catholics include. There were no groups of Jews which read the entire Protestant canon, and only the Protestant Canon. The Catholic canon consists of those books which had been translated into Greek for the benefit of Jews living in diaspora.

After the destruction of the Temple, the Jews decided that they had to agree on a set canon. The reason that they did not include the book of 2 Maccabees is that it argued for a resurrection of the body, and seemed to suggest an imminent arrival of the Messiah. These notions were blamed for causing the Christian movement, which the Jews in turn blamed for their destruction, so they were removed from the bible. (There was a false notion at the time of Luther that 2 Maccabees had been a Greek book; we now have pre-Christian, Hebrew manuscripts.)

Regardless of whether 2 Maccabees was read by Jews as scripture, it offers historical proof that notions such as participatory atonement, purgation, and the Resurrection of the Dead were already held as truth, before the Catholic Church, since manuscripts of 2 Maccabees are older than Christ.


68 posted on 11/01/2009 1:25:59 PM PST by dangus (Nah, I'm not really Jim Thompson, but I play him on FR.)
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To: papertyger; Mr Rogers
I dispute Mass as a prerequisite. All you need, I think, is something that changes. The minute (so to speak) you have that, you have time.

If you come from a tradition which doesn't "do" philosophy and that sort of thing, it's not a quick nor an easy sale. To me, it's a given, because, intellectually at least, I was a philosopher before I was a committed Xtian, that God never changes. But I can see how if one doesn't have a background if thinking like that, might not agree.

"Making sense" itself is a phrase open to different understandings. And back me into a corner over how a thing can change and yet be what it is ... well, I start stammering. And then the non-philosophers can ask, "Isn't philosophy just a matter of filling the space between here and speechlessness with a lot of noise?"

69 posted on 11/01/2009 1:29:31 PM PST by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin: pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
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To: Mr Rogers

Time is a function of space. Without space, there is no time. This is a notion understood by the ancients when they used words like “eternal,” and surprisingly confirmed by modern physics.


70 posted on 11/01/2009 1:29:47 PM PST by dangus (Nah, I'm not really Jim Thompson, but I play him on FR.)
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To: Mad Dawg

For the most part, I find these discussion too much for my noggin.

What I have are a number of verses in a number of places where it seems time is an integral part of God Himslef - hence Jesus DID something, is now waiting, and will do something else.

One possible explanation would be that God was ‘talking down’ to us, which is often required. However, I think the idea that God is outside time is simple enough that He could have revealed so without anyone batting an eye.

Another explanation is that time is somehow integral to God, as is truth, love, etc.

For philosophy, I find it best to TRY to limit what is stated categorically to what God has revealed. Beyond that, we should be free to disagree without harm. Where to draw that line is probably beyond me...


71 posted on 11/01/2009 1:30:15 PM PST by Mr Rogers (I loathe the ground he slithers on!)
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To: dangus

18 Judith 0 % 0 0 % 0 0 %

I thought I had heard it to at Mass. Maybe in the old Mass?


72 posted on 11/01/2009 1:38:12 PM PST by vladimir998
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To: dangus

There are historical documents from the time of Christ and before that indicates otherwise. Jerome argued against accepting the Apocryphal books as canon based largely on Jewish rejection of them, although he gave way when outvoted.


73 posted on 11/01/2009 1:43:00 PM PST by Mr Rogers (I loathe the ground he slithers on!)
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To: Mr Rogers
No, it isn’t. It is your assumption.

I'll try one more time before you go into the "invincibly ignorant" catagory...

E=mc squared has been verified to at least 16 decimal places. Now if you solve for time (a factor of "c") and make mass zero, the equation goes undefined because you have a zero for your denominator. Time is a physical property just like width and length, and every encyclopedia that addresses the issue recognizes this fact.

74 posted on 11/01/2009 1:50:11 PM PST by papertyger (It took a Carter to elect a Reagan, President Palin....)
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To: Mad Dawg; Mr Rogers
Another way to say it is that time is about things that change, and only creatures change.

When we think not only about a thousand ages being short as the watch that ends the night but also a day's being like a thousand years, we imagine ourselves being able to expand or contract our experience of time. But then WE still change in reaciton to what's around us, what we perceive. So in our imagination we posit a third "time", the short time in which I am as a thousand ages pass, or the other time in which a day is so very long - my eperinece of time as I say, "That was a short time," or "That was a long time."

Further we have to struggle with the thousand ages being like an evening in some respects, but in others, as God sprinkles grace on the mired and slow-moving soul, the complex ALMOST-instant in which the soul turns from doubt to faith, can be imagined as the slow intricate gracious work of God and His angels in the mysterious depths of that soul. So we're going to end up positing an indefinitely (if not infinitely) large array of subjective times for God to operate in as he straightens recalcitrant Mad Dawgs out and keeps them safe and manages the internal economy of the sub-atomic particles in the Magellanic Cloud.

If, on the other hand, we have God outside of time, while the basic notion is incomprehensible, the rest falls easily into place. "Before Abraham was," or, indeed, anything or anyone else, "I AM!" Also during and after ....

Does God's "Omnipresence" include time, or just space?

Here's a short thought experiment. Go take a look at post #1 in this thread I had made last May, illustrating God's "size." Now imagine that same concept applied where every moment in time is visible. Now I believe that "time" is a part of His creation, that time itself is a created thing. Because God exists apart from His creation (and is therefore "outside" of it), and because time is a part of the creation, therefore not only does God's omnipresence allow Him to be everywhere at the same time, He is able to be everywhen as well.

75 posted on 11/01/2009 2:10:04 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" - Job 13:15)
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To: vladimir998

I’m not old enough to recall the old mass.


76 posted on 11/01/2009 3:01:13 PM PST by dangus (Nah, I'm not really Jim Thompson, but I play him on FR.)
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To: GonzoII
What I glean from this post is this: People love to toss out the accusation that Catholics don't read the Bible. Your post demonstrates that a Catholic who does nothing to practice his faith except attend weekly Mass (and the few Holy Days) will hear almost half the Bible. That's a far cry from "Catholics don't read the Bible." The Church is apparently formally requiring Catholics to hear at least half the Bible during their required weekly obligation to attend Mass. Correct? Now a really good Catholic may attend Mass during the week. Daily Communicants hear two thirds of the Bible. It's just part of the Mass. The priest, at every Mass, should be conducting his own little Bible Study with the congregation during the homily. This is the basic foundation of Bible knowledge for Catholics. Catholics are encouraged to study the Bible on their own and in groups in addition to this foundation. Now let's be fair about Bible consumption: How many Christians read this much of the Bible? And to be even more fair, what percentage of the Bible would we all throw out because it is just about Jewish battles, lineage, or the intricacies of Jewish tradition and ritual? Is anybody really studying those chapters? If we throw those out, the percentage of the relevant portion of the Bible that Catholics read goes up. Now be super fair: Christian religions have thrown parts of the original Bible out! What percentage? How do their numbers stack up when we calculate them without the sections they threw away? I think we can see that Catholics have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to consumption of the Bible. It's an integral part of the Mass, which is the most important aspect of our faith. That old "Catholics don't read the Bible" just won't hunt. In fact, it's a lie.
77 posted on 11/01/2009 4:23:28 PM PST by Melian ("frequently in error, rarely in doubt")
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To: Mr Rogers

>> There are historical documents from the time of Christ and before that indicates otherwise. <<

Name one.

>> Jerome argued against accepting the Apocryphal books as canon based largely on Jewish rejection of them, although he gave way when outvoted. <<

His actual statement was that those who interpreted his words as denying the scriptural authenticity of the disputed books were “fools and slanderers.” Martin Luther, an inveterate slanderer, labelled those books, “apocrypha,” to confuse them with another category of Christian writings which had been called apocrypha since the dawn of the Church. Thus many Protestants are misled by believing that ancient condemnations of “apocrypha” were leveled at books the same Church fathers quoted as divine relevation.


78 posted on 11/01/2009 6:49:54 PM PST by dangus (Nah, I'm not really Jim Thompson, but I play him on FR.)
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To: dangus

See: http://bible.org/article/content-and-extent-old-testament-canon

or here: http://department.monm.edu/classics/Speel_Festschrift/sundbergJr.htm

Consider this:

“Here we close our commentaries on the historical books of the Old Testament. For the rest (that is, Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees) are counted by St. Jerome out of the canonical books, and are placed amongst the apocrypha, along with Wisdom and Ecciesiasticus, as is plain from the Protogus Galeatus. Nor be thou disturbed, like a raw scholar, if thou shouldest find anywhere, either in the sacred councils or the sacred doctors, these books reckoned as canonical. For the words as well of councils as of doctors are to be reduced to the correction of Jerome. Now, according to his judgment, in the epistle to the bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus, these books (and any other like books in the canon of the Bible) are not canonical, that is, not in the nature of a rule for confirming matters of faith. Yet, they may be called canonical, that is, in the nature of a rule for the edification of the faithful, as being received and authorised in the canon of the Bible for that purpose. By the help of this distinction thou mayest see thy way clearly through that which Augustine says, and what is written in the provincial council of Carthage.” (Cardinal Cajetan, “Commentary on all the Authentic Historical Books of the Old Testament,” cited by William Whitaker in “A Disputation on Holy Scripture,” Cambridge: Parker Society (1849), p. 424)

Also see: http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2006/06/guest-blogdid-jerome-change-his-mind.html

Now, you claim “Martin Luther, an inveterate slanderer, labelled those books, “apocrypha,” to confuse them with another category of Christian writings which had been called apocrypha since the dawn of the Church.”

Were you aware that the term Deutero-Cathonical was coined in the late 1500s? They had been called Apocryphal for a thousand years...was Luther supposed to invent Deuterocanonical for you, so he could call them something else?

Your history is wrong.


79 posted on 11/01/2009 7:24:57 PM PST by Mr Rogers (I loathe the ground he slithers on!)
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To: Melian; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; Gamecock; Forest Keeper; Mr Rogers
...a Catholic who does nothing to practice his faith except attend weekly Mass (and the few Holy Days) will hear almost half the Bible.

Incorrect. Check the charts below, taken from the article itself. By doing "nothing to practice his faith except attending Sunday weekly Mass (and the few Holy Days), in two years' time (after which the reading cycle ends), a Mass-attending Catholic will hear 3.7% of the Old Testament (932 verses), and in three years' time (after which the reading cycle ends) a Mass-attending Catholic will hear 40.8% of the New Testament (3247 verses). That all adds up to a total of 4179 out of 33001 verses mentioned in the chart, i.e. only 12.7% of the entire Bible (excluding Psalms) is heard by a weekly-Mass-attending Catholic.

That's a far cry from "Catholics don't read the Bible."

Incorrect. By your own description, your offered Catholic example has not bothered to read any of it for himself. Your example is precisely that of a "Catholic who doesn't read the Bible." He's only hearing it, and only 12% of it at that.

The Church is apparently formally requiring Catholics to hear at least half the Bible during their required weekly obligation to attend Mass. Correct?

Incorrect. Again, check the charts below.

Now a really good Catholic may attend Mass during the week. Daily Communicants hear two thirds of the Bible. It's just part of the Mass.

Incorrect. Check the charts below. By doing "nothing to practice his faith except attending Sunday and Daily Mass (and the few Holy Days), in two years' time (after which the reading cycle ends), a Mass-attending Catholic will hear 13.5% of the Old Testament (3378 verses), and in three years' time (after which the reading cycle ends) a Mass-attending Catholic will hear 71.5% of the New Testament (5689 verses). That all adds up to a total of 9067 out of 33001 verses mentioned in the chart, i.e. only 27.5% of the entire Bible (excluding Psalms) is heard by a daily-Mass-attending Catholic.

Now let's be fair about Bible consumption: How many Christians read this much of the Bible? And to be even more fair, what percentage of the Bible would we all throw out because it is just about Jewish battles, lineage, or the intricacies of Jewish tradition and ritual? Is anybody really studying those chapters? If we throw those out, the percentage of the relevant portion of the Bible that Catholics read goes up.

Let me emphasis this for the lurkers: you, as a Catholic, are advocating throwing out whole chunks of inspired text. Catholic apologists take Martin Luther to task for having considered removing James and Revelation from the NT, something which he never actually went through with. Meanwhile, your own liturgy has been throwing out a majority of the inspired text from the Mass for nearly two millennia! How else can we explain you mistaking the Bible for being 75% shorter than it actually is?

I think we can see that Catholics have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to consumption of the Bible. It's an integral part of the Mass, which is the most important aspect of our faith.

I'd consider 12.7% to be something to be ashamed of, myself. I'd be even more embarrassed if to admit that the amount that I thought was "almost half of the Bible" was really less than one-eighth. That would betray a severe ignorance of how much content is actually in the Bible!

That old "Catholics don't read the Bible" just won't hunt. In fact, it's a lie.

"Almost half", huh?

"Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ!"

OT Summary:

OT Section NAB Pre-Vatican II Missal:
Vigils & Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Weekdays
# Chap. # Vv. Total Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used
Torah/Law 187 5853 137 2.3 % 322 5.5 % 865 14.8 %
Historical Books 316 9186 0 0 % 134 1.5 % 862 9.4 %
Wisdom Books (w/o Psalms) 163 4130 0 0 % 129 3.1 % 485 11.7 %
Four Major Prophets 191 4825 92 1.9 % 284 5.9 % 894 18.5 %
Twelve Minor Prophets 67 1050 26 2.5 % 63 6.0 % 272 25.9 %
OT Total (w/o Psalms) 924 25044 255 1.0 % 932 3.7 % 3378 13.5 %

NT Summary:

NT Section NAB Pre-Vatican II Missal:
Sundays & Major Feasts
Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Major Feasts

Current Lectionary:
Sundays & Weekdays

# Chap. # Vv. Total Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used Vv. Used % Used
Gospels (4) 89 3779 848 22.4 % 2184 57.8 % 3393 89.8 %
Acts 28 1007 35 3.5 % 165 16.4 % 492 48.9 %
Pauline Letters (7) 61 1493 270 18.1 % 468 31.3 % 846 56.7 %
Deutero-Paulines (6) 26 539 82 15.2 % 201 37.3 % 349 64.7 %
Hebrews 13 303 17 5.6 % 84 27.6 % 188 62.0 %
Catholic Epistles (7) 21 432 57 13.2 % 107 24.7 % 292 67.6 %
Book of Revelation 22 404 0 0 % 38 9.4 % 129 31.9 %
NT w/o Gospels 171 4178 461 11.0 % 1063 25.4 % 2296 54.9 %
NT Grand Total 260 7957 1309 16.5 % 3247 40.8 % 5689 71.5 %

80 posted on 11/01/2009 8:30:11 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" - Job 13:15)
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