Book of Gospels

[John_Lilburne]

I own a lot of liturgical books, including the lectionary. I consider these books my private property, things that I have paid for.

I was given a small, but fairly complete, Roman Missal and lectionary for my First Communion, around 1974.

Owning these books is something I would encourage lay people to do, if only for their education in the faith. Like owning a bible and catechism.

Benedictgal’s attitude seems to be that this is wrong, at least in the case of the Book of Gospels. In post #31 she wrote “The Book of the Gospels was not made for private ownership. Granted, if it is an out of date copy, it can remain in the possession of the priest for study. However, if it is current, it belongs in the Church.”

This is not something I agree with or would want to encourage. So this is where I become concerned and cautious about a public ceremony to bless the books, which the Catechism, n. 1672, indicates “reserve objects … for liturgical use.”

The 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum has “[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected.” Knowing what the liturgical books say is part of this. If I owned a copy of the Book of the Gospels I would be better informed about it. I would not need to rely on the USCCB keeping its Introduction in the April 2000 BCL Newsletter, at usccb.org/liturgy/innews/042000.shtml . I would not need a internet connection and a computer. I would not have the same difficulty in finding it.

 

[PacoG]

Here is something about sacred vessels from Redemptionis Sacramentum:

Even prior to their blessing, the Church already refers to these as sacred vessels. Thus, the arguments made regarding chalices and patens are pretty much moot, as I read Redemptionis Sacramentum.

Now, insofar as the Book of the Gospels, even though I have not found anything yet to answer peregrinus, I do believe that the same principle would apply. It is not so much about personal idiosyncracies as it is to honoring the intent of the liturgical implements.

That is the most bizarre construction I have ever seen.

And two other observations:

1st: RS is a liturgical document. It is intended to regulate liturgy. It is not aimed at governing the laity in non-liturgical actions.

2nd: The publishing houses also sell Books of Gospels, and church supply shops sell chalices, ciboria, vestments, etc. to Protestants. If this bizarre interpretation of RS were true, then they couldn’t sell them to anyone else. RS governs liturgy. It isn’t canon law. It isn’t particular law. It’s liturgical law.

Your argument is specious at best.

 

[PacoG]

While it is laudable that the young man decided to purchase it, it really does not belong in someone’s private home since it is for liturgical use. It’s main and most important use is for the proclamation of the Gospel.

Remember the story of the giant hand that was writing on the wall in the Book of Daniel. The Babylonians took out the sacred instruments of the Temple of the Lord and were using them for what amounted to a glorified dinner party. This action greatly displeased the Lord, hence the appearance of the giant hand that spelled the end of the road for the Babylonians.

This is one of the worst analogies I have ever seen. The Book of the Gospels is a book that is available for purchase by the laity. I can go to any of the four Catholic book stores within 15 miles of my house and purchase a copy. The Church hasn’t either explicitly or implicitly barred it’s sale to the laity. People own liturgical books.

The Babylonians had laid waste to the Lord’s temple and plundered it. They stole the sacred implements. They were mocking the Lord, His temple and His law by desecrating the sacred vessels by having a dinner party with them.

There is a huge difference between what the Babylonians did and a devote young man who purchases a liturgical book which is available to the public to purchase. In fact, that analogy borders on being offensive.

Come on. The high school freshmen who I coach in debate can construct an argument better than that.

 

[PacoG]

Umm…the Lectionary is just (essentially) a specially arranged Bible with a particular translation (a unique translation which wouldn’t have been necessary if certain translators had followed certain documents, but we won’t go there ). The basic fact is that what is proclaimed at a Liturgy is not a different set of Scriptures than what is found in a Bible.

Correct. This is similar to the two ways laws are published. There is what is called “session law.” That’s the actual law that the legislature passed with all the fancy language and references and the governor signed. It is arranged in chronological order in hardbound volumes. Then there is “code” which is the way the law is organized by subject matter in a way that it can easily referenced and cited. They are both law.

And several of us own a miniature combine lectionary/sacramentary called a missal. Even more people have access to a miniature lectionary/sacramentary in paperback called a missalette.

 

[PacoG]

The items used in Liturgy traditionally were items from the community set aside for liturgical use. Chalices and ciboria were top of the line dinnerware, vestments were top of the line clothing, candlesticks, etc. All were more-or-less everyday items set aside for a singular purpose, but without that setting aside would have been used in everyday life.

When during the manufacturing process does this setting aside actually take place, according to you?

If these items are already set aside for sacred use, why then do they need to be blessed or consecrated? For the items to be consecrated before their liturgical use would be redundant if they came from the manufacturer already sacred.

Once more, it is the consecration and blessing, and nothing else, that sets asides anything (whether liturgical item or person) for the exclusive purposes of God.

Exactly. For example, an ambo is a lectern that has been consecrated for liturgical use. There is no difference between the lectern that I stood at this morning when presenting argument before the court of appeals and the ambo behind which I read the first reading at Easter Vigil Mass. (Well, the lectern at the court of appeals has that annoying red light that tells you when time is up.) And the ambo is important as it is the table from which the Word is proclaimed. So please tell me where in the manufacturing process does a lectern become an ambo? Are there little old ladies at conveyor belts who stamp them “ambo” and “lectern”?

And if you buy into benedictgal’s strange interpretation of RS, are we prohibited from buying lecterns now because they look exactly like ambos? So my father (a very devote Catholic and a retired high school principal who now teaches math) can’t buy his own lectern because RS declares it to be a sacred implement? (I’m going to have to break the old guy’s heart. He has been looking for the right lectern to lecture from since he returned to the classroom ten years ago and finally found one in the Autom catalogue.)

 

[benedictgal]

I own a lot of liturgical books, including the lectionary. I consider these books my private property, things that I have paid for.

I was given a small, but fairly complete, Roman Missal and lectionary for my First Communion, around 1974.

Owning these books is something I would encourage lay people to do, if only for their education in the faith. Like owning a bible and catechism.

Benedictgal’s attitude seems to be that this is wrong, at least in the case of the Book of Gospels. In post #31 she wrote “The Book of the Gospels was not made for private ownership. Granted, if it is an out of date copy, it can remain in the possession of the priest for study. However, if it is current, it belongs in the Church.”

This is not something I agree with or would want to encourage. So this is where I become concerned and cautious about a public ceremony to bless the books, which the Catechism, n. 1672, indicates “reserve objects … for liturgical use.”

The 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum has “[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected.” Knowing what the liturgical books say is part of this. If I owned a copy of the Book of the Gospels I would be better informed about it. I would not need to rely on the USCCB keeping its Introduction in the April 2000 BCL Newsletter, at usccb.org/liturgy/innews/042000.shtml . I would not need a internet connection and a computer. I would not have the same difficulty in finding it.

John, I stand by what I have written regarding the Book of the Gospels. Its primary purpose is for use in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There are quite a few parishes that do not have this particular book. Were I to have the money, I would buy it for my dad’s parish and a couple of others. Rather than see the book kept as merely a study item in someone’s house, I believe it best that it be donated to a parish that could otherwise not be able to afford to have its own copy.

 

[OraLabora]

Unless the young man intends to illicitly proclaim the gospel in a liturgical setting or play “priest”, then there is nothing wrong with owning this book. Benedictgal I think you are taking too narrow and legalistic a view here. The Word is for all to meditate on.

You say you don’t know anyone who owns a lectionary. You do now, I do own one (but not for the Mass; I simply read Magnificat to get the Mass readings, I own a monastic lectionary on the 2-year cycle for Vigils/Office of Readings).

I own many liturgical books. Some I don’t use but keep for research purposes, others I use to chant the Divine Office daily.

I am a director of the Gregorian Institute of Canada and sing in a small Gregorian schola. I am often asked to prepare liturgical booklets with the appropriate liturgies for Masses and Offices that choirs will sing, and occasionally for concerts. While I don’t own a book of Gospels since the Gospel is only rarely chanted in the settings I prepare (and then by someone who knows the tones by heart and can apply them to the current reading), I do own books that normally are only used in a liturgical setting, for example the Roman Martyrology.

I might add that books intended for sacred use are generally beautifully bound and durable as well.

Also at least in French, my liturgical language, bibles in the officially-approved liturgical translation are difficult if not impossible to find. For someone like myself preparing booklets that will be used to allow the faithful (and the choristers) to follow the order of a sung Mass, I need to work from official translations. Granted, I could use missals for the most part, but there is no reason why I shouldn’t work from an official liturgical book.

So there are valid reasons why laypeople directly involved in preparing liturgy may want own such books, and the same may apply to academics.

I can also see where someone practicing Lectio Divina might want to work from a “sacred” book. The type is larger, and the nature of the book would probably allow the person to concentrate and meditate better on the word than if it was in a small-print Bible or worse a missal with all sorts of extraneous text around it. Lectio Divina is a very noble way to read the Bible, and a liturgical book, ISTM, would allow one to choose an appropriately-sized chunk of text to read, meditate and concentrate on. This is hardly a profane use of a Book of Gospels. It is rather another means to listen to God, to bring one’s self in closer communion to God. In the Lectio context, a Book of Gospels would be the equivalent, I think, of a sacramental such as a crucifix.

 

[benedictgal]

Unless the young man intends to illicitly proclaim the gospel in a liturgical setting or play “priest”, then there is nothing wrong with owning this book. Benedictgal I think you are taking too narrow and legalistic a view here. The Word is for all to meditate on.

You say you don’t know anyone who owns a lectionary. You do now, I do own one (but not for the Mass; I simply read Magnificat to get the Mass readings, I own a monastic lectionary on the 2-year cycle for Vigils/Office of Readings).

I own many liturgical books. Some I don’t use but keep for research purposes, others I use to chant the Divine Office daily.

I am a director of the Gregorian Institute of Canada and sing in a small Gregorian schola. I am often asked to prepare liturgical booklets with the appropriate liturgies for Masses and Offices that choirs will sing, and occasionally for concerts. While I don’t own a book of Gospels since the Gospel is only rarely chanted in the settings I prepare (and then by someone who knows the tones by heart and can apply them to the current reading), I do own many books that normally are only used in a liturgical setting, for example the Roman Martyrology.

I might add that books intended for sacred use are generally beautifully bound and durable as well.

Also at least in French, my liturgical language, bibles in the officially-approved liturgical translation are difficult if not impossible to find. For someone like myself preparing booklets that will be used to allow the faithful (and the choristers) to follow the order of a sung Mass, I need to work from official translations. Granted, I could use missals for the most part, but there is no reason why I shouldn’t work from an official liturgical book.

So there are valid reasons why laypeople directly involved in preparing liturgy may want own such books, and the same may apply to academics.

I can also see where someone practicing Lectio Divina might want to work from a “sacred” book. The type is larger, and the nature of the book would probably allow the person to concentrate and meditate better on the word than if it was in a small-print Bible or worse a missal with all sorts of extraneous text around it. Lectio Divina is a very noble way to read the Bible, and a liturgical book, ISTM, would allow one to choose an appropriately-sized chunk of text to read, meditate and concentrate on. This is hardly a profane use of a Book of Gospels. It is rather another means to listen to God, to bring one’s self in closer communion to God. In the Lectio context, a Book of Gospels would be the equivalent, I think, of a sacramental such as a crucifix.

With all due respect, I find it rather insulting to be told that I am rigid and legalistic. Inasmuch as you own the books, that is your purview. However, my raising an objection to a child owning something as sacred as the Book of the Gospels when it could better serve its purpose in a parish is not expressing legalism nor rigidity. If people want to meditate on the readings for an upcoming Mass, one can certainly buy a Missal or subscribe to publications like the Magnificat. There are missals that do have a large print edition.

When I have had to plan special liturgies, I will sometimes work out of the parish and use their resources. Most of the time, though, I use my Daily Roman Missal since it has pretty much all of the readings and resources that I need.

I can understand your owning them for your work. However, in the case of the young person mentioned in the OP, I still hold that it would be more fitting for the Book of the Gospels to be donated to a parish where it will actually be used for its real purpose. What is so wrong and rigid about that?

 

[OraLabora]

To each their own opinion I guess. You have yours, I have mine, it certainly isn’t worth losing any sleep over. To me anything that enhances the love for the Word and the Divine Liturgy is, on balance, a good thing.

I have yet to see a parish that doesn’t have a Book of Gospels but that doesn’t mean that’s the case everywhere especially in poorer countries.

 

[benedictgal]

To each their own opinion I guess. You have yours, I have mine, it certainly isn’t worth losing any sleep over. To me anything that enhances the love for the Word and the Divine Liturgy is, on balance, a good thing.

I have yet to see a parish that doesn’t have a Book of Gospels but that doesn’t mean that’s the case everywhere especially in poorer countries.

My diocese is still considered a missionary diocese. We have several parishes, including my father’s, that do not own the Book of the Gospels. In fact, for one of the parishes, I went ahead and donated a volume of the four-volume English Lectionary so that I could help them start their own collection. This same parish does not own a copy of the Book of the Gospels in Spanish, let alone English. We are also trying to get the three-volume Spanish-language Lectionary for another parish.

That is why I believe that it would be helpful to find a parish that needs a copy of the Book of the Gospels and donate it to them.

 

[OraLabora]

My diocese is still considered a missionary diocese. We have several parishes, including my father’s, that do not own the Book of the Gospels. In fact, for one of the parishes, I went ahead and donated a volume of the four-volume English Lectionary so that I could help them start their own collection. This same parish does not own a copy of the Book of the Gospels in Spanish, let alone English. We are also trying to get the three-volume Spanish-language Lectionary for another parish.

That is why I believe that it would be helpful to find a parish that needs a copy of the Book of the Gospels and donate it to them.

That’s a situation significantly different from mine (Quebec) which was overwhelmingly Catholic, but like Western Europe is apostatizing at an alarming rate. The result is closing parishes, and a surplus of books and other religious articles cheaply available.

The OP doesn’t state their location, though Acadian might be a clue (i.e. Atlantic Canada our Louisiana perhaps).

 

[benedictgal]

That’s a situation significantly different from mine (Quebec) which was overwhelmingly Catholic, but like Western Europe is apostatizing at an alarming rate. The result is closing parishes, and a surplus of books and other religious articles cheaply available.

The OP doesn’t state their location, though Acadian might be a clue (i.e. Atlantic Canada our Louisiana perhaps).

We are an overwhelmingly Catholic diocese and Catholic area of deep South Texas. However, we are not an overwhelmingly rich diocese. Despite the money situation, parish closures are not an issue for us.

Now, we have purchased items from King William for the Cathedral from those parishes which have sadly closed up north. But, as far as liturgical books are concerned, we need to either buy them from the church goods store or, in the case of the Spanish-language sets, get them from Mexico (either by walking/driving across the bridge).

 

[karennascargo3]

The chalices, ciborria, patens and the like sold by church goods stores are sold specifically for liturgical use. That is the purpose for which these items are meant.

This is not at all correct. They can be sold to anyone who wishes to purchase them.

I doubt we will would ever be able to change each other’s opinions, but I do understand what you’re saying and admire your respect of the book and your charity in wishing it was donated to less fortunate church. Those are not bad qualities in a person at all and, whether legalistic or not, perhaps we could all learn lessons in respect for our faith from them.