malachi_a_serva:
One last note…in response to the comment about Leaving the heart of my mother and brother in the Lord’s hands…
I guess the reason my mom never knew much of the bible is because all of her formative years and then adult years the mass was said in Latin.
This doesn’t equate to people being able to understand the bible, except if you understood Latin. Another proof that the church wanted it’s parishiners to only believe what they were told.
Good Morning Malachi,
Once again you have exhibited the version of Catholicism that is based entirely on your own “experience” and personal perspective and not on historical accuracy with an effort towards understanding.
The Mass having been said in Latin is not a good arguement for not having known Scripture. If, indeed, your mother is (as you say) “truly “Catholic” as they come,” then she would certainly have attended Mass with her Missal which provided a word by word English translation of what was being said in Latin. Now, perhaps she could not afford or, for some reason, was not given a Missal as a child and was unable to read along as most children did during the first part of this century. Even then, however, your pious mother had the opportunity to listen to the homily given after the readings from Scripture which, during this point in history, was dictated to be strictly pertaining to the Scriptures read at that particular Mass.
And from a historical perspective, the whole reason that the Mass was said in Latin for so many years was precisely because it was the dominant language that the illiterate population understood. Latin was chosen for its universiality. Once, however, that language had past its time of mass consumption, the Churh saw it in the best interest of the faithful to allow the Mass in the vernacular.
So, presuming that your mother continued her daily Mass attendance post-Vatican II, there is no good reason that she would continue in her ignorance of Holy Scripture.
Now, my other thought, is that perhaps your mother (like many of our ancient saints in the faith) has a very good grasp of Scripture in its context. Perhaps, from your perspective, she does not measure up to your expectations of what “knowledge of Scripture” should be: ie, she doesn’t quote Scripture by memory . . .unlike you, she doesn’t sit in a service on Sunday where the minister reads directly from Scripture for 3 hours. . .as a child in her home, you did not witness her delving into private Scripture reading. This may be your “experience” of knowing Scripture and such things may indicate to you that one has a good grasp of the Word, but it does not mean that everyone MUST experience the Word as you do to have a good foundation in the gospel.
Again, Malachi, I would just encourage you to do some good historical research. If you picked up, for instance, some early Church Fathers’ writings (Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Cyril of Alexandria, or even Augustine) I am postitive that you would find their “knowledge of Scripture” quite different from your own. They did not quote the Bible with Book, Chapter, Verse with the ease of a 21st century non-denominational preacher. Yet, I’m sure you would not presume that they didn’t “know” their Bible.
