How much of the Bible is read in public readings?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kaygee
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kaygee

Guest
Just curious. Between the readings for daily and Sunday Mass and the readings in the Liturgy of the Hours, is the Bible read in its entirety or are there some parts left out? Is some are left out, what is left out?

I made the claim to a Protestant that the entire Bible was read in three years in the Catholic Church, if one faithfully followed all the offices of the Church, which is a claim most Protestant churches could not make. Now I’m wondering if I was speaking the truth.

Please help, I don’t want to take out my Missal and LOTH books and start highlighting my Bible, that would take time . . .
 
I don’t know about the Liturgy of Hours but how much of the Bible is covered in the Mass readings is discussed in another thread. See especially my posts #9, #10, and #11.

According to my figures, 14% of the Bible is covered in the Sunday Mass readings; 30% of the Bible is covered by both Sunday and Weekday Mass readings.

Another source gives similar results.
 
Wow, Todd, that was a lot of work! Thanks. . . Anyone know about LOTH? Thanks!
 
According to this site, the Lectionary contains about 90% of the Gospels, 55% of the rest of the New Testament (Acts, Epistles and Revelation), and slightly over 13% of the OT.

But I’m not sure if they are talking about the old lectionary or the new lectionary.
 
The other day, when listening to the reading (couple of weeks ago) about Abraham bringing his son to be sacrificed, I noticed that there were great parts of the story that were missing. That’s when I realized that if I knew the scriptures being read, hearing the abbreviated portion of the story would immediately call to mind the entire story, including those parts left out for the sake of brevity.

This is why it is so important to READ the bible, not only listen to what is read during Mass. Doing so enhances our experience at Mass and helps us to grow in faith and understanding of our participation in the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Christ for our salvation!

It really was a light-bulb moment for me to sit there and realize that it’s my responsibility to know scripture so that I can better hear all that’s being read from the lectionary.

CARose
 
Although the statistics sound accurate, I’d like to add that the readings at Mass carry about 0% of the continuity of the Bible that is necessary to appreciate the fulness of the Bible.

So many of the Gospel readings are chopped up and giving to us in little snippets so we don’t see how “I am the Light of the World” leads us to Jesus “healing the Blind Man” in the Gospel of John, and much, much more.

That’s just my two cents worth!

Notworthy
 
40.png
CARose:
The other day, when listening to the reading (couple of weeks ago) about Abraham bringing his son to be sacrificed, I noticed that there were great parts of the story that were missing. That’s when I realized that if I knew the scriptures being read, hearing the abbreviated portion of the story would immediately call to mind the entire story, including those parts left out for the sake of brevity.

This is why it is so important to READ the bible, not only listen to what is read during Mass.
Click to expand...
Yes, I noticed the same thing the other day when the story of the woman at the well was read. It was a shortened version.
 
There are usually two options on a sunday when a long reading is to be made: Read the entire reading, or read a shortened version.

We got the long version. Not as long as the passion, but he must have been reading for 5 minutes.
 
40.png
NotWorthy:
Although the statistics sound accurate, I’d like to add that the readings at Mass carry about 0% of the continuity of the Bible that is necessary to appreciate the fulness of the Bible.

So many of the Gospel readings are chopped up and giving to us in little snippets so we don’t see how “I am the Light of the World” leads us to Jesus “healing the Blind Man” in the Gospel of John, and much, much more.

That’s just my two cents worth!

Notworthy
Click to expand...
This just goes to show that, even though we Catholics do hear a great portion of Scripture in the liturgy,* it is not a replacement * for individual study of the Scriptures using Church approved resources. It is especially important to gain at least a familiarity with the scope of salvation history as related in the Old and New Testaments. Apart from that, the Bible is just a bunch of unrelated stories and aphorisms.

Too often have I heard fellow Catholics answer the challenge that “Catholics don’t read the Bible” with “Well, we hear most of it at Mass, you know.” Exposure does not equate to understanding, especially if you are unlucky enough to be afflicted with milk-sop homilies week after week.
 
Ask me in November 2008.

I do the readings from One Bread One Body mag (from Presentation Ministries), and they are taken straight from the day’s Mass readings, except that where the Mass uses only a few verse from a Psalm, the OBOB listing gives the whole Psalm.

At the start of this liturgical year I started a new Bible, a RSV-CE, and I mark what I’ve read. I’ll let you know at the end of the 3-year cycle how much is left over.

I do know that between the daily readings and LOTH I’ve already covered more than half the psalms.

DaveBj
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top