Is the entire Bible read through a # of masses?

[jmoburg]

My non-denom girlfriend said “Why is it that Catholics don’t teach the entire Bible?”

My first thought was to say we actually teach more Bible that she knows… (more books) but that wasn’t the right answer.

I do have a question, in a given year, 2 years…3 years… is the Entire Bible read through Mass?

 

[Fuerza]

My non-denom girlfriend said “Why is it that Catholics don’t teach the entire Bible?”

My first thought was to say we actually teach more Bible that she knows… (more books) but that wasn’t the right answer.

I do have a question, in a given year, 2 years…3 years… is the Entire Bible read through Mass?

I think that it’s a three year cycle, and yes, the entire Bible is read in that time.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

My non-denom girlfriend said “Why is it that Catholics don’t teach the entire Bible?”

My first thought was to say we actually teach more Bible that she knows… (more books) but that wasn’t the right answer.

I do have a question, in a given year, 2 years…3 years… is the Entire Bible read through Mass?

If you attend only Sunday Mass in the three year Lectionary cycle you will hear a good potion of the Bible. (I used to know the %) If you also attend Daily Mass over the two year daily cycle you will add about 15 to 20 % more. If you add the Daily Office you can increase the % even more.

 

[AJV]

The Sunday and important feasts cycle is 3 years. The weekly cycle is 2 years. I don’t think the whole Bible is read but quite a sizeable amount is.

 

[RobNY]

My non-denom girlfriend said “Why is it that Catholics don’t teach the entire Bible?”

My first thought was to say we actually teach more Bible that she knows… (more books) but that wasn’t the right answer.

I do have a question, in a given year, 2 years…3 years… is the Entire Bible read through Mass?

Ask her what she means by, “teach the entire Bible?”

If by teach it, she means, read it-- then you probably have her there. Our liturgical calendar allows us to read so much of the Bible if we go to Mass everyday and pray the Liturgy of the Hours (another official Church liturgy).

If by teach it, she really mean teach it, then say, of course, we do, and ask her why her church does teach the entire Bible… such as: 1. The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, 2. the role of works in justification (James 2, Romans 2:6-7, Matthew 25, etc.), etc.

Of course, you’ll have to know her beliefs to know which of the Bible’s teachings she omits. Either way, you have an answer.

-Rob

 

[sawdust]

I think that much of the Bible is read through the 3 year cycle of readings used in the Catholic Lectionary. Through Year A, Year B, and Year C, there is probably most of the New Testament used because only the 1st reading on Sundays come from the Old Testament. The other reading usually is from one of Paul’s letters or one of the epistles. The gospels are, of course, most completely covered because they are presented at all masses, on all days by the priest or deacon. So the only parts of the Bible not used completely through the 3 year cycle would be the Old Testament. It is hard to “fit” some of the books of the OT in with the liturgy. I wonder if any of you have trouble, like myself, trying to connect some of the readings with the gospel for that day or sometimes even with the homily?

 

[abirdrrl]

If a person attends Mass every day in a three year period, he will hear 13.5% of the Old Testament and 75.1% of the New Testament.

Source

 

[John_Lilburne]

The answer to the question " in a given year, 2 years…3 years… is the Entire Bible read through Mass?" is “No.”

Take the book of Nehemiah as an example. The following verses are read (taken from the index to the Lectionary).
Chapter 8, verses 2-6 and 8-10 (Third Sunday, Ordinary Time, Year C).
At weekday Masses (over 2 years):
Chapter 2, verses 1-8
Chapter 8, verses 1-12.
Chapter 8, verses 2-4, 5-6, 8-10.
Chapter 8, verses 2-6, 8-10.

The book has 13 chapters. Only parts of two chapters will be read at Mass.

 

[Fuerza]

I think that it’s a three year cycle, and yes, the entire Bible is read in that time.

Disregard this previous post. I wrote it before looking it up. The other posters are correct.

 

[thistle]

My non-denom girlfriend said “Why is it that Catholics don’t teach the entire Bible?”

My first thought was to say we actually teach more Bible that she knows… (more books) but that wasn’t the right answer.

I do have a question, in a given year, 2 years…3 years… is the Entire Bible read through Mass?

What is your friend’s evidence to support such an assumption?
She cannot simply make a vague comment.

 

[rwoehmke]

I don’t understand how she can assert this. I have attended several Baptist services as an observer or guest of non-Catholic members of my family. The last time I did this, the assistant pastor who they claim is a great preacher taught on a single verse from John. He used at most five or six other verses to support his thesis. At this rate even three or four years they would be hard put to to teach the “entire Bible.” If she means to include Church sponsored Bible Studies to make up the “entire Bible” she is not too familiar with what goes down in many Catholic Parishes.

At any Sunday Mass, in addition to the parts of the ordinary taken from Scripture, I would estimate that a minimum of 15 to 20 verses are read and followed by the homily which teaches on them. Has she ever attended a Catholic Mass?

 

[jpjd]

Just because 100% of the Bible is not read during the readings doesn’t mean the Church doesn’t teach the entire Bible. A Protestant minister certainly doesn’t preach on 100% of the readings, yet does she say Protestants don’t teach the entire Bible? Ask your girlfriend to explain to you how the Catholic church does not teach the entire Bible. The burden is on her to prove her assertion.

When she fails in her attempt to explain her assertion, tell your girlfriend that Catholicism does believe in the entire Bible, in fact the whole Mass is derived from the Bible. The gloria, readings, psalms, alleluia, gospel, hymns, prayers, responses, and most importantly, the consecration. It’s all Bible-based. And remember, Catholics are free to, and encouraged to, read the Bible on their own. They don’t have to “limit” themselves to what is read at Mass.

I am always amused when I hear (Protestant) evangelists tell their audience to attend a “Bible-based church” which I interpret that as their euphemism for non-Catholic, yet little do they realize that Catholicism is as Bible-based as you can get.