Taking notes during Homily? Bible?

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Sometimes there are things I want to remember that come to me or inspire me during the Homily or readings. I’d also like to read the Bible during the Readings, although I do have a missalette of my own to use.

I’m going to start taking a notebook and pen; I obviously don’t want it to look like I’m texting during Mass! It’s also hard to take notes on the Bulletin, and I don’t always take one before the Mass.

Does anyone else take notes or use their own Bible?

Christina
 
Our former parish priest was a brilliant and inspiring homilist. I took notes sometimes, and never have with any other priest. I tried to be discreet, with a small pen and pad of paper. No one seemed to notice or mind. I have never seen anyone else do it.

As a courtesy, maybe mention to the priest that you enjoy his homilies and take notes. This will compliment him and relieve any anxiety that you are jotting down problems to send to the bishop or something!

I don’t see an advantage to using your own Bible. First you have to carry it. Second if you don’t have the precise version used in your parish missalette, the words could slightly vary. Third, you have to jump back and forth from Bible to missalette. I mean, sure, it could be done, no rule against it (make sure it’s a Catholic approved version), but is it an advantage? Your personal decision.

Good luck.
 
Matthew Kelly offers the following or free and I take mine to Mass all the time and will joy quick notes on anything that strikes me for later review and prayer.
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[ http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/vbtyo.foxkg/v/vspfiles/photos/1MJ-HC-1.jpg?1336986454](http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/product_p/1mj-hc.htm)    

http://cart.dynamiccatholic.com/v/vspfiles/templates/210/images/clear1x1.gif
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                                                                               						                               Mass Journal
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The Mass Journal is designed to enrich your experience at Sunday Mass, teach you how to listen to the voice of God, and deepen your daily spirituality. The Mass Journal is a spiritual tool that urges us to ask the question, “God, what is one way that I can become a better-version-of-myself this week?”
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%between%%between%
 
So, I often want to but don’t know if it is okay either. I await the responses…
 
Father Mike Schmitz from Uminisota @deluth **recommends ** taking notes, he challenged all the people of his homily podcast and the students to take notes.
 
I take notes wherever I go. Usually on a laptop. I have two laptops. One small with an external “truly ergonomic keyboard” (trulyergonomic.com) where I have more e-books, and one bigger where I have newly purchased e-books plus more than ½ of the earlier purchased e-books.
I recommend this.

I try to save on costs, so I haven’t had internet since 2001. I have no smartphone. (I didn’t even have a cellular phone for a while.) I would not take notes on a smarthpone or iPad or something like that. A good keyboard is good to have. I use Bible study softwares, so a larger monitor is also preferable. Although both of my laptops have 1366*768 pixels, which is insufficient but enough in Church.

Regarding Bible study softwares I have 2: Logos (on which I have the clear majority of my books) and Accordance (which I currently run under a Mac emulator under Windows since the native Windows version has not yet been released (it will be in the end of the year)).

(On Accordance I have the UBS (Translators) Handbook New Testament (bought used), Revised English Bible (also in Logos), New English Translation of the Septuagint, Comprehensive Bible, and Greek New Testament Syntax Search (altough I have no Greek New Testament in Accordance (I have the 27th Edition plus UBSGNT4 revised in Logos), I will wait for Nestle-Aland 29th Edition).)

Which Bible version I use varies depending on which passage, as You can see from: Re: Recommendation about English Bible translation
Sometimes I do use the same version as the priest, especially when it’s the British priest. (He uses NABRE.) And some other times I just use the 2004 Good News Translation 3rd Edition UK-English (to get it in Logos, go to: 1992 GNT-CE 2nd ed. preferably with Anglicized text and 1971 GNB 3rd ed. NT and post (registration on the forum is free) that You want that particular Edition!).
 
I rarely take notes at mass, but I do try to have a pen handy just in case.

Several years ago, I used to attend mass with an excellent homilist, and I would always take a piece of copier paper and fold it into quarters. Folded that way, it was just small enough to fit in my pants pocket, just stiff enough to write on, and gave me two full pages of blank space to write on.

The other interesting thing was that at this parish the pews all had New American Bibles in them. The congregation was encouraged to follow along with the reading in the Bible itself. During the homily, the priest would tell us to look at the verses before or after the day’s reading to better understand the context of what was happening. The one problem with this approach was that the prescribed readings often omit certain verses, but the censored verses would inevitably be read at this parish.
 
Digitonomy said:
The one problem with this approach was that the prescribed readings often omit certain verses, but the censored verses would inevitably be read at this parish.
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I don’t think that when some verses are left out of a reading, it necessarily follows that they have been “censored.” It’s often just to emphasize the verses that are more relative to the point, and leave out those that may not be as much so.
 
agnes_therese said:
I don’t think that when some verses are left out of a reading, it necessarily follows that they have been “censored.”
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It depends on what connotations you want to attach to “censor”. Strictly speaking, it’s suppressing or deleting something objectionable. In the case of the lectionary, verses are frequently suppressed or deleted because they are objectionable due to their length, the fact that they allude to another verse not included in the day’s reading, are not as useful pastorally, or because they raise difficult questions.
 
Once or twice a month our priest will reference something I think is fascinating. So when he exits his homily to prepare the gifts while we’re all sitting down I have very unobtrusively written down a reminder to Google late.
 
If there is something I want to remember from the homily, I have to write it down or it’s long gone out of my mind by the time Mass is over. And I would never be able to remember a bible verse that’s not in the missal, so if the Priest refers to another bible verse, I have to write it down if I want to remember it.

Having been to many other churches in my lifetime, many non-denominational and protestant churches actually put blank lined paper in their bulletins (handed out on the way IN to church vs. the way out like we do) so that you have paper and can take notes.
Years ago when I was engaged to a Church of Christ pastor, he told me that he expected people to take notes and to look up stuff in their bibles while the preacher was preaching because how else would they remember the important parts of his sermon? These churches generally have hymnals and nothing like a missal, so everyone brings their bibles to use during church.

I’ve never had anyone question what I’m writing or question the fact that I am writing. I’m not waving it around or trying to disturb anyone else. 🙂
 
ccmcmg said:
Sometimes there are things I want to remember that come to me or inspire me during the Homily or readings. I’d also like to read the Bible during the Readings, although I do have a missalette of my own to use.

I’m going to start taking a notebook and pen; I obviously don’t want it to look like I’m texting during Mass! It’s also hard to take notes on the Bulletin, and I don’t always take one before the Mass.

Does anyone else take notes or use their own Bible?

Christina
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no I tend to bring my missal with me
 
I have taken notes in my Magnificat which I take to Mass every Sunday. A couple of times I’ve made a notation in my phone’s “notes” function.

Why in the world would it not be OK to take notes?
 
There are so many priests who prepare homilies as if everyone had a pencil, paper, and clipboard, there are some places where one could hardly help bringing all that!

I’d be concerned that an electronic tablet might cause scandal, since so many people use them to text and e-mail and do other things that are entirely inappropriate at Mass. I don’t know who would be scandalized if you were taking notes with paper during the homily.
 
Rosella said:
I don’t see an advantage to using your own Bible. First you have to carry it. Second if you don’t have the precise version used in your parish missalette, the words could slightly vary. Third, you have to jump back and forth from Bible to missalette. I mean, sure, it could be done, no rule against it (make sure it’s a Catholic approved version), but is it an advantage? Your personal decision.

Good luck.
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There are many advantages to using your own Bible. The missalette in the pews at our church is not the same version as the readings anyways. I wouldn’t be discouraged from using your own bible I or missalette. I have had priests that tried to discourage it, saying we should listen not read, but I am a very visual person, without reference my mind wonders and I miss 90% of the readings and spend half the time trying to figure out what he is referencing during the homily.
 
EasterJoy said:
I’d be concerned that an electronic tablet might cause scandal, since so many people use them to text and e-mail and do other things that are entirely inappropriate at Mass. I don’t know who would be scandalized if you were taking notes with paper during the homily.
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This is so sad for me. I use my tablet alot for reading the bible, looking up stuff in the CCC, and for various prayer and missal apps. I would love to use mine during mass, but I guess the world just isn’t ready. However, the protestant churches I’ve been too, ipads are normal.
 
Honour said:
This is so sad for me. I use my tablet alot for reading the bible, looking up stuff in the CCC, and for various prayer and missal apps. I would love to use mine during mass, but I guess the world just isn’t ready. However, the protestant churches I’ve been too, ipads are normal.
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I’ve brought my iPad to church. One of my apps has the LOTH and the Mass including the readings in it. However there is a temptation to check my e-mail so I don’t bring it too often.
 
Honour said:
This is so sad for me. I use my tablet alot for reading the bible, looking up stuff in the CCC, and for various prayer and missal apps. I would love to use mine during mass, but I guess the world just isn’t ready. However, the protestant churches I’ve been too, ipads are normal.
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This is sad for me, too. I have many of my prayers on my basic Kindle (in other words, not the Fire), including those I pray after Communion (there are seven, and my memory is not what it used to be). At weekday Mass, I use my Kindle without any problems. Everyone knows what it is and why I have it. The parish secretary, however, has banned me from using it at Sunday Mass, on the grounds that people think I’m texting. Pointing out that a Kindle is not a phone did not help—I am the sacristan, and thus I’m highly visible. This puts added responsibility on me to set the example. So on Sundays I drag the missal from which these prayers were extracted to Mass with me. Book okay, Kindle not okay. This means I have to carry two missals (the one for Mass and the one with my prayers in it), which is manageable but less elegant of a solution.

OTOH, I use my phone at every Mass to record the entire homily. This drives the parish secretary bananas, but I have the permission of our pastor so she cannot stop me, no matter how much she wishes she could. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/Pascal_S/smileys/aetsch.gif Fr. B allows me to do this because I am a foreigner and the local language is not my native tongue nor do I speak or understand it all that well. Without the ability to review the homilies at a later time in quieter circumstances, this key part of the Mass would always be a wash for me.

Father has even gone so far as to allow me to use my phone to pray the LOTH during Adoration, but I bought an actual breviary for that.

When attending Mass in my own language, I have been known to take notes. I’ve never taken any measures to conceal my paper and pen, and no one has ever spoken to me about it so I guess it’s okay! 👍
 
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