Weird Mormon habit that I carried over into Catholicism - hacking my missal

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HonoraDominum

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This weekend, as it was slow and I was in the mood to do a project, I decided to add tabs to my 1962 Roman Missal (Baronius Press) to easily reference all the major prayers in the Latin Mass. I took some Avery 5160 labels, built labels in MS Word with the names for the tabs and highlighted the cells, printed them out, cut them to fit, and then “laminated” the tabs with some clear Scotch tape. Here’s a picture of how the project turned out. As you can see, I’ve also done a few other hacks, like highlight the responses said during an EF High Mass, and put little notes where to stand, sit, and kneel (like you can find in the red missalette). I’ve also taken my missal to a Christian book store and had them emboss my name on the front in gold leaf.

I realized, after thinking about things for a bit, that all of this hacking of my missal was a carryover habit from my LDS days. My quad always had my name embossed on it. And ever since my Seminary days in high school, I had a habit of highlighting and coloring and writing things all over my scriptures in an attempt to be the best Scripture Chaser around. For those Catholics who might be reading this thread - seriously, most LDS bookstores have a whole department dedicated to making sure you can turn your scriptures into a colorful, sticker-full reading rainbow. I do miss those thumb indexes on my scriptures though - I thought about trying to figure out how to do those, but gave up and went with the tabs instead.

I also keep a very detailed Prayer Journal in a Moleskine weekly calendar that I have, as well as a standard journal that is both spiritual and “here’s what’s going on in my life” in nature. That’s a very Mormon habit. When I told my priest about my prayer journal he said, “You won’t keep that up for very long.” Um, I’ve got journals going back to when I was 12 in my closet. I’m all about the journaling. I also rarely drink Coke. I’ll drink Dr. Pepper or tea, but for some reason “Coke” was always such a no-no for me growing up that even as a Catholic adult, I feel a bit guilty. I remember one of the first time I was talking to my priest and he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee and going, “Um … no, don’t drink coffee.” Even though I’ve been Catholic since 2006, I still find that sometimes these old Mormon habits die hard.

Do any of you ex-Mos out there have any odd habits that have carried over from your Mormon days? And have any of you done some customizing to your missal or bible to either personalize it, or to make it more user-friendly?

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I am a cradle Catholic.

There is nothing wrong with “hacking” your bible or missal and making it more user friendly, as long as there is nothing there that is disrespectful, which I don’t see. I do it to my missal myself.
 
That’s a habit many Protestants have as well, but I never understood it. Then again I’m one of those people that likes to make sure my books stay in perfect condition. I could seal my Bible up in a air/water tight case, bury it, and they could dig it up 1000 years later and say “Look an unused Bible from the year 2011”. When I actually read it for an hour or more a day!😃
 
This weekend, as it was slow and I was in the mood to do a project, I decided to add tabs to my 1962 Roman Missal (Baronius Press) to easily reference all the major prayers in the Latin Mass. I took some Avery 5160 labels, built labels in MS Word with the names for the tabs and highlighted the cells, printed them out, cut them to fit, and then “laminated” the tabs with some clear Scotch tape. Here’s a picture of how the project turned out. As you can see, I’ve also done a few other hacks, like highlight the responses said during an EF High Mass, and put little notes where to stand, sit, and kneel (like you can find in the red missalette). I’ve also taken my missal to a Christian book store and had them emboss my name on the front in gold leaf.

I realized, after thinking about things for a bit, that all of this hacking of my missal was a carryover habit from my LDS days. My quad always had my name embossed on it. And ever since my Seminary days in high school, I had a habit of highlighting and coloring and writing things all over my scriptures in an attempt to be the best Scripture Chaser around. For those Catholics who might be reading this thread - seriously, most LDS bookstores have a whole department dedicated to making sure you can turn your scriptures into a colorful, sticker-full reading rainbow. I do miss those thumb indexes on my scriptures though - I thought about trying to figure out how to do those, but gave up and went with the tabs instead.

I also keep a very detailed Prayer Journal in a Moleskine weekly calendar that I have, as well as a standard journal that is both spiritual and “here’s what’s going on in my life” in nature. That’s a very Mormon habit. When I told my priest about my prayer journal he said, “You won’t keep that up for very long.” Um, I’ve got journals going back to when I was 12 in my closet. I’m all about the journaling. I also rarely drink Coke. I’ll drink Dr. Pepper or tea, but for some reason “Coke” was always such a no-no for me growing up that even as a Catholic adult, I feel a bit guilty. I remember one of the first time I was talking to my priest and he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee and going, “Um … no, don’t drink coffee.” Even though I’ve been Catholic since 2006, I still find that sometimes these old Mormon habits die hard.

Do any of you ex-Mos out there have any odd habits that have carried over from your Mormon days? And have any of you done some customizing to your missal or bible to either personalize it, or to make it more user-friendly?

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-685zekUlRhY/Tu9u7RNXgUI/AAAAAAAAAEY/uxJc8B6Yt7I/s669/IMG_1341.jpg
I wasn’t raised in church so I never attended seminary, but my wife was. She has all the clear background stickers from her seminary days. My son uses those scriptures now. “Uses” really isn’t the right word. He CARRIES them, as he is in first grade and is still reading at a very basic level. He loves having them though. My wife is the most TBM of TBMs. Unshakable. Unfortunately.
 
That’s a habit many Protestants have as well, but I never understood it. Then again I’m one of those people that likes to make sure my books stay in perfect condition. I could seal my Bible up in a air/water tight case, bury it, and they could dig it up 1000 years later and say “Look an unused Bible from the year 2011”. When I actually read it for an hour or more a day!😃
You’re exactly like me. I don’t let anything bad happen to my books. No opening it too wide, no “doggy-eared” or bent pages, and definitely no bent cover. It stays in perfect condition, and that’s that. I’ve had my current Bible for three years, and it’s in almost perfect condition (My dog licked a part of a page, thus unfortunately making it “almost” perfect). When I (hopefully) get my Douay-Rheims Bible this Christmas, I’m going to show my sister how you’re supposed to take care of a Bible. She’s absolutely horrid when taking care of books, and it always makes me cringe when I see the covers of her books stick all the way out when they’re laying by themselves…
 
I wasn’t raised in church so I never attended seminary, but my wife was. She has all the clear background stickers from her seminary days. My son uses those scriptures now. “Uses” really isn’t the right word. He CARRIES them, as he is in first grade and is still reading at a very basic level. He loves having them though. My wife is the most TBM of TBMs. Unshakable. Unfortunately.
How can your wife have “Seminary days” when she is a woman and thus cannot enter Seminary?
 
How can your wife have “Seminary days” when she is a woman and thus cannot enter Seminary?
We’re talking about the LDS church here ATN. Seminary for Mormons is a course of religious instruction for high school age kids.
 
Oh dear… I feel kinda bad for roughhousing the Bibles I use… 😦

It’s not that I disrespect the Word, exactly, I just… don’t carry or store it with the most reverence I possibly could… 😦

But OP, there’s nothing wrong with embellishing your Bible or your Roman Missal, or keeping prayer journals. That is part of how you interface with God. And while you may have learned it in your Mormon days, that doesn’t make it bad. Is Jesus bad because you learned about Him as a Mormon and not as a Catholic? Of course not! 😉 What matters is what you do with what you know.

And maybe it’s just me, but you seem to want to know God and His Church. And as long as you aren’t doing anything Our Lord and His Church said not to do, you’re free to interact with Him and His world however you like. 🙂
 
I’m calling the ‘Library Police’ now!

It is perfectly ok. I’ve often thought about doing that, but I’m not organised enough to do it. I’d rather randomly leaf through the book until I find what I’m looking for, squandering hours and hours of precious time. Just me.
 
This weekend, as it was slow and I was in the mood to do a project, I decided to add tabs to my 1962 Roman Missal (Baronius Press) to easily reference all the major prayers in the Latin Mass. I took some Avery 5160 labels, built labels in MS Word with the names for the tabs and highlighted the cells, printed them out, cut them to fit, and then “laminated” the tabs with some clear Scotch tape. Here’s a picture of how the project turned out. As you can see, I’ve also done a few other hacks, like highlight the responses said during an EF High Mass, and put little notes where to stand, sit, and kneel (like you can find in the red missalette). I’ve also taken my missal to a Christian book store and had them emboss my name on the front in gold leaf.

I realized, after thinking about things for a bit, that all of this hacking of my missal was a carryover habit from my LDS days. My quad always had my name embossed on it. And ever since my Seminary days in high school, I had a habit of highlighting and coloring and writing things all over my scriptures in an attempt to be the best Scripture Chaser around. For those Catholics who might be reading this thread - seriously, most LDS bookstores have a whole department dedicated to making sure you can turn your scriptures into a colorful, sticker-full reading rainbow. I do miss those thumb indexes on my scriptures though - I thought about trying to figure out how to do those, but gave up and went with the tabs instead.

I also keep a very detailed Prayer Journal in a Moleskine weekly calendar that I have, as well as a standard journal that is both spiritual and “here’s what’s going on in my life” in nature. That’s a very Mormon habit. When I told my priest about my prayer journal he said, “You won’t keep that up for very long.” Um, I’ve got journals going back to when I was 12 in my closet. I’m all about the journaling. I also rarely drink Coke. I’ll drink Dr. Pepper or tea, but for some reason “Coke” was always such a no-no for me growing up that even as a Catholic adult, I feel a bit guilty. I remember one of the first time I was talking to my priest and he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee and going, “Um … no, don’t drink coffee.” Even though I’ve been Catholic since 2006, I still find that sometimes these old Mormon habits die hard.

Do any of you ex-Mos out there have any odd habits that have carried over from your Mormon days? And have any of you done some customizing to your missal or bible to either personalize it, or to make it more user-friendly?

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-685zekUlRhY/Tu9u7RNXgUI/AAAAAAAAAEY/uxJc8B6Yt7I/s669/IMG_1341.jpg
LOL HD, I threw out or gave away ALL of my Mormon stuff years ago, except a few books. One is my triple combo that my parents gave me when I started seminary. It’s embossed with my name and is marked up. Only because our seminary teacher made us mark them. You know, the key scriptures that are taught in every Mormon lesson, and needed for scripture chase competitions.

I’ve never done that with any other book, though, I do use sticky notes in my Bible when I need to quickly reference from one point to another. But like others here, I can’t mark books up. With my ebooks, I highlight, but it’s electronic so it’s virtual. Yay!
 
this looks great to me Honora! 👍🙂
making things more user friendly and easier to follow along can only help us concentrate more on uniting our prayers with those of the priest in the Mass. good stuff.
 
Oh dear… I feel kinda bad for roughhousing the Bibles I use… 😦

It’s not that I disrespect the Word, exactly, I just… don’t carry or store it with the most reverence I possibly could… 😦

But OP, there’s nothing wrong with embellishing your Bible or your Roman Missal, or keeping prayer journals. That is part of how you interface with God. And while you may have learned it in your Mormon days, that doesn’t make it bad. Is Jesus bad because you learned about Him as a Mormon and not as a Catholic? Of course not! 😉 What matters is what you do with what you know.

And maybe it’s just me, but you seem to want to know God and His Church. And as long as you aren’t doing anything Our Lord and His Church said not to do, you’re free to interact with Him and His world however you like. 🙂
I have one I specifically HIghlight, notes in margins. tabs, etc. Its a horror show:D I even had to glue the binding once already. I actually have to refrain from starting on a new one though, its tempting I admit. 😃

Then I happen to see Scott Hahns Bible on television. I can’t remember who was doing the show with him, but they picked up his Bible and showed the cameras before he realized what was going on. Scott was a bit embarassed. 😉

Its all good.

Peace
 
When I was a fundamentalist back in the day my Schofield Reference Bible was highlighted and scrawed with sermon notes. I don’t think its a Mormon thing. That was a “Study Bible”, the Family Bible I would never dream of doing that in.
 
How can your wife have “Seminary days” when she is a woman and thus cannot enter Seminary?
I know the question has been answered already in regards to the OP, but Kimberly Hahn, wife of Catholic apologist Scott Hahn, has a Masters in Divinity from the seminary she earned prior to converting to Catholicism. Most Protestant denoms ordain women to become ministers or pastors, so out of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox realm, there are many women that attend the seminary.
 
This weekend, as it was slow and I was in the mood to do a project, I decided to add tabs to my 1962 Roman Missal (Baronius Press) to easily reference all the major prayers in the Latin Mass. I took some Avery 5160 labels, built labels in MS Word with the names for the tabs and highlighted the cells, printed them out, cut them to fit, and then “laminated” the tabs with some clear Scotch tape. Here’s a picture of how the project turned out. As you can see, I’ve also done a few other hacks, like highlight the responses said during an EF High Mass, and put little notes where to stand, sit, and kneel (like you can find in the red missalette). I’ve also taken my missal to a Christian book store and had them emboss my name on the front in gold leaf.

I realized, after thinking about things for a bit, that all of this hacking of my missal was a carryover habit from my LDS days. My quad always had my name embossed on it. And ever since my Seminary days in high school, I had a habit of highlighting and coloring and writing things all over my scriptures in an attempt to be the best Scripture Chaser around. For those Catholics who might be reading this thread - seriously, most LDS bookstores have a whole department dedicated to making sure you can turn your scriptures into a colorful, sticker-full reading rainbow. I do miss those thumb indexes on my scriptures though - I thought about trying to figure out how to do those, but gave up and went with the tabs instead.

I also keep a very detailed Prayer Journal in a Moleskine weekly calendar that I have, as well as a standard journal that is both spiritual and “here’s what’s going on in my life” in nature. That’s a very Mormon habit. When I told my priest about my prayer journal he said, “You won’t keep that up for very long.” Um, I’ve got journals going back to when I was 12 in my closet. I’m all about the journaling. I also rarely drink Coke. I’ll drink Dr. Pepper or tea, but for some reason “Coke” was always such a no-no for me growing up that even as a Catholic adult, I feel a bit guilty. I remember one of the first time I was talking to my priest and he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee and going, “Um … no, don’t drink coffee.” Even though I’ve been Catholic since 2006, I still find that sometimes these old Mormon habits die hard.

Do any of you ex-Mos out there have any odd habits that have carried over from your Mormon days? And have any of you done some customizing to your missal or bible to either personalize it, or to make it more user-friendly?

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-685zekUlRhY/Tu9u7RNXgUI/AAAAAAAAAEY/uxJc8B6Yt7I/s669/IMG_1341.jpg
Friend HonoraDominum…I’m not sure that is an LDS trait. When I was growing up in the evangelical Church of the Nazarene…we held district Bible Memory Contests…the winning youth group had their Campmeeting paid in full that coming summer.

As a very very involved teen in the Nazarene church before I became “convinced” a Friend…I use to mark my Bible with notes from commentaries…I’d type out sections of Bible commentaries and tape them in as pages in my Bible…this came especially handy when discussing one’s faith with others…or following along in a Sunday School class…or competing in a Northern Calif District CofN Bible Memorization Contest.

After I became convinced a Friend…I bought a new Bible…The Oxford Study Bible Expanded Edition which I’ve had for years…it still is in great shape…I read it every day…but I am very careful with it…I am “purposeful” in my study of scripture…I do have notes but only on those pages designated as “Notes” in about 10 pages provided by the publisher…I had the “urge” many times to underline or hight light a verse or passage…but I began keeping a “Notebook Bible Diary”…I’m on my third volume since I’ve started…I purchased several black leather gold edged Journals one Xmas on sale at a bookstore chain…I purchased 5 of them from the “Bargain Table”…I have them with my Bible and a pen I use for notes in the Journal…the pen my wife gave to me so many years ago when I graduated…a nice silver Cross pen…it’s my most treasured posession on Earth…any way…I have had to “relearn” to read scripture…let God speak to me thru them…if a passage is difficult to understand…I research a commentary…or find out what some of my favorite authors have to say…and decide if what they say makes sense and can be backed up with historical evidence…then I make notes in my Journal…and sometimes write my own…essays on a certain passage…and I record how I feel…how I “am” any certain day…and do I need to approach the Light in single Meeting this morning before scripture reading rather than afterwards…this has been a disipline for me…but one I’ve learned to enjoy greatly…thry a “companion journal” with your scripture reading…you can even section off Gen- Rev sections…depending if you are going to be a “Gen-Rev” period of study…but I’ve found writing notes in my “BIble Journal” took care of the “urge” to highlight and underline and write notes in the coulums…
 
LOL HD, I threw out or gave away ALL of my Mormon stuff years ago, except a few books. One is my triple combo that my parents gave me when I started seminary. It’s embossed with my name and is marked up. Only because our seminary teacher made us mark them. You know, the key scriptures that are taught in every Mormon lesson, and needed for scripture chase competitions.

I’ve never done that with any other book, though, I do use sticky notes in my Bible when I need to quickly reference from one point to another. But like others here, I can’t mark books up. With my ebooks, I highlight, but it’s electronic so it’s virtual. Yay!
I still have a copy around of all of the LDS scriptures (including my triple from when I was baptized in 1979, before White and Delightsome became “Pure” and delightsome), but I tossed my well-worn, well-marked, well-stickered quad out a few months ago along with my old CTR ring. It felt as good as when I pitched all my garments, and when I pitched all of my little pile of papers that I had from years of Relief Society. It was such a feeling of detachment, of freedom. I still have a few remnants of my LDS history, but they are slowly, every so slowly, being purged from my life.
 
I still have a copy around of all of the LDS scriptures (including my triple from when I was baptized in 1979, before White and Delightsome became “Pure” and delightsome), but I tossed my well-worn, well-marked, well-stickered quad out a few months ago along with my old CTR ring. It felt as good as when I pitched all my garments, and when I pitched all of my little pile of papers that I had from years of Relief Society. It was such a feeling of detachment, of freedom. I still have a few remnants of my LDS history, but they are slowly, every so slowly, being purged from my life.
Yeah, the triple combo has sentimental value because my mom gave it to me. The other books i have are leather limited editions that were given to me while I was an atheist. At times I look around to see how much they’re worth to sell. Most likely I’ll give them to my sister, who was once an exmormon but went back in full force. Temple marriage, the whole bit. Everything else is long gone. I had a ton of old books, some of them signed, that I sent to the DI. Sometimes I wish I still had them, as reference, for when Mormons tell me their church doesn’t teach something when I know very well it was in one in those books. Other than that I had no use for them. Never had a CtR ring, but I did have a bracelet that had all the articles of faith on them, as charms. Each charm given to me when I showed I had the article memorized…that was from a longgggggg time ago, when I was a kid in primary and primary was on wed. afternoons after school.
 
I have one I specifically HIghlight, notes in margins. tabs, etc. Its a horror show:D I even had to glue the binding once already. I actually have to refrain from starting on a new one though, its tempting I admit. 😃

Then I happen to see Scott Hahns Bible on television. I can’t remember who was doing the show with him, but they picked up his Bible and showed the cameras before he realized what was going on. Scott was a bit embarassed. 😉

Its all good.

Peace
I’ve always loved the feel, the smell, the texture, the, well - everything about a book and especially about my Bible. I’ve seen Dr. Hahn’s Bible on TV and I’m not too far behind!😃 I finally took the plunge earlier this month and ordered a kindle touch having severe reservations that I would find it “unfullfilling”:confused: Let me say without reservation, I love it:thumbsup: It’s hard for me to believe that I actually do. I’m not sure why, but when I read either books or from the computer, after 30 minutes of so my eyes are extremely tired and the text starts to go out of focus. With the KT, I can read forever without these symptoms. I especially like the ability to change font size along with it always going back to where you left off when reading last. I’ve got two English dictionaries and one Latin dictionary loaded and getting the definition of a word is soooo easy. Now, I saw some comments on a Kindle site where they were discussing the profit aspect of selling Ebooks vs Paper-books. The bottom line is that Ebooks selling for less than $10 generate more profit than paper-books greater than $10. What I have noticed though, is that, unfortunately, most of the better/best Catholic authors are pricing their books in excess of what most Kindle users will probably be willing to pay. That’s a shame. Maybe time will resolve this issue. Merry Christmas to all.
 
I’ve always loved the feel, the smell, the texture, the, well - everything about a book and especially about my Bible. I’ve seen Dr. Hahn’s Bible on TV and I’m not too far behind!😃 I finally took the plunge earlier this month and ordered a kindle touch having severe reservations that I would find it “unfullfilling”:confused: Let me say without reservation, I love it:thumbsup: It’s hard for me to believe that I actually do. I’m not sure why, but when I read either books or from the computer, after 30 minutes of so my eyes are extremely tired and the text starts to go out of focus. With the KT, I can read forever without these symptoms. I especially like the ability to change font size along with it always going back to where you left off when reading last. I’ve got two English dictionaries and one Latin dictionary loaded and getting the definition of a word is soooo easy. Now, I saw some comments on a Kindle site where they were discussing the profit aspect of selling Ebooks vs Paper-books. The bottom line is that Ebooks selling for less than $10 generate more profit than paper-books greater than $10. What I have noticed though, is that, unfortunately, most of the better/best Catholic authors are pricing their books in excess of what most Kindle users will probably be willing to pay. That’s a shame. Maybe time will resolve this issue. Merry Christmas to all.
Not to derail the thread too much …

I have a TON of books on my nook Simple Touch, and most of them were either free or darn near close to it. And most of them are Catholic classics, too. Here’s some examples:
Grand Total - $10.92
Books plus nook ($80 on Black Friday) - $90.92

To buy these same books new in paperback (via Tan Publishing unless stated otherwise):
  • Divine Office (1962 Breviarium Romanum edition) - Not available, will be available via Baronius Press for about $349.
  • Light and Peace - $8.95
  • The Practice of the Presence of God (Paraclete Press) - $14.95
  • The Life of St. Teresa of Avila - $27.95
  • Interior Castle - $14.95
  • The Three Conversions in the Spiritual Life - $8.95
  • The Ways of Mental Prayer - $16.95
  • Introduction to the Devout Life - $14.95
  • Dark Night of the Soul - $12.95
  • The Way of Perfection - $17.95
  • The Story of a Soul - $11.95
Grand Total - $141.55
Grand Total plus hard copy of Divine Office - $490.55

IMOH, if you’re a heavy reader and love reading classic Catholic books by saints and other notables (like me), the nook is an AWESOME gadget.
 
You mentioned missing thumb indexes, so I just wanted to mention that the hardcover version of “The Catholic Study Bible” (NAB, Oxford Press) has them. My mom gave it to me for my birthday a year ago. The paperback version does not have them, which is why she decided to go with the hardback. 🙂

Jennifer
 
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