Why a Missal and not a Bible?

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Whendid the Missal come about and why is it there instead of Bibles in the Churches? I really had no comeback to this when a Protestant asked me.
 
The Missal is what is used during Mass. The Missal also contains excerts from the Bible. Since it already has the excerts why would you need a whole Bible? Most people own one at home already.

It’s not just a Catholic thing, not all Protestant denimnations have Bibles either. The Lutheran Church I went to, did not have Bibles.
 
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Shinobu:
The Missal also contains excerts from the Bible.
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Not just excerpts, but those used during each Mass. This is the result of a difference in our services. Catholics priests form their homilies around the readings of the day. Protestant ministers (non-liturgical ones anyway), decide on a particular message they want to convey, and then pick and choose scriptures to support their message. Protestants need the whole Bible so they can play tiptoe through the verses along with their pastors.
 
J.W.B.:
Whendid the Missal come about and why is it there instead of Bibles in the Churches? I really had no comeback to this when a Protestant asked me.
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If he expects uniformity in this matter in all Catholic churches - it doesn’t exist.​

Nor is it clear why there must be uniformity of practice, whether among Catholics in the USA, Protestants in the USA, or among both or either in other countries.

The Missal for laity is derived from a book called the sacramentary (which contained the texts for the liturgical rites throughout the year) and from other liturgical books, such as the evangeliary, or book of the Gospels. The Breviary, or Liturgy of the Hours (as it now called) is also a liturgical book (that is, a book used in the public prayer of the Church) - but it is not a book used for the celebration of the sacraments: it is the book that contains the non-sacramental prayer of the Church, for the sanctification of the day: which is why it is based upon three elements:
  1. The Psalter
  2. The office of readings for each day through the liturgical year
  3. Prayers appointed for each of the canonical hours of each day.
Basically, it is a living-out of the Psalmist’s words “Seven times a day will I praise Thee” (Psalm 119.164). And one of the best recent developments is that, in accord with the hopes expressed by the Fathers of Vatican II, ordinary Catholics are making the Liturgy of the Hours an element in their own prayer-lives.

Maybe you should recommend the Liturgy of the Hours to Him 🙂

universalis.com/ ##
 
Along the same lines that Gottle brings up - the councils defined what was scriptural in terms of the individual books authorized to be used in the Mass. While St Jerome was commissioned to translate them and collect them in a single book, the Church never decreed that the collection as a whole was the entire word of God, nor did it declare that the collection was more valuable than the sum of its parts.
 
J.W.B.:
Whendid the Missal come about and why is it there instead of Bibles in the Churches? I really had no comeback to this when a Protestant asked me.
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The Missal is the Order of Worship for the Catholic Church. Many Protestant denominations have the same guidance for the order of worship in their own churches. In some very simple ones, it is contained in the handout given as people enter for Sunday services.
It is in no way ment to supplant the bible.
 
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dirtydog:
Not just excerpts, but those used during each Mass. This is the result of a difference in our services. Catholics priests form their homilies around the readings of the day. Protestant ministers (non-liturgical ones anyway), decide on a particular message they want to convey, and then pick and choose scriptures to support their message. Protestants need the whole Bible so they can play tiptoe through the verses along with their pastors.
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:rotfl:
Do they have ukaleles as well :rotfl:

:o How do you spell that? uk-a-lay-lay

😦 Sorry to sound uncharitable, but “tiptoe through the verses” just broke me up.
 
Do they have ukaleles as well :rotfl:

:o How do you spell that? uk-a-lay-lay

😦 Sorry to sound uncharitable, but “tiptoe through the verses” just broke me up.
[/quote]

Are you old enough to remember him?
 
A missal just makes it easier to follow along during the different parts of the Mass. Invite your friend to take a missal and study how the 1st, 2nd Readings, Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel all tie together. Make sure he knows that one could certainly bring a bible from home and follow along with the readings.
 
I remember him, and I saw his wedding on the Johnny Carson Show. 😃
 
The missal is the book of liturgy, the bible is the book of scriptures.

Judaism is liturgical.
Catholicism is liturgical.

Revelations is liturgical where it mentions heavenly worship before God.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any passage in Revelations where the angels, saints, and martyrs break open their bibles.

Thal59
 
I used to do pretty much the same thing (as having a missal) when I was a preaching Protestant, except I was the only one who had it. I would prepare my outlines and notes on the computer, and I would just paste the passages I was using in from my Bible study program. I wouldn’t even take a Bible to the pulpit with me.

I guess some Protestants are uneasy if the passage isn’t being read from an actual Bible. I had gotten over that long before I even became Catholic.

DaveBj
 
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