While I sent said reader a quick response, I asked her if I could elaborate on it more here for the benefit of my other readers. Here is Elizabeth Mary’s shortened question with my more detailed response.
Reader Question: Now that I’m Catholic…how do I read the Bible?
Hello!
I was born and raised in the Catholic Church until I was 12 and then my family and I began attending a Protestant, Southern Baptist Church for almost 8 years. Now, almost 10 years after leaving the Catholic Church, we are now back home with the faith.
In the Protestant world, you are taught to read and study the Bible daily- a quiet time as they call it. This includes memorization, self-led study, note taking, etc. And in the Catholic Church, you are taught, according to my understanding, to study and learn the Bible under the Church’s guidance. (Which I really think is a good thing!) But how does this look in a person’s everyday life? Should we study the Bible for ourselves, on our own, on a daily basis? Do we just keep the Bible for Sundays at Mass?
I thought you may have some advice since you have a background in the Protestant world 🙂
Grace and peace,
Elizabeth
Dear Elizabeth Mary,I’m flattered that you would ask my opinion on this topic. It may sound like a crazy question to cradle Catholics, but I know exactly where you are coming from!
During my conversion, I too struggled with where scripture study fell in my life as I came under the authority of the Church. In fact, I went through a time where I became so frustrated in reading the Bible after becoming Catholic that I quit reading it all together. I saw the depth and width of the Bible in light of the Church’s teachings and realized interpreting The Word of God wasn’t as clear cut as I had believed as a member of the Protestant tradition. I felt completely inadequate when it came to learning the scriptures and gave up instead of trying at all.
That is not the right path! A Catholic should revere and read the Bible just as much as the typical on-fire Protestant, perhaps even more so. After all, the Bible is one of the gifts the Catholic Church has given to the world!
I believe it was St. Jerome who said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” The Bible is where we can truly meet Our Lord, hear His voice, and come to know Him. It is a major mistake when Catholics reserve the Bible for Mass. Instead, we should steep ourselves in God’s Word on a daily basis.
After a short hiatus, I did get back on track with my Bible time. Now I see the Church’s authority as a gift to my Bible study, not a hindrance.
So how is the “everyday” Catholic woman to read the Bible? Here are a few points to consider.
Would the Pope agree?
Again, spending time daily with the Lord and His Word is how we come to know Him. As we read, if we feel the Spirit move or the Lord trying to teach us something, we can ask ourselves, “Is what I hear in line with what the Church teaches?” The Bible never contradicts God’s Church and visa versa. If the Vicar of Christ wouldn’t agree with your “inspiration,” then it probably isn’t from God.
Bible Study Aids
I encourage you to find some reliable Bible study resources. I started listing my favorite Bible study resources here, but found the list got WAY too long. I’ll save that post for another day. In the meantime, check out my Busy Mama’s Guide to Self Education: Catholicism post for some places to start. (Update: Here is my list of favorite Bible Study Resources for the Everyday Catholic Mom.)
It is important to be wise when choosing study aids. Unfortunately, there are a lot of heretical Catholics floating around. On the flip side, more faithful Catholic materials are available than ever. It is just a matter of doing a little investigating before making a purchase.
Learning the faith
If you want to know if inspirations are in line with Catholic teaching, you must know what the Catholic Church teaches. Learning more about the Catholic faith outside of your normal Bible time will help you spot those red flags when you are interpreting scripture in your own way.
I know it seems like just another thing to add to an already mile-long to do list, but it is easier than you may think. Make it a project with your husband (Catholic Date Night In) or listen to podcasts as you clean. Here a little, there a little, and it all adds up over time!
(Again, my post on Busy Mama’s Guide to Self Education: Catholicism shows you what this looks like in my life.)
Ask a Catholic
Really stuck, or just don’t have the time? – ask a Catholic. And when I mean Catholic, I mean CATHOLIC! Remember those heretical Catholics?- yeah, they are still floating around out there. You also need a humble Catholic – someone who isn’t afraid to tell you when they don’t know something.
Most of us have someone in our life that we know to be a reliable source for orthodox Catholic knowledge. These are great go-to people. Even if they don’t have an answer, they can usually point you in the right direction.
How I read the Bible?
The way I read the Bible has shifted since my conversion to the Catholic faith. Bible reading is more of a form of prayer than of study for me now. I still (try) to spend time in God’s Word daily, but the amount I read has definitely changed as my life has gotten busier. (Unless I’ve challenged myself to read the Bible in a year!)
Sometimes, God inspires my heart on the first verse I read. Then I just sit with the Lord and let each little word of that one verse soak into my heart. You don’t need to read a lot to get a lot!
At times during my daily reading I come across a passage that needs more explaining (Jesus says some pretty tough stuff!). Then I go to my trusted Catholic (Husband) or other resources to study it in more depth.
My morning quiet time is spent prayerfully reading God’s Word, but on quiet evenings or Sundays, Husband and I may do more serious Bible study together.
Elizabeth Mary, I hope this answer is a help to you (and in turn to my readers)! God bless your goodwill toward the study of His Word!
One thing I’ve started doing at the advice of Matthew Kelly from dynamiccatholic.com is to start by reading the Gospels, then go on to read the rest of the New Testament. When reading the Old Testament, he suggests finding your favorite story from the Old Testament and starting there, then reading around it for more ‘meat’. It’s not exactly “studying” but it’s good advice.
I do like that advice! I’ll have to try that! Thanks Kolbe!
To me, reading the bible as a catholic was incredibly freeing compared to reading it as a Lutheran (and later atheist). The idea of every word being literally true, word for word, written verbatim by god, and without error, was really problematic for me. So when I became an atheist, I “knew” I could never take the bible seriously or ever be a Christian again. But catholics don’t read the bible that way! My catholic husband said “it’s like Protestants worship the bible!” And I was flummoxed. He reminded me that God alone is to be worshipped. And even though the Bible is sacred and inspired by God, it is written by humans, with human purposes too. So sometimes humans use allegory, write histories or poetry, use metaphors with hidden symbolism, etc. To me, this is such a richer understanding of the bible. It is limiting to God to say “I refuse to accept anything other than an eyewitness, textbook, verbatim account from you, Lord. Anything else is worthless.” And it’s not only richer, it solves problems. When confronted with, say, contradictions in the creation accounts in Genesis, Protestants start twisting words to try to get some science treatise out of it and it’s not convincing; while Catholics can talk about the different meanings of the texts, what the Jewish compilers of the oral traditions wanted to convey about God’s relationship to creation, and the meanings and lessons that God wanted us to take away both 3500 years ago and today. If the wrong city is listed in Luke, my Catholic study bible just says in a footnote “The writer probably meant Carthage.” And that’s it! No crisis of faith, no tortured explanations! The Catholic interpretation of the Bible, in my opinion, is the only thing that enabled me to convert and to become a Christian again. It’s one of the strongest and most under-rated and misunderstood aspects of Catholicism, I think. Just my two cents to add.
I think that was beautifully said and I can’t agree more. It can be a paradigm shift after coming to the Catholic faith, but it is a much richer understanding and makes for a deeper reading experience. I’m so glad you shared your thoughts!
Hi! I know I’m late to commenting but I ran across this post when I was re reading one of your preschool posts I pinned on my Pinterest 🙂 I’m a cradle Catholic so reading the Bible wasn’t popular in our house growing up but something my husband and I really enjoyed when we got back into our faith. I would just recommend Steve Ray’s book St John’s Gospel it’s a Bible study guide of the gospel but it also just goes into some amazing how to’s when starting to dive in to Bible as a Catholic. No matter how comfortable you are with the Bible I feel like it’s an amazing resource and definitely worth using. Just thought I’d share 🙂
We used to own this book but I’m kind of a serial declutterer. Somewhere along the lines it got resold! Wish I would have kept it on my shelf now. I do really enjoy Steve Ray and his scripture study is intense. I may have to pick up another copy!