A Better Catholic

In the article "A 'Word' for You:  Looking for a Catholic Bible" by Maria Jose Franco published on the Catholic.net, She summarized what a Bible is and what this book will do to our lives.  She emphasized that the Bible is one of the oldest in history and continues to be a best seller decade after decade, not because the book is meant to narrate what happened 3000 years ago but it is a book that leads us to God.  And most importantly, this Holy Bible is written for us.

Me, as a Catholic honestly lacks exposure to the Bible and it is only limited on what I hear during Sunday Mass.  And sometimes it is hard for me to understand what the scriptures say, unless the Priest gives relevant examples to explain the readings on the bible.

But me, wanting to be a Better Catholic should not stop.  Remember, the Bible is the Word of God.  God is speaking to us through text.  Accorfing to Franco, This is his "Word" to us and the 72 books in the Bible is God's love letter to us.

Here are the pointers given by Maria Jose Franco on how we read this love letter, The Holy Bible:

1. Ask the Holy Spirit for some help! Just say, “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.”

2. Read it. You can do this before going to bed or when you wake up. Do it for ten minutes; it won’t take much time, and you will gain a lot.

3. Study it. Take part in a Bible course, either at your parish or on-line.

4. Learn from it and apply it. Learn from the examples of the Bible figures; for example Moses’ perseverance in the desert, Daniel’s courage before the lions, David’s repentance after his sins. And there is even more to learn from Christ.  Apply this to your life. How can I keep going in my Christian life when things are hard? What would Christ do?

5. Pray about it. There are many methods of prayer. You can set aside some time at the beginning of your day where you pray to the Holy Spirit, read a passage of the Bible, and meditate on it. For example, in John 4, Christ meets the Samaritan woman. You might know the story by heart, but this time read the passage slowly. Did something new strike you? Can you relate to that woman? Are you thirsty for something in life? If you happened to encounter Christ standing by the “well,” what would you tell him?

6. Share it. Read to your kids before they go to bed. Buy an illustrated Bible so they can get into it. Draw the morals or lessons that they can learn from it and ask them to come up with a resolution of how they can live that the next day.

7. Find help. Use a book if you feel you are going nowhere. There are many books with meditations or explanations about the Bible that could help you. Make sure it is a Catholic Bible since some other editions exclude some of the seventy-two books of the Bible, leaving the story incomplete.

He also gave some pointers to check when acquiring a Bible:

1. The “imprimatur” notice on the back of the title page. An imprimatur indicates that the book is free of errors in Catholic doctrine.

2. Check the index and make sure it has the seventy-two inspired books.

3. A tip: The New American Bible, Ignatius Bible, and The New Jerusalem Bible are great choices!