Friday Florilegia, Friday, October 19, 2012

 

This reading is from next Sunday's Gospel

 

Gospel, Mark 10:46-52

 

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

Yes, but which Bible?

I’d like to do a post, even a series of relatively short essays, on my own ideas about lectio topics related to prayerful reading of Scripture.  I thought the first of these should be on which version of the Bible is suitable for lectio.  I excuse myself for taking on such a topic by stating clearly that I’m not a Scripure scholar, nor a recognized expert on prayer and such folks may rightly take issue with what I say here.  These essays are simply offered to show my own experience and, I hope, to offer encouragement to whoever may stop by here to try such prayer themselves.

 

The ideal answer is, the versions we have in the original languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek.  However, few of us anymore have the skills in those languages necessary to do that.  Come to our aid is the almost overwhelming number of translations, that are available to us in English.  Still, in my own experience, these vary widely in terms of quality and usefulness.  So, to assist myself, I’ve come up with two or three simple rules for choosing a Bible translation for use in daily reading and lectio.

 

The translation should tend to the literal.  I like to think that the version of the Bible I’m reading is reliably true to the original texts.  I really don’t want to read what amounts to the opinion of some translator whom I don’t know I can rely on.  I expect to read God’s word as He intended it.  I might add, placing myself in considerable jeopardy of being labeled a sexist, I don’t want the translation abused through the imposition of gender neutrality.  I believe that putting words into the text that were never there in the first place is dishonesty, plain and simple, and doesn’t belong in any transation.

 

The language of the translation should be beautiful.  I have a funny idea that God’s word is beautiful and should be rendered in any language beautifully.  I think, too, the beauty of the translation affects our ability to receive God’s word, and improves our chances of praying in response to it.  To give you an idea of what I mean, here are three different versions of the first three verses of the 23^rd Psalm, one from the Grail translation, one from the Revised Standard Version, the third from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

This is the Grail translation:

¹ The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.
² Fresh and green are the pastures
where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,
³ to revive my drooping spirit.
He guides me along the right path;
he is true to his name.

Here is the Revised Standard Version:

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; ² he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters; ³ he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake^[1]

Finally, here is the New Revised Standard Version

¹      The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

²          He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

³          he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

for his name’s sake. ^[2]

Somehow, “drooping spirit” doesn’t do it for me, it sounds like something an EMT might do once the ambulance arrives.  God restoring my soul is much more meaningful, it tells me how God refreshes me, deep, deep within my soul.

The language should be reverent.  By this, I mean there should be a timeless element to the transaltion; it should not be loosely translated in the modern vernacular.  Scripture isn,t  a product of our culture, it transcends culture and it’s reading should remind us, however slightly, of this.  I don’t think it hurts if it’s even slightly challenging and slows us down to make us think about what we read. 

 

The book itself should be beautiful.  This is a point more related to version, or edition, than translation, I like the book itself to be both beautiful and functional to contribute to our attitude of reverence and humility before God’s Word, while still making it accessible.  I don’t think a cheap, paperback bible, even a large, hardcover Bible in poor condition is an ideal version to use.  If that’s all there is, then it should be used, but if better is available, that would be my choice.

I also don’t think a study Bible is useful for lectio because we might tend to turn prayer into study; they are not the same thing and one shouldn’t overlap into the other.

Yes, but which Bible? You may be asking at this point if I’m going to offer specific recommendations.  OK, yes I am. 

 

There are two translations that, I believe, meet the two requirements of literalness, beauty and timelessness.  They are the Revised Standard Version,  the New Revised Standard Version.  The reasons can be found in the comparisons of translations offered above.  A third choice would be the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE).  This recent revision is much improved over the previous version, but still lags behind the other choices.

As to edition, the closest to ideal that I’ve found is the recent (I think) volume of the RSV published by St. Benedict Press.  It has, it’s true, not a leather but a “premium ultrasoft” cover, whatever that is, which is nevertheless pleasing to the touch.  It comes in a very nice size, roughly 5x 8½, and is not too thick.  Also, the price is right, around $30.00 on Amazon.  My only complaint, and it’s a big one, is that they set the words of Jesus in red.  Why they did that, I cannot imagine.  There are two disadvantages to this, the first of which is that I find the red type much harder to read.  Often, in printing, red type seems to come out lighter than the surrounding text, which presents a challenge.  Second, that’s a Protestant innovation of relatively recent occurrence, why a Catholic publisher would do that is beyond me.  I don’t have anything against Protestants, but not every idea they’ve ever put forth regarding the Bible is a good one.

 

There’s what appears to be a very nice NRSV-CE available on Amazon, the Go Anywhere NRSV Catholic Edition for about $25.00 that looks very suitable for lectio. 

All that being said, the best advice I’ve heard is – the Bible you’ll read.  If none of this is helpful, forget it and find a Bible that fits your preferences and that facilitates your reading it on a regular basis.  I’m sure you will anyway.

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^[1] The Revised Standard Version. 1971 (Ps 23:1–3). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

^[2] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Ps 23:1–3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Too Busy Not to Lectio

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Too Busy Not to Lectio

In this economy, those of us who are lucky enough to have jobs have probably grown tired of the refrain, “We have to do more with less.”  Everybody’s busy and it seems the more technology we have, the worse things get.  To help provide an antidote to hectic lives, I’ve added a regular posting series on the ancient practice of lectio divina, or sacred reading.  To anyone familiar, though, with the classic practice of lectio, it should be obvious that isn’t what I’m offering here, not primarily.  What I’m suggesting is something that might be called, lectio for the overworked, or lectio for the too busy person.

The classic practice of sacred reading involves the steps I’ve include on the lectio page of this blog, which, if practiced as designed, involves some daily commitment of time and effort.  It’s usually suggested that be a daily period of a minimum of 30 minutes.  For many people, myself included, that’s a tough thing to do.  Finding 30 minutes when we can be silent and alone is near impossible with all of the other duties and responsibilities we  have.

But, spending perhaps 10 minutes of prayerful time with the Word is much less a challenge, and, I may be overstating the case, but I think no less beneficial.  Based on my own experience any regular daily time spent reading a short passage of Scripture and pondering it’s meaning for our lives can be a great blessing.  I’m hoping to encourage you to do so by providing short passages, usually from the daily Mass readings for the following week.

Suggestions

I’d like to offer a few suggestions concerning beginning and continuing this practice.  First, there are no rules.   I’m providing a short passage each week, if that passage speaks to you stay with it, even if it means continuing with it into the following week.  If it doesn’t speak to you, you might try reading the entire chapter the reading is from, or perhaps something from the preceding or following chapter.  If, as in the case of this week’s reading, the passage is from a short book, you might read the entire book and begin to pray from that, even if it means staying with the book for a week or two.  If that doesn’t help, turn to the Mass readings for that day and begin there.

Next, if a passage does speak to you in prayer, trying writing a portion of it on a card, or better, try memorizing it so as to have it with you the rest of the day.  That way, if things seem to be getting too hectic and you need to stop for a few minutes, you can review your lectio from that morning to gain some refreshment and reassurance that even in the chaos of a busy day, God is there with you.

Try to do this at the same time, in the same place, every day.  This regularity is very helpful in establishing the habit of prayer in our lives and also helps our experience of prayer. 

Finally, as you read, take it slow.  Even a passage of seven or eight verses can take several days to quietly and meditatively read through, especially in short sessions.  Reading is not, in this case, study.  You’re not trying to gain a greater understanding of something or gather useful information.  You might think of this as time wasted, at least in the way the world looks at such things.  In this case, seven or eight verses can be more than enough to keep you in prayer for the entire week; if so, so be it.  Go with the flow.

I’ll try to write more, over the next month or so, on some things I’ve learned about this way of doing a daily prayerful time of reading God’s word.  I also hope to provide more information on lectio on the new lectio page, for example helpful web resources and books on the topic.  In the meantime, if you try this I hope you discover why I say you may be too busy not to lectio. 

Friday Florilegia

This is the suggested text for your use for lectio during the coming week. It's from Wednesday's readings.

Reading 1 Jon 3:1-10

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD's bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.

Weekly Lectio

I'd like to begin a new series of posts each week consisting of a text selected from the Mass readings for the following week. My hope is these will be useful to you in beginning, or continuing your own practice of daily prayer with the Scripture. I intend to use these texts myself. If this is helpful, or not, or if one text seems especially to touch your prayer, your comments will be welcome. The first text is Psalm 19, from Monday's readings.

PSALM 19
The Works and the Word of God.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

                The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

    2         Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowledge.

    3         There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard.

    4         Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their utterances to the end of the world.

In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

    5         Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;

It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

    6         Its rising is from one end of the heavens,

And its circuit to the other end of them;

And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

    7         The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

    8         The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

    9         The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

  10         They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

  11         Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;

In keeping them there is great reward.

  12         Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

  13         Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;

Let them not rule over me;

Then I will be blameless,

And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

  14         Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. ^[1]

---

^[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Ps 19:1–14). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Too Orthodox?

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One thing that happened over the weekend that I didn’t note down yesterday, is that I searched the web (I hate the verb Google) for some material on lectio divina, for no particular reason, and came across a website by obviously zealous Catholics. On there they included a little write up on Bible versions to use for lectio. In that discussion, they wrote that the NAB Bible was heretical, citing the example of the translation of 1 Corinthians 9:5. This verse reads, in the NAB, “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and cCephas? The reason they say that passage is heretically translated is that it seems influenced by “Catholics” who are attacking celibacy, the word used for wife is translated “sister” in the Douey Rheims version. Well, a couple of obvious problems with that idea. One is that the notes to the NAB fully acknowledge that it’s possible to translate the word as “sister”, rather than wife. Another is that heresy is defined by St Thomas Aquinas thus, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

". . . a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". "The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics.”

Further, the Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to say,

"Before turning to the history of this observance it will be convenient to deal in the first place with certain general principles involved. The law of celibacy has repeatedly been made the object of attack, especially of recent years, and it is important at the outset to correct certain prejudices thus created.”

The practice of celibacy is not a doctrine, it is a law, or regulation of the Church, it can, quite legitimately be overturned at any time. I’m not saying that is a good idea, but to clarify that I think we should be careful flinging about the term “heresy”, where none can be found. I also don’t say the NAB is my preferred text of the Scriptures, it isn’t, although the NABRE does represent a considerable improvement over the old version. No, it’s a bad translation, but it’s not heretical. 

Also, I sometimes wonder, even though I wish to be a very orthodox Catholic, if orthodoxy can’t be taken too far, at the expense of charity. We don’t after all place our faith in the Church, rather in the person of Christ. I firmly believe doctrine must be protected, but not in a way that becomes judgmental and lacks charity and patience.  As St Paul says, we are to speak the truth in love.

Oh, by the way, I think any translation accepted by the Church can be used for lectio, including the NIV. My favorite is the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. It translates the verse in question this way, Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

Going Deeper

(Back in January, before my first round of colds and bronchitis, I thought I’d write a little about how going a little deeper in Bible study has, at times, helped me in lectio. Being sick has postponed this effort, but in trying to build a habit of stability, I decided to finish it. All sources quoted here are from my Logos 4 Bible study software.)

 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.  For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.  Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;

38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Hebrews 10:32-39 (ESV)

There have been times in my life that I received a gift, a rather subtle blessing, that I didn’t fully appreciate until some time afterwards. Usually this isn’t in the form of a present or something physical, rather it takes the form of an opportunity, or a chance acquaintance, or some unexpected and even inconvenient event impinging on my very well laid out plans that represents a turning point. Sometimes, even after a few years, and only when I look back do I recognize the significance of the gift in my life. 

I think that’s the point the writer of Hebrews was trying to make to his readers. One thing that almost always happens when I sit down to read a Bible passage is a particular word will seem to jump off the page. Usually that’s because the word seems out of place, an odd expression of an idea the authorsis trying to get across. In this passage, the word was “enlightened.” The writer is trying to encourage his readers to persevere during a time of renewed persecution. They are having doubts that becoming Christians was ever a good idea. They’d gone through persecution at the start of their Christian walk, stood strong, seemed to have overcome, when, low and behold, it was starting all over again. They weren’t sure they could take it anymore, they‘d had enough. This passage was meant to remind them that they had already experienced the worst, been helped by each other, and survived.

But there’s an unusual expression here, the writer asks them to remember “when you were enlightened . . .” He didn’t say, as we would today, when you accepted Jesus, or when you came to faith, he said “when you were enlightened.” I wondered why, and what meanings that word might have that might be important to understand. So I turned to my Logos 4 software.

First, I found the dictionary meaning of the word:

enlightened adjective

1652


1 : freed from ignorance and misinformation 〈an enlightened people〉〈an enlightened time〉


2 : based on full comprehension of the problems involved 〈issued an enlightened ruling〉1)

This already is helpful, because when the dictionary says “freed from ignorance” I get the connotation of something not done by oneself but with the help of, perhaps, a wise teacher. Still, I wondered what other sources might say, so I looked at a couple of commentaries.

illuminated—“enlightened”: come to “the knowledge of the truth” (Heb 10:26) in connection with baptism (see on Heb 6:4). In spiritual baptism, Christ, who is “the Light,” is put on. “On the one hand, we are not to sever the sign and the grace signified where the sacrifice truly answers its designs; on the other, the glass is not to be mistaken for the liquor, nor the sheath for the sword” [Bengel]. 2)

I’m not sure I understand the meaning of the last part of this quote, but, again, baptism is a sacrament that we receive when we become Christians. This isn’t something we do by ourselves, but in the community of believers.

Finally, I looked at the Jerome Biblical Commentary, which also mentions baptism.

when you had been enlightened: A reference to baptism (cf. 6:4). 3)

The lesson I gained from just this little research is that the writer of Hebrews was reminding his readers that, when they became Christians, it wasn’t something they chose to do and could just choose to undo, like joining some social club. He was implying that this enlightenment was something they were given as a gift from God. It was, in reality, a grace and not something they could easily turn their backs on, for to do so would be to reject God’s gift.

The study of this one word has been on my mind for most of the last month or two, because so often I forget how great a gift it has been in my life when, through almost a fluke experience, something I attached no importance to whatever when it occurred, I came back to faith after more than 20 years. It was a gift, one I don’t care to throw away.


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1) Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.


2) Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Heb 10:32). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.


3) Brown, R. E., Fitzmyer, J. A., & Murphy, R. E. (1996). The Jerome Biblical commentary (V 2, p 400). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Study and lectio

I’ve noticed something over the last year or so that seems strange; I keep rediscovering spiritual practices that somehow over the years I either forgotten or just moved away from. Most of these rediscoveries are quite serendipitous, but still, I often find them beneficial. 

For example, before I came into the Church my habit was to do something akin to lectio but not the same thing. I found it useful when spending an extended period of time reading one particular chapter or book of the Bible, to spend the greater part of that time more in study than just reading. Often, I would focus in on one word in a verse and try to get to the meaning of that word, and all the implications it contains. This often lead effortlessly, more or less, into prayer.

Once I came into the Church and began to study what lectio was, I abandoned my old practice and tried to strictly follow the standard procedure for lectio divina. I always struggled with it. Then, late last week I received two copies of a magazine called Bible Study Magazine. I guess they were sent as ads, but I opened one up and noticed they had an eight week study on Hebrews Chapter 11 right in the magazine. I started to read that, and then thought, just for a little change of scene I might work through a bit of it. Then I realized, that is what I used to do “all those years ago,” to quote an old Beatles song. My old habits came right back to me and seemed just as appropriate for me as a Catholic as when I was a Protestant. I thought immediately of the Rule and how Benedictine it is to go with what works. For the time being, at least, it works for me.

Over the next post or two, I’ll try to share some of an insights I’ve gained in studying Hebrews 11, actually, the study goes from Heb 10:32-12:2. There are some interesting details in that passage.

Some Monastic Wisdom on Lectio

At fixed hours time should be given to certain definite reading.  Haphazard reading, constantly varied and lighted on by chance does not edify but makes the mind unstable.  Taken into the memory lightly, it leaves it even more lightly.  You should concentrate on certain authors and let your mind grow used to them . . .

Some part of your daily reading should be committed to memory every day, taken as it were into the stomach, to be more carefully digested and brought up again for frequent rumination – something in keeping with your vocation and helpful to concentration, something that will take hold of the mind and save it from distraction.

The reading should also stir you affections and give rise to prayer, which should interrupt you reading – an interruption which should not so much impede the reading as to restore to it a mind ever more purified for understanding.

For reading serves the purpose of the intention with which it is done.  If a reader truly seeks God in the reading, everything he reads tends to promote that end, making the mind surrender in the course of the reading and bringing all that is understood into Christ’s service.

William of St. Thierry

The Golden Epistle 1.120-124