Postscripts From The Catholic Spitfire Grill

UPDATE: If an internet search has brought you to this page and you are looking for a general idea about how to get started praying the Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours, you might be interested in my post here. RNW

This post cost me $200 to write so read it carefully.  (Yes, I was precisely THAT driven to say this and to make sure I did it as accurately and thoroughly as possible.)

I hear and see it repeatedly. It's expressed in many different ways in the stories of those who have converted to Protestant traditions from the Catholic Church. "In 40 years of attending Catholic Churches, I never heard the Gospel preached..." from "Never Knew Jesus" (as an er....amusing?....aside, I couldn't find the conversion story that I most recently saw that in and ended up Yahoo'ing the phrase and my choices were practically endless!) When an ex-Catholic clergyman is writing the conversion story it usually sounds more like this "I stopped saying the Breviary (the Roman Catholic Church's official prayer for clergy) and the Rosary and began to pray using parts of the Bible itself." From the "Testimony of a Former Irish Priest" First not every person who claims to be an ex-Catholic Priest is, in fact, an ex-Catholic Priest. In fact, in my diocese we have a problem with someone claiming to be an ex-priest who is marrying Catholics and causing all sorts of complications for Catholic couples in our area. Then, there is the case of a rather famous contributor to Jack Chick tracts Alberto Rivera who is not an ex-priest. (Chick publications continues to use his "testimony" on the grounds that his testimony is so damaging that the Vatican is involved in a conspiracy to discredit him.) Second, I think you should greet with deep skepticism anyone who says that they stopped reciting the Divine Office (also called Liturgy of the Hours) and started reading the Bible and/or says they never heard the Bible/Gospel in all of their many years attending a Catholic Church. Here's why.... 

Can. 1173 In fulfillment of the priestly office of Christ, the Church celebrates the liturgy of the hours, wherein it listens to God speaking to his people and recalls the mystery of salvation. In this way, the Church praises God without ceasing, in song and prayer, and it intercedes with him for the salvation of the whole world. 
 

Can. 1174 ß1 Clerics are obliged to recite the liturgy of the hours, in accordance with Can. 276, ß2, n. 3; members of institutes of consecrated life and of societies of apostolic life are obliged in accordance with their constitutions.

Someone who simply ceases to comply with a lawful obligation that they freely assumed has by their actions indicated that their word is possibly not worth as much as it could be. It might also be noted that before Martin Luther attempted to reform the entire Roman Catholic Church by rending it asunder, he might well have done to remedy his own observance of the obligations he freely assumed:   

"I do hardly anything all day but write letters. I am at the same time preacher to the monastery, have to preach in the refectory and am even expected to preach daily in the parish church. I have to provide for the delivery of fish from Leitzkau pond, I am lecturing on Paul, compiling an exposition of the Psalter... It is seldom that I have time for the recitation of the Divine Office or to celebrate Mass, and then, too, I have my peculiar temptations from the flesh, the world and the devil."  (This particular quote from Martin Luther was taken from this site for similar biographical information I suggest The Facts About Luther)

It sounds good doesn't it? "I gave up that man-made Divine Office stuff (or I didn't have time for it) and I discovered the BIBLE!" The implication being that somehow despite specific exhortation on the part of the Catholic Church for ALL of the faithful to engage in regular and systematic Bible reading (This is going to be a long double post so in an effort to shorten it where I can I will not repeat the sources I cited in this post and this one.) this person who failed to meet their freely assumed obligations was KEPT from the Bible. That is, it only sounds good until you look at what the Divine Office really is. It's Sacred Scripture and a LOT of it too. It's Sacred Scripture that is systematically laid out so that the readings correspond to the liturgical season and that no part of Sacred Scripture is ignored. Since I am darkly suspicious that some of you will skim lightly over the Divine Office for April 26, 2007 since it's so long and contains so much scripture, I will put it all in another post here.  If you are not familiar with the beviary/Divine Office/ Liturgy of the Hours then I am begging you, please at least skim over the material. And then you decide if it is a credible thing to say "I stopped saying the breviary and started reading the Bible."  Let me also say that the Catholic Church is all for reading more than this. This just comprises the bare minimum that is expected of Catholic clergy and is highly, highly recommended for all of the Catholic faithful. Now I normally say the Liturgy of the Hours with my children using The Magnificat. It's in an form that easy for me to use with my children and has some additional editorial content that I really like; however, in order to make sure I had all of the content required for the Divine Office I went out and bought the full four volume set  plus The Divine Office for Dodos and paid for one-day shipping from Amazon. OK, OK....those of you who know me know that it was only a matter of time before I bought them anyway. The point here is that I made a substantial financial investment in making sure I could accurately and thoroughly portray the whole picture. So read what it's all about in this post here, would you?

How about the accusation so commonly leveled by those who have left the Catholic Church (and variations of if) "I never really heard the Gospel..."? No matter how you define it, the Gospel is an essential and required part of Mass. The Gospel must be read at each and every Mass...must...plus other Sacred Scripture as well, but how much and from which parts of the Bible is a little complicated and can wait for another post. Except for grave cause, a homily (explanation of the Gospel reading) must be given by a priest or deacon at all Sunday and Holyday Masses and is strongly recommended for all weekday Masses. We Catholics stand in respect at Mass when the Gospel is read because we believe that it is literally Jesus himself speaking to us through the words of the Gospels and in the course of three years, Catholics hear all four Gospels read aloud to them at Sunday Masses and slightly more often if you attend daily Mass as well. More often than that if you participate in the Liturgy of the Hours. Here is a challenge for any non-Catholic who might happen to be reading this, particularly ones who claim that the gospel isn't preached in the Catholic Church. Buy a brand new Bible and take it with you to church every Sunday for the next three years. Underline in that Bible each and every passage in the four gospels that is read aloud. At the end of the three years see how much of the four gospels you have underlined. How much of the gospel is your church proclaiming? All of it? Or just your pastor's favorite parts? Now if you define proclaiming the gospel as  proclaiming the plan of salvation, we do that too. We proclaim our sinfulness, our sorrow for it, God's mercy in sending Jesus, and we accept Jesus as God's remedy for that sin. Here is what I have written regarding Jesus in the Catholic Mass and Cor Ad Cor Loquitor's excellent post regarding "I never heard the Gospel in the Catholic Church."   

Now with great effort of will I have refrained from characterizing the motive of someone who says "I went to Catholic Church all those years....Daily Mass even....and never heard the gospel." or "I quit saying the Divine Office and picked up my Bible." by refraining from the use of a three-letter word beginning with 'L.' It is technically true that priests/deacons/religious often read Sacred Scripture from a book with The Liturgy of the Hours printed on the spine. Is it somehow not Sacred Scripture if the word Bible isn't printed on the cover? Is God's word less powerful (I shuddered just TYPING that) if it is read from a book with Lectionary or Missalette  or Book of Gospels  printed on the cover? Does it suddenly stop becoming the word of God if we call Luke 1:46-55 "The Canticle of Mary"? I am suddenly feeling like St. Paul here and feel the need to exclaim loudly, "May it NEVER be!!" I personally think that is a ridiculous notion and yet, I see it propagated as truth repeatedly. I saw someone say the other day something like "Yes, I have been to a Catholic Mass and I WEPT because nobody had a BIBLE!" Even if someone was regrettably in a Catholic Church with a priest who "wouldn't let them read the Bible" (and if that is true the priest is in contravention of official church teaching) if they went to Mass regularly, they heard the Bible read. The WHOLE Bible. That's not optional and even priests who impose their personal agendas by telling people they can't read the Bible, MUST read it (or have it read) OUT LOUD in church. How can it be that someone who by their own testimony went to church regularly can claim "they never heard the Gospel?" There are really only two options here. One, they are not telling the truth. Or two, they were not paying attention. In either case, is their testimony against the Catholic Church reliable? Is their portrayal of Catholic Doctrine and Dogma and practice to be accepted without careful and serious questioning?