Postscripts From The Catholic Spitfire Grill

I have a movie recommendation “The Staircase” I watched it last night for the first time and just loved it! It is based on a true story but where reality stops and legend begins, it seems only Our Lord knows. The facts of the story are that a convent of nuns was building a chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the architect forgot to add stairs between the chapel and the choir loft. The design of the chapel is such that there was no way to retro-fit a stair case into chapel. The nuns prayed a Novena (nine days of prayer modeled after the period of time the disciples prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost in Acts 1:13-14) requesting the intercession of St. Joseph (a carpenter) to provide them someone who could build a stairway. On the ninth day, a man showed up who built a circular stairway to the choirloft. He used no nails or screws and his design still baffles the experts. Nobody knows for sure who he was or where he came from. When he finished the staircase, he left to nobody knows where.

Some speculate that it was St. Joseph himself. I certainly don’t know but it’s a very fun part of the story. Whether or not it was St. Joseph it is clear that God hears and answers our prayers and sometimes in the most unusual ways. The staircase stands as a testament to a Loving God who hears our prayers.

James H left this in the comments section as additional evidence that Catholics are not only allowed read the Bible but are indeed encouraged to do so. Here are his remarks….with a little tinkering for emphasis and typos (You’re welcome James. [grin]):

I hear “Well the Catholic Church before Vatican II really didn’t encourage Bible reading.” Really?:

Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903 AD)

“The solicitude of the apostolic office naturally urges and even compels us…to desire that this grand source of Catholic revelation (the Bible) should be made safely and abundantly accessible to the flock of Jesus Christ”
Providentissimus Deus ( Nov. 18, 1893)]

He also encouraged the reading of Holy Scripture by granting an indulgence to those who read it for at least 25 minutes.

Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914 AD)

“Nothing would please us more than to see our beloved children form the habit of reading the Gospels - not merely from time to time, but every day.”

Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922 AD)
He repeated St. Jerome’s statement:

“Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

He expressed his desire that, “… all the children of the Church, especially clerics, to reverence the Holy Scriptures, to read it piously and meditate on it constantly.” He reminded them that, “…in these pages is to be sought that food, by which the spiritual life is nourished unto perfection…”

Pope Pius XII 1943 AD

“Our predecessors, when the opportunity occurred, recommended the study or preaching or in fine the pious reading and meditation of the sacred Scriptures.

“…This author of salvation, Christ, will men more fully know, more ardently love and more faithfully imitate in proportion as they are more assiduously urged to know and meditate the Sacred Letters, especially the New Testament…”
[Divino Afflante Spiritu]

He also granted indulgences (a blessing of God’s grace) to those who read Scripture. (1 Cor. 4:1.)

Also, I am huge Used Bookstore Hound. I go in there and see tons of old Catholic Bibles. Many cheap and done by lay Catholic organizations. I have seen small Catholic Bibles that were for our Grandfathers to use in WWII.

I sometimes meet Catholics that have left the faith and they say “Well I was never encouraged to the read the Bible etc etc” To be honest I find that hard to believe. There always seems to be Bible Studies and people and Priests encouraging people to the read the Bible. I lived in several Parishes and that was always the case. Plus, there is a ton of stuff on the net. I also don’t understand why some of these people that tell me this didn’t do what your average Baptist does for instance. The average Baptist or Evanglical doesn’t exactly have free commentarries and books on scriptures just given to them. If so I missed out on that book club. They go down to the local store or Baptist Book Store (I think the SBC stores were bought out by Lifeway) and go buy them. Heavens, I go into a Catholic Book Store and there are TONS on the Bible to help a person grow. Also Catholics like Baptist can order book catalogs. There are a ton of those.

Thank you James!!

Edited to add: James would like me to shout out a “Thank you kindly!” to the gentleman who originally provided the Papal quotes above. There’s more. So swing on by his website to take a look.

Also, if you’re bookworm enough to read this blog, you’re likely bookworm enough to get really excited about the prospect of a free e-book. Check out the rest of what James has to say in the comments section to find out about that little tidbit.