Chapter 8
Section 8 of Guide for Catholic Young Women, Especially for Those Who Earn Their Own Living by Rev. George de Chouin. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapters 22-24. Chapter 22. Continuation. But do not read or keep in your possession a Protestant Bible or Testament.
Whoever, says our Lord, is not with me, is against me. St. Matthew 12-30. This Bible is not authorized by the Holy Church, the guardian of the Scripture. That should be enough to condemn it in the eyes of Catholics. For what confidence can we have in a book that is passed out of the keeping of God's Church
into that of men who have no authority and who do with it what their own judgment and their own light dictate? The Protestant translation is different from the Catholic in many places and is generally thrown out on the world without any explanation, as they say, without note or comment.
It becomes then a book that the unlearned and unstable are likely to rest to their own perdition, as St. Peter says. If it has any explanations, they are made by Protestants, too often in order to bolster up their own false religion, by covering up and destroying the real truth.
A true child of God will not then either keep it or read it. You will find some mistresses who are all on fire to draw you away from your holy faith. They have an idea that the best way to do it is to get you first to read the Protestant Bible, and by and by they will volunteer to explain it in their own way. They come with smiling faces and coaxing words and say,
I have taken a great fancy to you and think a great deal of you. I want to make you a little present. Here is a beautiful copy of the Bible. Then they show it, all bound with red Morocco, with gilt edges, and perhaps adorned with pictures.
Isn't it beautiful? Take it, my dear, and read it. It cannot hurt you. It is the word of God, and full of good things. The poor girl is so overwhelmed at this that she does not know what to reply.
She takes it, and thanks the giver. Another girl, with a little more courage, will make out to say, I am much obliged to you, ma'am, but I would rather not take it. And why not? Are you afraid to read the scripture, the word of God? I have heard that Catholics were afraid to read the Bible, but I did not believe it.
Yes, I see. The priests are afraid to let you read the Bible, lest you find out the errors of your religion. This poor girl feels abashed. She is not used to being attacked in this way. And she perhaps says, No, ma'am, it is not as you suppose. I will take the book. Much obliged to you. Now, this is just what the lady wanted, to make you do something contrary to your faith,
to undermine its firmness, to get some kind of acknowledgement out of you that, after all, the Protestant religion has the truth as well as the Catholic. She hopes when you begin to waver, you will keep on until you lose the faith altogether. Let me put in your mind a reply to all such attacks. Say, I thank you for your good intention, but I cannot accept your book.
Why not? Are you forbidden to read the Bible? Oh no, I am very glad to read it, but I cannot read any but the true Bible, the Catholic Bible. If you will present me with a copy of that, I will read it and feel obliged to you for your kindness. And what is true of the Protestant Bible is true also of other Protestant books, treating of piety or religious doctrine.
They may seem to read well and to contain good principles. I have no doubt they do contain some. It would be strange enough if they did not. But there are also evil ones concealed among the good, and the piety is of a false and injurious character.
Beware, says the Savior, of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. St. Matthew 7.15 The mild and gentle Savior said this, because he knew how destructive false doctrine is to the soul.
and he would tell the truth whether everyone liked it or not. I have no intention to offend anyone, but I must tell the truth, and therefore I tell you to have nothing to do with any religious books not of God's church, neither read them, keep them, nor give them away to anybody else. Chapter 23 How to Read the Bible
Having seen what is to be avoided in the reading of the Scripture, let us speak a little more of the advantage of it. It is a mine of gold to the soul. You have heard, perhaps, how the miners in California work for gold. How they dig day after day, in water, and deep under the ground,
where they are liable to be crushed to death by the falling of the soil. If they chance to find a large lump of gold, they esteem all their hardship as nothing. They are ready to leap and dance for the joy of their hearts. But a single verse of Holy Scripture is oftentimes of more value to the immortal soul then all the gold of the world for the body.
St. Anthony the Hermit, when a young man, entered the church one day when the Holy Scripture was being read. He heard the words, Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come follow me. St. Luke 18.22
They sunk right down into his soul. He obeyed them, sold his possessions, gave the money to the poor, and went into the desert, that he might follow the Lord Jesus Christ more perfectly. There, he became one of the greatest of saints.
How many places there are that fill us with hope, with consolation, with strong desire to serve God. Why, we can think over a single sentence for months and months, and even our whole lives, and constantly find matter for thought and prayer.
Take that beautiful sermon of our Lord on the Mount. Who can ever understand the whole perfection of it? Or who could fail to find something in it to feed his soul if he were to read it over every week of his life? I was much pleased with an expression I found in the lives of some nuns
who lived in the time of St. Basil, 1,400 years ago. It is said, They nourished their souls with the daily food of the divine scriptures. That is, they meditated them over and set themselves to work at once
to carry out their teachings as well as they could. And the good people of those times who could not read listened with all their ears to hear the holy scriptures, counting themselves as rich if they could remember one verse to carry away with them,
as if a precious pearl had been given them. If we were as docile and as watchful, what a treasure we should find in the scriptures. Read them with attention, with the wish always to get good out of them.
Do not run over too much at one time. But when something strikes you, pause over it, think over it, and lift your heart to God to beg him to fix it in your soul, to thank him for the good thoughts and feelings which come to you, or to make other prayers as you may feel inclined.
And afterward, try to keep it in your mind so that you may be able to call it back when you like. It will help you to pray with fervor. I like this mixing of reading and prayer. And when your reading excites prayer, by all means, stop, raise your eyes or close them,
and pray as long as you feel inclined to. Then go on with your reading. Maybe in a very short time some other good thought will strike you, and you will want to pray again. Do so.
And do not be afraid to interrupt the reading as often as you have something to say to God. This is the way St. Teresa used to do. and she became, as is well known, the very saint to teach others how to pray. She helped herself with a book just in the way I have described, until, finally, she needed no book, for she could hardly help praying all the time.
It became so natural to her. Chapter 24 Of Other Good Books If you had no other book than the New Testament, it would be an abundance of good reading. Still, it is well to have a little variety. Any good book of instructions, such as the mission book, is of great advantage,
because there you will find what you most want to know laid out in order and in such a way that you can understand it. The scripture excites you to do right in general, but such a book teaches you how to carry out the teachings of the scripture and to regulate your life in practice, how to behave under the actual circumstances of life. so that you need not fear being led astray through want of knowing what to do.
St. Philip Neri was once asked what books he thought the best. He replied, Those whose writers' names begin with an S, that is, those written by the saints, by men or women filled with the Spirit of God.
There are many beautiful books written by such persons, for instance, the works of St. Francis of Sales and of St. Alphonsus Liguori. Choose among these a few that suit your taste, but do not be anxious to get too many. There is one book which I think very good for daily reading during the year, and that is Butler's Lives of the Saints.
We feel so much encouraged to press on in the way of virtue and to follow the Savior when we read how others have done so before us. In this excellent work are the lives of the principal saints, with many good instructions and observations which explain what otherwise might be misunderstood. It was by reading the lives of the holy saints that Saint Ignatius was excited to a holy life.
He had been wounded in battle and was laid up a long time before he recovered. The time hung heavy on his hands, and to occupy his mind he read all the novels he could get. When there were no more, they brought him some lives of the saints. Soon after he began to read, their earnestness and courage in striving for the kingdom of heaven touched his heart. Why can I not do likewise, said he.
And immediately he began to give himself up, heart and soul, with all his energy, to serve God. These moving and affecting lives may touch your hearts, too, and urge you on to do your whole duty with courage and perseverance. Only be careful not to attempt rashly to imitate them in those things that are extraordinary and singular, such as great fasting or bodily austerities.
The humility, the meekness, and patience of the saints, their love to one another. These things you can safely follow, the more closely the better. But their extraordinary works of penance were performed through a particular inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and it would be both unwise and injurious for ordinary persons to undertake them. Leave all that is wonderful and unusual.
These things we can admire, but must not be too quick to imitate. But above all, put out of your heads the wish to see visions, or to have miracles performed by God for you, or to dream dreams, or any things of the sort. When God sends them, it is all well.
It is not probable, however, that he will send them, and it is not pleasing to him if we ask for them or desire them. It would be much better to say, O my God, I am content to walk by the simple light of faith. If it be thy will, please preserve me from all dreams,
visions, or any extraordinary ways, and let me sanctify myself by doing my duty and thy blessed will in all things. The devil has no chance to deceive the soul that walks in this road, and her humility will draw down God's richest graces. Read then and pray, and what the scripture says of the just man will be true of you. His will is the law of the Lord, and in his law he Psalm 1.
Be faithful to these holy exercises, and you will be watered abundantly by the divine grace, grow steadily and rapidly in goodness, and produce in due time the fruits of holiness. Everything will turn out well for your soul, until you shall reap your blessed reward in heaven. End of section 8
