Navarre Bible Commentary:Monday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Parable of the Great Supper by Harold Copping

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Monday, November 4, 2013

31st  Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 14: 12-14

Attitude Towards the Poor

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).  No passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism.

Commentary

14. A Christian acts in the world in the same way anyone else does; but his dealings with his colleagues and others should not be based on pursuit of reward or vainglory: the first thing he should seek is God's glory, desiring Heaven as his only reward (cf. Luke 6:32-34).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Not Just One Patron Saint

RCIA Assignment

I'd be remiss if I did not share one of the exercises that I did with the RCIA group I talked to the night before Halloween. That night, I gave a presentation on the Communion of Saints. If you'd like to learn more about what I talked about then I recommend reading the post I wrote about that a couple of days ago. Anyway, that night I challenged the group do some homework by researching their patron saints. I told them they didn't just have one patron saint, but potentially three.

Three Part Process

The assignment is a three part process. First, I instructed them to look up the saint whose name they shared. Now I know that in this day and age many people don't have Christian names, but I figured for most part most do. If they don't have an explicitly Christian name, the next thing is to choose a name that is closely associated with one. For example, the name Jessica is not a biblical name but is thought to be associated with the name Joanna. OK, the next part of the exercise required that they look up the patron saint whose feast day falls on their birthday. I shared that I did this very exercise myself years ago when I first taught the Communion of Saints to RCIA. As a result of this, I discovered that St. Albert the Great is the saint whose feast day is celebrated on November 15th. He is the patron saint of teachers and I happen to be a teacher. Discovering that for the first time was pretty special. Needless to say, I think looking up your birthday saint is the most fun and potentially eye opening. The final part of the assignment is for them to research potential names they would take for confirmation. While we are not required to take on a saint name during confirmation, I encourage candidates and Catechumens to do so, especially since many don't already have Christian names. I think this gives them one more personal connection to the Communion of Saints and give them a saint to lean on during tough time. If you have already been confirmed, I still encourage you to do further reading on your patron saint.

Patron Saint Resources:

Here are a few websites for looking up patron saints by date or cause:

• American Catholic
• EWTN Saints and Holy People
• Saints SQPN

Give It a Shot

The point of doing this exercise is to demonstrate that we could potentially have up to 3 saints to connect with and call upon for intercessory prayer I just think this is a fun way get people to actively be thinking about the communion of saints and how they are already part of the Church Militant. Give it a shot let me know how it goes.

Navarre Bible Commentary:31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Column Capital at St. John Neuman

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Sunday, November 3, 2013

31st  Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus and  Zacchae′us
19 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man named Zacchae′us; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature.4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchae′us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchae′us stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism paragraphs 549, 1443, 2412 and 2712.

Commentary

19:1–10. Jesus Christ is the Saviour of mankind; he has healed many sick people, has raised the dead to life and, particularly, has brought forgiveness of sin and the gift of grace to those who approach him in faith. As in the case of the sinful woman (cf. Lk 7:36–50), here he brings salvation to Zacchaeus, for the mission of the Son of man is to save that which was lost.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector and, as such, was hated by the people, because the tax collectors were collaborators of the Roman authorities and were often guilty of abuses (cf. the note on Mt 5:46). The Gospel implies that this man also had things to seek forgiveness for (cf. vv. 7–10). Certainly he was very keen to see Jesus (no doubt moved by grace) and he did everything he could to do so. Jesus rewards his efforts by staying as a guest in his house. Moved by our Lord’s presence Zacchaeus begins to lead a new life.

The crowd begin to grumble against Jesus for showing affection to a man they consider to be an evildoer. Our Lord makes no excuses for his behaviour: he explains that this is exactly why he has come—to seek out sinners. He is putting into practice the parable of the lost sheep (cf. Lk 15:4–7), which was already prophesied in Ezekiel: “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak” (34:16).

19:4. Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus, and to do so he has to go out and mix with the crowd. Like the blind man of Jericho he has to shed any kind of human respect. In our own search for God we should not let false shame or fear of ridicule prevent us from using the resources available to us to meet our Lord. “Convince yourself that there is no such thing as ridicule for whoever is doing what is best” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 392).

19:5–6. This is a very good example of the way God acts to save men. Jesus calls Zacchaeus personally, using his name, suggesting he invite him home. The Gospel states that Zacchaeus does so promptly and joyfully. This is how we should respond when God calls us by means of grace.

19:8. Responding immediately to grace, Zacchaeus makes it known that he will restore fourfold anything he obtained unjustly—thereby going beyond what is laid down in the Law of Moses (cf. Ex 21:36f). And in generous compensation he gives half his wealth to the poor. “Let the rich learn”, St Ambrose comments, “that evil does not consist in having wealth, but in not putting it to good use; for just as riches are an obstacle to evil people, they are also a means of virtue for good people” (Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.). Cf. the note on Lk 16:9–11.

19:10. Jesus’ ardent desire to seek out a sinner fills us with hope of attaining eternal salvation. “He chooses a chief tax collector: who can despair when such a man obtains grace?” (St. Ambrose, Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Navarre Bible Commentary:All Souls

Source: Wikipedia

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Saturday, November 2, 2013

All Souls Day

John 6:37-40

Jesus is the one who reveals the Father

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; 39 and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism paragraphs 161, 606, 989, 994, 100 and 2824.

Commentary:

6:37–40. Jesus clearly reveals that he is the one sent by the Father. This is something St John the Baptist proclaimed earlier on (Jn 3:33–36), and Jesus himself stated it in his dialogue with Nicodemus (3:17–21) and announced publicly in Jerusalem (5:20–30). Since Jesus is the one sent by the Father, the bread of life come down from heaven to give life to the world, everyone who believes in him has eternal life, for it is God’s will that everyone should be saved through Jesus Christ. These words of Jesus contain three mysteries: 1) that of faith in Jesus Christ, which means “going to Jesus”, accepting his miracles (signs) and his words; 2) the mystery of the resurrection of believers, something which begins in this life through faith and becomes fully true in heaven; 3) the mystery of predestination, the will of our Father in heaven that all men be saved. These solemn words of our Lord fill the believer with hope.

St Augustine, commenting on vv. 37 and 38, praises the humility of Jesus: Jesus chose not to do his own will but that of the Father who sent him: “Humbly am I come, to teach humility am I come, as the master of humility am I come; he who comes to me is incorporated in me; he who comes to me, becomes humble; he who cleaves to me will be humble, for he does not his will but God’s” (In Ioann. Evang., 25, 15 and 16).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

The Communion of Saints

The Holy Ones
Saints are "holy ones" who have led a life in union with God through the grace of Christ and received the reward of eternal life. In other words, they have made it to Heaven.

Communion of Saints

The Church is called the Communion of Saints, of the Holy Ones. (See the Catechism). The Communion of Saints is made up of three parts: Church Triumphant - those who have made it to Heaven; Church Militant - those who continue the "fight" towards holiness here on Earth; and Church Suffering - those who are being purified in Purgatory

The Church Community
The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints (in progress) on earth. We call this intercessory prayer (See section below). St. John saw that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). The members of the Church on Earth pray for the souls in purgatory (CCC, 958). In Maccabees, the sacred writer proclaims "And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness bad great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.”(Emphasis added; 2 Macc 12:45, Vulgate).

Honor v.s. Worship
I told a story comparing the honoring of saints as role models in our lives to my emulation of Fred Lynn when I was a young (and much thinner) baseball player. I continued the analogy in describing kids today who collect sports bobbleheads of their favorite players. When we keep statues of Saints we don't worship the statue, but they do serve as reminders of the lives they led, in particular opening themselves to the will of God. I concluded the metaphor by drawing the similarities between collecting baseball cards and keeping prayer cards.

In a nutshell - Saints are our role models during the before and after periods of their lives. In other words, they have been there and done that. If God can take those people (and some of them were scumbags before their conversions) and turn them into saints, then there must be hope for me and you. For some, the thought of imitating a human saint is more accessible than being Jesus because after all, He is God. God, in his infinite wisdom understood we would need earthly role models to follow. The Communion of Saints is another of God's gifts of love.

Intercessory Prayer

We often join prayer chains and ask our friends to pray for us and loved ones. We all know someone we consider a prayer warrior who is a constantly praying for others successfully. Sometimes we may even think they have a hotline to God. In short, we are accustomed to asking others to pray for us now. This is precisely what we do when we ask the saints to pray for us.

"[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3–4).

In particular, we should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).

Relics and Statues

The use of the bones of Elisha brought a dead man to life: "So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet" (2 Kgs. 13:20-21). This is an unequivocal biblical example of a miracle being performed by God through contact with the relics of a saint!

Similar are the cases of the woman cured of a hemorrhage by touching the hem of Christ’s cloak (Matt. 9:20-22) and the sick who were healed when Peter’s shadow passed over them (Acts 5:14-16). "And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them" (Acts 19:11-12).

CANONIZATION: 
When a person is canonized as a saint, a solemn declaration is issued by the Pope that a deceased member of the faithful may be proposed as a model and intercessor to the Christian faithful and venerated as a saint on the basis of the fact that the person lived a life of heroic virtue or remained faithful to God through martyrdom (CCC 828 and 957).

There are four stages in the process towards sainthood:

• Servant of God - when their cause is opened
• Venerable - Pope recognizes the heroic virtue of the person
• Blessed - once one miracle has been established to be attributable to the person's intercession
• Saint - 2 miracles and then canonized; public prayer to the Saint then permitted

For a more detailed account visit EWTN's article on the subject.

FURTHER READING:

• Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi
• My Best Teachers Were Saints, Susan H. Swetnam
• Lives of the Saints
• My Life with the Saints, Father James Martin, SJ

Navarre Bible Commentary:Solemnity of All Saints

Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Friday, November 1, 2013

Solemnity of All Saints

Matthew 5:1-12A

The Beatitudes

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

Cited in the Catechism:  In declaring the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in Catechism paragraphs 520, 544, 581, 764, 1454, 1716, 1720, 2305, 2330, 2518, 2546 and 2763.

Commentary:

5:1. The discourse, or sermon, on the mount takes up three full chapters of St Matthew’s Gospel—chapters 5–7. It is the first of the five great discourses of Jesus which appear in this Gospel and contains a considerable amount of our Lord’s teaching.

It is difficult to reduce this discourse to one single theme, but the various teachings it contains could be said to deal with these five points: 1) the attitude a person must have for entering the Kingdom of heaven (the Beatitudes, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, Jesus and his teaching, the fullness of the Law); 2) uprightness of intention in religious practices (here the Our Father would be included); 3) trust in God’s fatherly providence; 4) how God’s children should behave towards one another (not judging one’s neighbour, respect for holy things, the effectiveness of prayer and the golden rule of charity); 5) the conditions for entering the Kingdom (the narrow gate, false prophets and building on rock).

5:2. “He taught them”: this refers both to the disciples and to the multitude, as can be seen at the end of the Sermon.

5:3–12. The Beatitudes form, as it were, the gateway to the Sermon on the Mount. In order to understand the Beatitudes properly, we should bear in mind that they do not promise salvation only to the particular kinds of people listed here: they cover everyone whose religious dispositions and moral conduct meet the demands which Jesus lays down. In other words, the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who suffer persecution in their search for holiness—these are not different people or kinds of people but different demands made on everyone who wants to be a disciple of Christ.

Similarly, salvation is not being promised to different groups in society but to everyone, no matter what his or her position in life, who strives to follow the spirit and to meet the demands contained in the Beatitudes.

All the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us definitive salvation, not in this world, but in the next. But the spirit of the Beatitudes does give us, in this life, peace in the midst of tribulation. The Beatitudes imply a completely new approach, quite at odds with the usual way man evaluates things: they rule out any kind of pharisaical religiosity, which regards earthly happiness as a blessing from God and a reward for good behaviour, and unhappiness and misfortune as a form of punishment. In all ages the Beatitudes put spiritual good on a much higher plane than material possessions. The healthy and the sick, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor—all are called, independently of their circumstances, to the deep happiness that is experienced by those who live up to the Beatitudes which Jesus teaches.

The Beatitudes do not, of course, contain the entire teaching of the Gospel, but they do contain, in embryo, the whole programme of Christian perfection.

5:3. This text outlines the connexion between poverty and the soul. This religious concept of poverty was deeply rooted in the Old Testament (cf., e.g., Zeph 2:3ff). It was more to do with a religious attitude of neediness and of humility towards God than with material poverty: that person is poor who has recourse to God without relying on his own merits and who trusts in God’s mercy to be saved. This religious attitude of poverty is closely related to what is called “spiritual childhood”. A Christian sees himself as a little child in the presence of God, a child who owns nothing: everything he has comes from God and belongs to God. Certainly, spiritual poverty, that is, Christian poverty, means one must be detached from material things and practise austerity in using them. God asks certain people—religious—to be legally detached from ownership and thereby bear witness to others of the transitoriness of earthly things.

5:4. “Those who mourn”: here our Lord is saying that those are blessed who suffer from any kind of affliction—particularly those who are genuinely sorry for their sins, or are pained by the offences which others offer God, and who bear their suffering with love and with a spirit of atonement.

“You are crying? Don’t be ashamed of it. Yes, cry: men also cry like you, when they are alone and before God. Each night, says King David, I soak my bed with tears. With those tears, those burning manly tears, you can purify your past and supernaturalize your present life” (St J. Escrivá, The Way, 216).

The Spirit of God will console with peace and joy, even in this life, those who weep for their sins, and later he will give them a share in the fullness of happiness and glory in heaven: these are the blessed.

5:5. “The meek”: those who patiently suffer unjust persecution; those who remain serene, humble and steadfast in adversity, and do not give way to resentment or discouragement. The virtue of meekness is very necessary in the Christian life. Usually irritableness, which is very common, stems from a lack of humility and interior peace.

“The earth”: this is usually understood as meaning our heavenly fatherland.

5:6. The notion of righteousness (or justice) in Holy Scripture is an essentially religious one (cf. notes on Mt 1:19 and 3:15; Rom 1:17; 1:18–32; 3:21–22 and 24). A righteous person is one who sincerely strives to do the will of God, which is discovered in the commandments, in one’s duties of state in life and through one’s life of prayer. Thus, righteousness, in the language of the Bible, is the same as what nowadays is usually called “holiness” (1 Jn 2:29; 3:7–10; Rev 22:11; Gen 15:6; Deut 9:4).

As St Jerome comments (Comm. on Matthew, 5, 6), in the fourth Beatitude our Lord is asking us not simply to have a vague desire for righteousness: we should hunger and thirst for it, that is, we should love and strive earnestly to seek what makes a man righteous in God’s eyes. A person who genuinely wants to attain Christian holiness should love the means that the Church, the universal vehicle of salvation, offers all men and teaches them to use—frequent use of the sacraments, an intimate relationship with God in prayer, a valiant effort to meet one’s social, professional and family responsibilities.

5:7. Mercy is not just a matter of giving alms to the poor but also of being understanding towards other people’s defects, overlooking them, helping them cope with them and loving them despite whatever defects they may have. Being merciful also means rejoicing and suffering with other people.

5:8. Christ teaches us that the source of the quality of human acts lies in the heart, that is, in a man’s soul, in the depth of his spirit. “When we speak of a person’s heart, we refer not just to his sentiments, but to the whole person in his loving dealings with others. In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture uses the expression ‘heart’ in its full meaning, as the summary and source, expression and ultimate basis, of one’s thoughts, words and actions. A man is worth what his heart is worth” (St J. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 164).

Cleanness of heart is a gift of God, which expresses itself in a capacity to love, in having an upright and pure attitude to everything noble. As St Paul says, “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil 4:8). Helped by God’s grace, a Christian should strive to cleanse his heart and acquire this purity, the reward for which is the vision of God.

5:9. The translation “peacemakers” well conveys the active meaning of the original text—those who foster peace, in themselves and in others and, as a basis for that, try to be reconciled and to reconcile others with God. Being at peace with God is the cause and the effect of every kind of peace. Any peace on earth not based on this divine peace would be vain and misleading.

“They shall be called sons of God”: this is an Hebraicism often found in Sacred Scripture; it is the same as saying “they will be sons of God”. St John’s first letter (3:1) provides a correct exegesis of this Beatitude: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are”.

5:10. What this Beatitude means, then, is: blessed are those who are persecuted because they are holy, or because they are striving to be holy, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Thus, blessed is he who suffers persecution for being true to Jesus Christ and who does so not only patiently but joyfully. Circumstances arise in a Christian’s life that call for heroism—where no compromise is admissible: either one stays true to Jesus Christ whatever the cost in terms of reputation, life or possessions, or one denies him. St Bernard (Sermon on the Feast of All Saints) says that the eighth Beatitude is as it were the prerogative of Christian martyrs. Every Christian who is faithful to Jesus’ teaching is in fact a “martyr” (a witness) who reflects or acts in accordance with this Beatitude, even if he does not undergo physical death.

5:11–12. The Beatitudes are the conditions Jesus lays down for entering the Kingdom of heaven. This verse, in a way summing up the preceding ones, is an invitation to everyone to put this teaching into practice. The Christian life, then, is no easy matter, but it is worthwhile, given the reward that Jesus promises.

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome