Tag: Memorizing Scripture

Thanks for the memories (Part 2 of 2)

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Yesterday I told the story of a friend of mine who asked me about how non-Catholics memorize Scripture.

I began by offering a few techniques that I’ve used in the past for committing Bible passages to memory. I then went on to explain that, memory techniques aside, non-Catholics tend to be more familiar with Scripture simply because they make it more of a priority in their lives.

Today I’d like to take a look at the Catholic response to this…

The Catholic Response

First of all, what does the Church teach on the subject? The Catechism says:

The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures…” – CCC #133 

Well, you can’t really get much more forceful than that! The Church says that “all” Catholics should get to know Jesus better through “frequent” reading of the Bible. The Catechism then goes on to sum up the Church’s position beautifully and succinctly with a quotation from one of the Church’s greatest biblical scholars, Jerome:

“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” – St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

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Thanks for the memories (Part 1 of 2)

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The other day a friend asked me how, in my experience, non-Catholic Christians memorize Sacred Scripture. This is a very reasonable question. It is common to hear Catholics say how impressed (and intimidated) they are when their Protestant work colleges or classmates quote Scripture at them chapter and verse.

Answer

I responded initially with the suitably vague answer saying that, in my experience, it varies from denomination to denomination and from congregation to congregation. There are certainly some groups which emphasize Scripture memorization more than others.

“Memory! All alone in the moonlight…”

Personally, I’ve never been very good at Scripture memorization, at least as an activity in its own right. When I quote Scripture, it’s usually a rough paraphrase and it’s pretty rare that I can give the chapter, let alone the verse.

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