Using scripture to train our children

So, on Pinterest a while back, I came across this website: The Child Training Bible. It describes a method by which to organize child training verses using color coded flags and hi-lighters for parents to use in the raising of children. It was one of those things you just sat and stared at, wide-eyed, thoughts buzzing.

At the time, I simultaneously pinned it to my parenting boards and to my random hilarity boards because, let's face it, while there is something profoundly interesting and inspiring about it, for sure, I admit I also found it kind of .... crazy and neurotic as an idea. Look at all those tabs!! How would you HOLD this bible? Doesn't it just SCREAM: "pull me out" to any passing toddler? Where would you find the time to sit down and actually make one of these?? How practical could it actually be??

I'm not at all slamming the people who came up with this idea, I actually find it -- and them-- awesome. But I think there is a little re-thinking to be done here--- while it's very good and helpful, it's also kind of.... overkill. Maybe that's just me, as this bible seems to be getting very enthusiastic reviews. I admit my life is a little more hectic in some ways than other stay at home moms for whom the Child Training Bible may be a wonderful option.

On my end, though... I like things simple, and as a busy mom, I don't have time to brush my teeth, let alone to sit down with my kids for every infraction and pick through the Bible for lecturing material, nor do I have time to nitpick issues. I'm big on the "heart" and not the externals--- and at this stage in my parenting I usually find myself constantly turning to Charlotte Mason's "big three" issues (Obedience, attention, truthfulness) and much less frequently to particular issues.  

Now, if I'm going to be praying for one of my kids in depth that day about a particular issue, I might find a list of EVERY verse that deals with it helpful, but the reality is that in ordinary life I just need a handful of "go to" verses.

I have mentioned before that our family uses Charlotte Mason's methods in our homeschool, and Charlotte had a LOT to say about child training and good habits. Her habits training ideas can be broken down into five categories (mental habits, physical habits, moral habits,  religious habits, habits of propriety and decency.) So in my case, I can more easily use a go-to bible verse for each of the habits in this category (or better yet, for a category itself) than for every, single, specific situation my kids or I might encounter during their childhood. I also like that Charlotte focuses on something positive which encourages me as a parent-- changing bad habits into good ones, whereas the Child Training Bible is basically geared to look up MISbehavior (lying, stealing, fear, etc.) I understand why it's organized that way, but my kids-- and I-- tend to be more receptive to change when it is presented in a positive light.

Every Christian parent should be excited about a project that helps them quickly find bible verses with which to train their children. We all (hopefully) USE bible verses and have various systems for doing it, like making kids copy or memorize verses for problem areas, doing character training with bible verses in daily devotions, or simply having a list of verses for different situations we encounter and looking them up and reading them together after we correct or discipline our kids. 

And believe me, I'm ALL for using tabs and color coding to get us there-- I already do that to help me pray with my Bible. So I really, really do like the idea.... But I wasn't sure I could handle a life where I'd have to carefully carry a bible that looks like this around without rapidly losing what's left of my mind:

So anyways, I thought about it and realized that there really are just a handful of verses I NEED and USE regularly in my parenting (by regularly, I mean on a day-to-day, training-and-correcting basis way... not in a full-on warfare kind of way. Obviously, there are moments where you just really need the entire Bible, or a list a mile long.) Basing my categories mostly off of Charlotte Mason's habits, I came up with THIS.

Not overwhelming, not complicated, easy to use and carry. I likey.

Each tab is a subject I find myself harping on the kids about relatively often.

Each tab contains a MAIN verse at the top, and additional verses to use as needed.

A couple of them overlap the text and this annoys me.. I'll have to find a solution.

Like I said, we're ALL about keeping it simple here. :)

But some things are TOO important to let slide. ;)

If your kids are anything like mine, they will enjoy making their own tabs for their own bibles, too. Bonus!

So that's it.... my version of the "Child Training Bible," and the benefit to me is that my husband and I deal with many of these same habits (and sins!) in our own personal lives so having these makes it really easy to quickly look up something that relates to us, to our own parenting, to our relationship to each other, etc. I've been doing this for about a week now and I am already SO glad I took the (One hour, not year! Haha) it took me to make this, and I've actually used it-- which is great. So far the best part is that my kiddos actually LIKE it and find it interesting, so they remind me to use it if perchance I forget. Having just read Ray Guerendi's book "Discipline that Lasts a Lifetime," I am super excited about how easily this all fits in with that. Dr. Ray reminded me over and over that discipline was less talk and more action, and I think that applies not just to parenting but to our work, too. I noticed that by doing this instead of having endless passages to look up and talk about with the kids, they-- and I--- get more work done. We also spend waaaaay less time yakking about HOW to do what's right and way more time just doing it, which is my husband's theme for our house. "There's no need to be so complicated. Life is simple.... Just be good, and do good," he says. Can't argue with that!

Anyways, hope it helps somebody out there!

For those interested in doing this themselves, I can offer some suggestions. However, I don't want to give you a how-to because one of the most important things about doing this project , in my eyes, is that it needs to be something YOU will use. My needs are not your needs, so you may find some of my categories, or verses, inapplicable for your own family. Instead I would encourage you to sit down and make a small, manageable list of things you would like to instill in your kids and then your OWN favorite verses for each one.

By way of a guideline, here is a list of the habits Charlotte Mason specifically mentions, as organized in the wonderful book "Laying down the Rails: a Charlotte Mason Habits Handbook."

You might find it useful to include tabs for these particular habits or simply for each category, along with appropriate bible verses. 

Habits of Decency and Propriety
Cleanliness Courtesy Kindness Manners Modesty and Purity	Neatness Order Regularity Candor Courage	Diligence Fortitude Generosity Gentleness Meekness	Patience Respect Temperance Thrift
Mental Habits
Attention Imagining Meditation Memorizing	Mental Effort Observation Perfect Execution Reading for Instruction	Remembering Thinking Accuracy Concentration	Reflection Thoroughness
Moral Habits
Integrity Priorities Finishing	Use of Time Borrowed Property Obedience	Personal Initiative Reverence Self-Control	Sweet, Even Temper Truthfulness Usefulness
Physical Habits
Alertness to Seize Opportunities Fortitude Health Managing One’s Own Body Music Outdoor Life		Quick Perception of Senses Self-Control in Emergencies Self-Discipline in Habits Self-Restraint in Indulgences Training the Ear and Voice
Religious Habits
Regularity in Devotions Prayer	Reading the Bible Praise	Reverent Attitude Sunday-Keeping	Thanksgiving Thought of God

Charlotte Mason's motto for students was "I am, I can, I ought, I will." Another way to do this is simply to make a list of fifteen or so things you often come across and a good verse for each one. For example: Obedience Attention Truthfulness Modesty Purity Faith Proper Speech Kindness Charity Cleanliness Good study habits Proper Choice in Friends Self-control etc. As I said, every family (and child!) is different so I don't want to give you a cookie-cutter "how-to" here, but rather to help you brainstorm ideas that will work. I hope you enjoy doing this project as much as I did! I'm praying for you and your children. :)

Scripture Sundays- Second Sunday of Lent

Mural at the Church of the Transfiguration, Mt Tabor

Today's Gospel, both in the extraordinary and ordinary form, revolves around the Transfiguration-- the moment when Jesus, The living Word of God, is revealed in all His glory on the mountain, accompanied by two of God's greatest men of faith, Elijah and Moses.

His disciples, who witness the transfiguration, ask to build tabernacles ("tents") for each of them and to remain on the mountain, but God's booming voice speaks to them, directing them to focus on Jesus:

 "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him." 

And instead of staying,  Jesus leads them down again, into the valley and onto the Passion.

It is a moment of comfort for them, as they have just learned about the necessary passion of Our Lord and are concerned about the future. But it is also a moment of confusion-- what does the Resurrection mean?

This passage from Divine Intimacy about the Transfiguration perfectly describes the relevance of the scene.

Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen, OCD, writes:

"Glory is the fruit of grace: the grace possessed by Jesus in an infinite degree is reflected in an infinite glory transfiguring Him entirely. Something similar happens to us: grace will transform us "from glory to glory.""(2 Cor 3, 18) until one day it will bring us to the Beatific Vision of God in heaven. But while grace transfigures, sin, on the other hand, darkens and disfigures whoever becomes its victim. Today's Gospel brings out the close connection between the Transfiguration and the Passion of Jesus."

There is no glory without suffering. The scene makes this very clear. But the key to this passage involves the clue we are given at the very end. Peter who-- in ecstasy before this glorious vision-- begins by saying: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," asks to build three tents for them to stay. God does not allow him to stay. Instead, he removes Elijah and Moses and stands Jesus alone in front of Peter, saying: "Listen to Him."

It is only in Listening to Jesus, communing with Jesus, spending time with Jesus, and literally following Jesus that we will be given that vision again. In other words, a spiritual consolation is not for us to cling to, request, or desire. Although it is nothing short of glorious and we should enjoy it, it is built for our encouragement, not our enjoyment. It is built for our strengthening.

As mothers and wives we experience moments of glory--- successes and beautiful, "perfect" days. But if you're anything like me, those days are few and far between. The average experience of the wife and mother includes the days you forget to wash your husband's work uniform, the day your two year old learns the word "no," the day you accidentally wash the rocks and pens in your sons' pockets and break the washing machine, the day your in-laws make comments about their concerns about homeschooling, and the day your husband has a rough day at work and comes home in a bad mood. 

This is the stuff of ordinary life, and this is the suffering by which we are sanctified. It is good and well to ask for those "perfect" days.... but we do not get there alone. Even more, importantly, many of us can work our way to the top of the mountain and realize that there is nothing there but a view! If we do not go up the mountain when Jesus leads and come down from the mountain when Jesus leads, we have missed the point. Our character is not formed in our own transfiguration moments, but in them our hope is born and cultivated. Our character is formed when we turn from sin and embrace the Cross, patiently offering up our suffering and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus who will teach us what He wants in it.

Carmelite Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St Edith Stein) said: "Hail to the Cross, Our only Hope."

In this season of lent, embrace each difficult moment of life and pray:

"Dear Jesus, am I listening to You as You taught me in the transfiguration? Teach me to embrace the cross and my own journey through the valley so that when You give me a vision of Your Glory I not only receive encouragement from it, but I recognize in it that it comes only from following You on the difficult path of Your Passion!"

Without death there is no life-- without the cross, no resurrection. When tough times come, may we all respond in faith: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," exactly as Peter said on the mountain.


TODAY'S READINGS:

Reading 1 Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he replied.
Then God said:
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you."

When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.
"Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
"I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing-
all this because you obeyed my command."


Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19
R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reading 2 Rom 8:31b-34
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died-or, rather, was raised-
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.


Gospel Mk 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Twaddle-free Tuesdays: Genesis to Jesus

In the Saint Gianna Vocation to Holy Motherhood group I host on Tuesdays we are working our way through a wonderful Bible study.
It is called Genesis to Jesus, and was co-written by Kimberly and Scott Hahn in association with the St Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
Wanna know how good it is ?? It is rapidly becoming my single favorite resource besides the Catechism for explaining Salvation History using the Bible. True story!
We originally selected it for those mothers who weren't familiar with the Bible to help them make some sense out of what they read and heard.
Ironically (or maybe not) there are only two of us who regularly meet right now to persist in unpacking the rich contents of scripture via this book, and of the whole group, we are the only two who probably "didn't need" to read it in the first place-- we're well versed in scripture study and none of the content seemed too "new" to us initially.
Despite all that,  we are both learning something incredible with each passing chapter. And our discussions are like, woah!! Needless to say, I'm loving it.
The book is a review of covenant history, and journeys through scripture from Creation onwards. I already know what you're thinking--- None of its topical concepts are "new" to me as a Bible reader. BUT to you , I say: give it a chance.  It is nothing short of amazing how deep we are led into understanding the nature of covenant, what it means for us, and WHY it matters by simpling putting two scriptures together we may not have connected before.
For us as Catholics, it is especially helpful to give tools for assessing why we believe that the Catholic Church is the ONLY Church on God's green earth which teaches wholly, and fully, biblical doctrine. All other churches and even religions contain small fragments and large pieces of truth.... but for me, from day one, I've sought to live by the Bible, and the Bible is what led me to Catholicism. I know some of my readers disagree, so for the sake of my non-Catholic friends I should point out that this book is neither preachy nor overtly "Catholic"-- in fact, I have only seen the word Catholic once so far in it, and it was in this sentence:

"If we want to understand the Bible, we need to understand it's plot. That plot is salvation history, the story of how God's plan for human salvation unfolds in the course of human events. In order to correctly understand the plot and recognize how Scripture applies to our lives, we need to read the Bible from the heart of the Church, seeing God's story with Catholic eyes. Knowing why we read the Bible, and how we should read the Bible, can give us that perspective."

He then goes on to unpack the story of the walk along the Emmaus Road in such a way as to help the reader understand how Christ HIMSELF explains scripture to His disciples. Nope, this book is not preachy-- in fact-- there's hardly any text at all that isn't directly related to the  biblical text itself. But it's eye opening and extremely interesting as a sort of timeline- method of passing through old, familiar Bible stories in light of the actions, words, and prophecies about the Christ.

Let me give you a little peek into just one area we are covering by sharing a snippet that hit me just right and just at the right time.... but first- a little background.
I've been really, truly struggling lately in almost every way.
Although I'm quite certain that I'm doing mostly the right things -- and recognizing and correcting them right away when I'm not...I have never felt more isolated, alone, and unloved.
My children are the focal point of virtually all of my energy (and plenty of energy I don't have but somehow muster up) right now. What they don't take up is taken by my husband, who is stressed on a level I cannot even describe right now as he goes through the academy and attempts to-- once and for all-- get us on our feet. And in the midst of all that I am living in my father in law's house, a challenge enough as it is but which is currently made twice as hard by some challenges he himself is facing.
Because we have only one car and cannot afford to insure me right now, I am completely isolated. And because things are tough, the good is really, really good... and the bad is... a nightmare.
I keep trying to hang on to St John of the Cross' promise that there is great benefit in simply detaching from everything. He recommends as a spiritual exercise that we maintain a practice of refusing what gives us pleasure and doing only what we dislike. I think it must be a great grace that God has given me that I am not even given the choice at any stage in this season... I just feel hammered.  I don't know. I will be speaking with my spiritual director about it.
In the meantime, God has used this book to really make me aware of His presence.
As I prepared for tommorow's lesson I was sitting outside reading this book and studying my bible when I was literally moved to tears for a moment by meditating on salvation history.
The topic is Abraham, Our Father in the faith. It opens with the promises given to us through Genesis 12:1-3:  (Land and nationhood, a royal dynasty and great name, and a worldwide family) and goes on to describe Abram's response in faith.
I paused there for a while, reflecting on many lessons I have learned over the years about faith, especially through a dear friend who discipled me when I first came face to face with the living God-- and her father, a wonderful pastor and mentor who gave me a foundation of faith right from the start that could not fail.
I remember well her and her father telling me, over and over again the powerful lessons given to us from Hebrews 11:8:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

This is the journey of faith, by faith, and through faith. This is our own calling, too. Like Abraham and Mary, his daughter, we say to God: "be it done to me according to thy Word." (Luke 1:38) And then we believe, we hope, and we love, even though we experience sorrow beyond all understanding. We have seen His glory revealed... a glimpse.... and we know the rest is there. Come hell, or high water. That's the Christian life.

But it was the next passage that really stopped me.. a simple list of things he experienced during that "walk." See if it doesn't get you thinking too:

The Tests of the Blessed (the life of Abram---> Abraham)

Famine (Gen 12)

Exile and temporary loss of wife (Gen 12)

Family strife and division (Gen 13)

Wars (Gen 14)

Unfulfilled promises (Gen 15)

Marital Discord (Gen 16)

Painful surgery (Gen 17)

Supernatural disaster (Gen 18-19)

The temporary loss of his wife, again (Gen 20)

More family strife (Gen 21)

Asked to sacrifice his son (Gen 22)

His faith is rewarded (Gen 15; 17; 22)

Sound familiar?? It did to me. I am walking through that same darkness.... on that same journey. I'm daily living those exact same things! 

What incredible peace came over me to stop and think that my Father, Abraham, and every one of his children, though they walk through the same trials, will be rewarded for their faith. What beautiful joy overpowered my sorrows--- what companionship. I am honored to be called a daughter of Abraham, and honored to walk this well-worn path with all of you.

 

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever. 

   -- Mary (Lk 1:46-55)

I can't recommend this book enough--- it is fascinating for Jews, for Catholics, for Non-Catholic Christians, and even for Muslims and is simply a discussion of events as they unfold in the scriptures-- nothing added, nothing taken away. Just a journey through the scriptures. 

As I mentally prepare in my heart for advent and the season of waiting for the celebration of the Only Event on which all of History stands (I'm throwing my newly annual "Thankful for Advent" Party the day after thanksgiving and getting sooo excited!) it is perfect to go through this book and deeply drink from the living well present in scripture, because I'm so thirsty!! -----And I would venture to guess you are too. Enjoy it!

A prayer for our husbands

In the name of the Father + and the Son + and the Holy Spirit + 

Lord, let my husband be known in the gates , when he sits among the elders of the land (Prov 31:23)
Give him work that allows him to be good and do good, for a little is better with righteousness than vast revenues without justice. (prov 16:8) Blessed shall he be in the city, and blessed shall he be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of his body, the produce of his ground, and the increase of his herds. Blessed shall be his basket and his kneading bowl, for You, Lord, have promised to be the one to go before him, to be with him, and not forsake him-- therefore let him not be afraid. (Deut 28:3-6, 31:8)
Your Word says that he must be strong and of good courage. (Joshua 1:9) Give him every place the soul of his foot shall tread, and let him not turn to the right or to the left to deviate from your law, so that he will prosper wherever he goes. (Joshua 1:7)
Lord, send your Holy Spirit to quicken his Spirit, and teach him your ways. Your raise the poor out of the dust and lift the needy out of the ash heap to set them with princes (Psalm 113:7) and so we praise You, O God! The heart of my husband trusts in You, Lord, so deliver him from evil men. Break Satan's yoke from him and burst his bonds apart. (Nahum 1:13)
Lord, you say to the devil those same words you have reserved for the false prophet: that you are against him, that you will burn his chariots in smoke, that the sword shall devour his young lions and that the voice of his messengers will be heard no more. (Nahum 2:13)
B y the power of your Holy Spirit, God, teach me to pray for my husband and break every curse over him by the blood of Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins. Thank You, Lord! Your glory is from everlasting to everlasting, and we will never cease to sing your praise, O King of heaven!

Saints on Saturdays-St Jerome

SAINT JEROME CONFESSOR, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH—342-420
Feast: September 30

St. Jerome, who was born Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius, was the most learned of the Fathers of the Western Church. He was born about the year 342 at Stridonius, a small town at the head of the Adriatic, near the episcopal city of Aquileia. His father, a Christian, took care that his son was well instructed at home, then sent him to Rome, where the young man's teachers were the famous pagan grammarian Donatus and Victorinus, a Christian rhetorician. Jerome's native tongue was the Illyrian dialect, but at Rome he became fluent in Latin and Greek, and read the literatures of those languages with great pleasure. His aptitude for oratory was such that he may have considered law as a career. He acquired many worldly ideas, made little effort to check his pleasure-loving instincts, and lost much of the piety that had been instilled in him at home. Yet in spite of the pagan and hedonistic influences around him, Jerome was baptized by Pope Liberius in 360. He tells us that "it was my custom on Sundays to visit, with friends of my own age and tastes, the tombs of the martyrs and Apostles, going down into those subterranean galleries whose walls on both sides preserve the relics of the dead." Here he enjoyed deciphering the inscriptions.

After three years at Rome, Jerome's intellectual curiosity led him to explore other parts of the world. He visited his home and then, accompanied by his boyhood friend Bonosus, went to Aquileia, where he made friends among the monks of the monastery there, notably Rufinus. Then, still accompanied by Bonosus, he traveled to Treves, in Gaul. He now renounced all secular pursuits to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to God. Eager to build up a religious library, the young scholar copied out St. Hilary's books on and his Commentaries on the Psalms, and got together other literary and religious treasures. He returned to Stridonius, and later settled in Aquileia. The bishop had cleared the church there of the plague of Arianism and had drawn to it many eminent men. Among those with whom Jerome formed friendships were Chromatius (later canonized), to whom Jerome dedicated several of his works, Heliodorus (also to become a saint), and his nephew Nepotian. The famous theologian Rufinus, at first his close friend, afterward became his bitter opponent. By nature an irascible man with a sharp tongue, Jerome made enemies as well as friends. He spent some years in scholarly studies in Aquileia, then, in search of more perfect solitude, he turned towards the East. With his friends, Innocent, Heliodorus, and Hylas, a freed slave, he started overland for Syria. On the way they visited Athens, Bithynia, Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Cilicia.

The party arrived at Antioch about the year 373. There Jerome at first attended the lectures of the famous Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea, who had not yet put forward his heresy1 With his companions he left the city for the desert of Chalcis, about fifty miles southeast of Antioch. Innocent and Hylas soon died there, and Heliodorus left to return to the West, but Jerome stayed for four years, which were passed in study and in the practice of austerity. He had many attacks of illness but suffered still more from temptation. "In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert," he wrote years afterwards to his friend Eustochium, "burnt up with the heat of the sun, so scorching that it frightens even the monks who live there, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome.... In this exile and prison to which through fear of Hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, with no other company but scorpions and wild beasts, I many times imagined myself watching the dancing of Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them. My face was pallid with fasting, yet my will felt the assaults of desire. In my cold body and my parched flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was still able to live. Alone with the enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, though I grieve that I am not now what I then was."

Jerome added to these trials the study of Hebrew, a discipline which he hoped would help him in winning a victory over himself. "When my soul was on fire with wicked thoughts," he wrote in 411, "as a last resort, I became a pupil to a monk who had been a Jew, in order to learn the Hebrew alphabet. From the judicious precepts of Quintilian, the rich and fluent eloquence of Cicero, the graver style of Fronto, and the smoothness of Pliny, I turned to this language of hissing and broken-winded words. What labor it cost me, what difficulties I went through, how often I despaired and abandoned it and began again to learn, both I, who felt the burden, and they who lived with me, can bear witness. I thank our Lord that I now gather such sweet fruit from the bitter sowing of those studies." He continued to read the pagan classics for pleasure until a vivid dream turned him from them, at least for a time. In a letter he describes how, during an illness, he dreamed he was standing before the tribunal of Christ. "Thou a Christian?" said the judge skeptically. "Thou art a Ciceronian. Where thy treasure is, there thy heart is also."

The church at Antioch was greatly disturbed at this time by party and doctrinal disputes. The anchorites in the desert took sides, and called on Jerome, the most learned of them, to give his opinions on the subjects at issue. He wrote for guidance to Pope Damasus at Rome. Failing to receive an answer, he wrote again. "On one side, the Arian fury rages, supported by the secular power; on the other side, the Church (at Antioch) is being divided into three parts, and each would draw me to itself." No reply from Damasus is extant; but we know that Jerome acknowledged Paulinus, leader of one party, as bishop of Antioch, and that when he left the desert of Chalcis, he received from Paulinus' hands his ordination as priest. Jerome consented to ordination only on condition that he should not be obliged to serve in any church, knowing that his true vocation was to be a monk and recluse.

About 380 Jerome went to Constantinople to study the Scriptures under the Greek, Gregory of Nazianzus, then bishop of that city. Two years later he went back to Rome with Paulinus of Antioch to attend a council which Pope Damasus was holding to deal with the Antioch schism. Appointed secretary of the council, Jerome acquitted himself so well that, when it was over, Damasus kept him there as his own secretary. At the Pope's request he prepared a revised text, based on the Greek, of the Latin New Testament, the current version of which had been disfigured by "wrong copying, clumsy correction, and careless interpolations." He also revised the Latin psalter. That the prestige of Rome and its power to arbitrate between disputants, East as well as West, was recognized as never before at this time, was due in some measure at least to Jerome's diligence and ability. Along with his official duties he was fostering a new movement of Christian asceticism among a group of noble Roman ladies. Several of them were to be canonized, including Albina and her daughters Marcella and Asella, Melania the Elder, who was the first of them to go to the Holy Land, and Paula, with her daughters, Blesilla and Eustochium. The tie between Jerome and the three last-mentioned women was especially close, and to them he addressed many of his famous letters.

When Pope Damasus died in 384, he was succeeded by Siricius, who was less friendly to Jerome. While serving Damasus, Jerome had impressed all by his personal holiness, learning, and integrity. But he had also managed to get himself widely disliked by pagans and evil-doers whom he had condemned, and also by people of taste and tolerance, many of them Christians, who were offended by his biting sarcasm and a certain ruthlessness in attack. An example of his style is the harsh diatribe against the artifices of worldly women, who "paint their cheeks with rouge and their eyelids with antimony, whose plastered faces, too white for human beings, look like idols; and if in a moment of forgetfulness they shed a tear it makes a furrow where it rolls down the painted cheek; women to whom years do not bring the gravity of age, who load their heads with other people's hair, enamel a lost youth upon the wrinkles of age, and affect a maidenly timidity in the midst of a troop of grand children." In a letter to Eustochium he writes with scorn of certain members of the Roman clergy. "All their anxiety is about their clothes.... You would take them for bridegrooms rather than for clerics; all they think about is knowing the names and houses and doings of rich ladies."

Although Jerome's indignation was usually justified, his manner of expressing it-both verbally and in letters-aroused resentment. His own reputation was attacked; his bluntness, his walk, and even his smile were criticized. And neither the virtue of the ladies under his direction nor his own scrupulous behavior towards them was any protection from scandalous gossip. Affronted at the calumnies that were circulated, Jerome decided to return to the East. Taking with him his brother Paulinian and some others, he embarked in August, 385. At Cyprus, on the way, he was received with joy by Bishop Epiphanius, and at Antioch also he conferred with leading churchmen. It was here, probably, that he was joined by the widow Paula and some other ladies who had left Rome with the aim of settling in the Holy Land.

With what remained of Jerome's own patrimony and with financial help from Paula, a monastery for men was built near the basilica of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and also houses for three communities of women. Paula became head of one of these, and after her death was succeeded by her daughter Eustochium. Jerome himself lived and worked in a large cave near the Saviour's birthplace. He opened a free school there and also a hospice for pilgrims, "so that," as Paula said, "should Mary and Joseph visit Bethlehem again, they would have a place to stay." Now at last Jerome began to enjoy some years of peaceful activity. He gives us a wonderful description of this fruitful, harmonious, Palestinian life, and its attraction for all manner of men. "Illustrious Gauls congregate here, and no sooner has the Briton, so remote from our world, arrived at religion than he leaves his early-setting sun to seek a land which he knows only by reputation and from the Scriptures. Then the Armenians, the Persians, the peoples of India and Ethiopia, of Egypt, and of Pontus, Cappadocia, Syria, and Mesopotamia!... They come in throngs and set us examples of every virtue. The languages differ but the religion is the same; as many different choirs chant the psalms as there are nations.... Here bread and herbs, planted with our own hands, and milk, all country fare, furnish us plain and healthy food. In summer the trees give us shade. In autumn the air is cool and the falling leaves restful. In spring our psalmody is sweeter for the singing of the birds. We have plenty of wood when winter snow and cold are upon us. Let Rome keep its crowds, let its arenas run with blood, its circuses go mad, its theaters wallow in sensuality...."

But when the Christian faith was threatened Jerome could not be silent. While at Rome in the time of Pope Damasus, he had composed a book on the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary against one Helvidius, who had maintained that Mary had not remained always a virgin but had had other children by St. Joseph, after the birth of Christ. This and similar ideas were now again put forward by a certain Jovinian, who had been a monk. Paula's son-in-law, Pammachius, sent some of this heretical writing to Jerome, and he, in 393, wrote two books against Jovinian. In the first he described the excellence of virginity. The books were written in Jerome's vehement style and there were expressions in them which seemed lacking in respect for honorable matrimony. Pammachius informed Jerome of the offense which he and many others at Rome had taken at them. Thereupon Jerome composed his , sometimes called his third book against Jovinian, in which he showed by quoting from his own earlier works that he regarded marriage as a good and honorable state and did not condemn even a second or a third marriage.

A few years later he turned his attention to one Vigilantius, a Gallic priest, who was denouncing both celibacy and the veneration of saints' relics, calling those who revered them idolaters and worshipers of ashes. In defending celibacy Jerome said that a monk should purchase security by flying from temptations and dangers when he distrusted his own strength. As to the veneration of relics, he declared: "We do not worship the relics of the martyrs, but honor them in our worship of Him whose martyrs they are. We honor the servants in order that the respect paid to them may be reflected back to the Lord." Honoring them, he said, was not idolatry because no Christian had ever adored the martyrs as gods; on the other hand, they pray for us. "If the Apostles and martyrs, while still living on earth, could pray for other men, how much more may they do it after their victories? Have they less power now that they are with Jesus Christ?" He told Paula, after the death of her daughter Blesilla, "She now prays to the Lord for you, and obtains for me the pardon of my sins." Jerome was never moderate whether in virtue or against evil. Though swift to anger, he was also swift to feel remorse and was even more severe on his own failings than on those of others.

From 395 to 400 Jerome was engaged in a war against Origenism2, which unhappily created a breach in his long friendship with Rufinus. Finding that some Eastern monks had been led into error by the authority of Rufinus' name and learning, Jerome attacked him. Rufinus, then living in a monastery at Jerusalem, had translated many of Origen's works into Latin and was an enthusiastic upholder of his scholarship, though it does not appear that he meant to defend the heresies in Origen's writings. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the churchmen greatly distressed by the quarrel between Jerome and Rufinus, and became unwillingly involved in a controversy with Jerome.

Jerome's passionate controversies were the least important part of his activities. What has made his name so famous was his critical labor on the text of the Scriptures. The Church regards him as the greatest of all the doctors in clarifying the Divine Word. He had the best available aids for such an undertaking, living where the remains of Biblical places, names, and customs all combined to give him a more vivid view than he could have had at a greater distance. To continue his study of Hebrew he hired a famous Jewish scholar, Bar Ananias, who came to teach him by night, lest other Jews should learn of it. As a man of prayer and purity of heart whose life had been mainly spent in study, penance, and contemplation, Jerome was prepared to be a sensitive interpreter of spiritual things.

We have seen that already while at Rome he had made a revision of the current Latin New Testament, and of the Psalms. Now he undertook to translate most of the books of the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew. The friends and scholars who urged him to this task realized the superiority of a version made directly from the original to any second-hand version, however venerable. It was needed too for argument with the Jews, who recognized no other text as authentic but their own. He began with the Books of Kings, and went on with the rest at different times. When he found that the Book of Tobias and part of Daniel had been composed in Chaldaic, he set himself to learn that difficult language also. More than once he was tempted to give up the whole wearisome task, but a certain scholarly tenacity of purpose kept him at it. The only parts of the Latin Bible, now known as the Vulgate, which were not either translated or worked over by him are the Books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and the two Books of the Maccabees.3 He revised the Psalms once again, with the aid of Origen's ,4 and the Hebrew text. This last is the version included now in the

Vulgate and used generally in the Divine Office; his first revision, known as the Roman Psalter, is still used for the opening psalm at Matins and throughout the Missal, and for the Divine Office in the cathedrals of St. Peter at Rome and St. Mark at Venice, and in the Milanese rite.

In the sixteenth century the great Council of Trent pronounced Jerome's Vulgate the authentic and authoritative Latin text of the Catholic Church, without, however, thereby implying a preference for it above the original text or above versions in other languages. In 1907 Pope Pius X entrusted to the Benedictine Order the office of restoring as far as possible the correct text of St. Jerome's Vulgate, which during fifteen centuries of use had naturally become altered in many places. The Bible now ordinarily used by English-speaking Catholics is a translation of the Vulgate, made at Rheims and Douay towards the end of the sixteenth century, and revised by Bishop Challoner in the eighteenth. The Confraternity Edition of the New Testament appearing in 1950 represents a complete revision.

A heavy blow came to Jerome in 404 when his staunch friend, the saintly Paula, died. Six years later he was stunned by news of the sacking of Rome by Alaric the Goth. Of the refugees who fled from Rome to the East at this time he wrote: "Who would have believed that the daughters of that mighty city would one day be wandering as servants and slaves on the shores of Egypt and Africa, or that Bethlehem would daily receive noble Romans, distinguished ladies, brought up in wealth and now reduced to beggary? I cannot help them all, but I grieve and weep with them, and am completely absorbed in the duties which charity imposes on me. I have put aside my commentary on Ezekiel and almost all study. For today we must translate the precepts of the Scriptures into deeds; instead of speaking saintly words, we must act them." A few years later his work was again interrupted by raids of barbarians pushing north through Egypt into Palestine, and later still by a violent onset of Pelagian heretics, who, relying on the protection of Bishop John of Jerusalem, sent a troop of ruffians to Bethlehem to disperse the monks and nuns living there under the direction of Jerome, who had been opposing Pelagianism5 with his customary truculence. Some of the monks were beaten, a deacon was killed, and monasteries were set on fire. Jerome had to go into hiding for a time.

The following year Paula's daughter Eustochium died. The aged Jerome soon fell ill, and after lingering for two years succumbed. Worn with penance and excessive labor, his sight and voice almost gone, his body like a shadow, he died peacefully on September 30, 420, and was buried under the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. In the thirteenth century his body was translated and now lies somewhere in the Sistine Chapel of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome. The Church owes much to St. Jerome. While his great work was the Vulgate, his achievements in other fields are valuable; to him we owe the distinction between canonical and apocryphal writings; he was a pioneer in the field of Biblical archeology, his commentaries are important; his letters, published in three volumes, are one of our best sources of knowledge of the times.

St. Jerome has been a popular subject with artists, who have pictured him in the desert, as a scholar in his study, and sometimes in the robes of a cardinal, because of his services for Pope Damasus; often too he is shown with a lion, from whose paw, according to legend, he once drew a thorn. Actually this story was transferred to him from the tradition of St. Gerasimus, but a lion is not an inappropriate symbol for so fearless a champion of the faith.

Letter CVII

TO LAETA6

, so that you may not despair of your father's salvation. I hope that the same faith which has gained you a daughter as its reward may also win your father, and that you may rejoice over blessings bestowed upon your whole household, knowing God's promise: "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." It is never too late to be converted. The robber passed from the cross to Paradise....

.... Even in Rome now heathenism languishes in solitude. Those who were once the gods of the Gentiles are left beneath their deserted pinnacles to the company of owls and night-birds. The army standards bear the emblem of the cross. The purple robes of kings and the jewels that sparkle on their diadems are adorned with the gibbet sign that has brought to us salvation. Today even the Egyptian Serapis has become a Christian. Marnas7 mourns in his prison at Gaza, and fears continually that his temple will be overthrown. From India, from Persia and from Ethiopia we welcome crowds of monks every hour. The Armenians have laid aside their quivers, the Huns are learning the psalter, the frosts of Scythia are warmed by the fire of faith. The ruddy flaxen-haired Getae carry tent-churches about with their armies; and perhaps the reason why they fight with us on equal terms is that they believe in the same religion.

Letter XXII

TO EUSTOCHIUM

. . . Avoid with special care the traps set for you by a desire for vainglory. Jesus says: 'How can ye believe, who receive glory one from another?'8.... When you are giving alms, let God alone see you. When you are fasting keep a cheerful face. Let your dress be neither elegant nor slovenly, nor conspicuous by any strangeness that might attract the notice of passersby and make people point their fingers at you.... Do not try to seem very devout or more humble than necessary. It is possible to seek glory by despising it. . . . When you come into a gathering of brethren and sisters, do not sit in too lowly a place or pretend that you are unworthy of a footstool.... If any of your handmaids have taken the vow9 with you, do not lift yourself up against them or pride yourself on being their mistress. From now on you all have one Bridegroom; you sing psalms together; together you receive the body of Christ. Why then should you sit apart at meals? . . .

Avoid too the sin of avarice. Not merely must you refuse to claim what belongs to another, for that is an offense punished by the laws of the State; you must also give up clinging to your own property, which is no longer yours.... But you say: "I am a delicate girl and I cannot work with my hands. If I live to old age and then fall sick, who will take pity on me?" Hear Jesus saying to the Apostles: "Take no thought what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on....''10 Let the words be ever on your lips: 'Naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked I shall return thither,'11 and 'We brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out."12 Yet today you see many women packing their wardrobes with dresses, changing their tunics every day, and even so unable to keep ahead of the moth. The more scrupulous wear one dress until it is threadbare, but yet have their boxes full of clothes. Their parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted for the lettering, their books are decorated with jewels, and Christ lies naked and dying at their door. When they stretch out their hands to give anything, they blow a trumpet. Only lately I saw the greatest lady in Rome- I will not tell her name, for this is not a satire-in the church of the Blessed Peter with her eunuchs in front of her, dispensing money to the poor with her own hands so as to be thought the more pious. To each one she gave a penny, and then, as you might easily know by experience would happen, an old woman full of years and rags, ran forward suddenly to get a second penny, but when her turn came, she got not a penny but a blow from the lady's fist and for her terrible crime paid with her blood! ....

The Apostle bids us pray without ceasing and to saints their very slumber is a prayer. Yet we should have fixed hours for praying, so that if we happen to be engaged in some business, the time itself will remind us of our duty. Everyone knows that the third, sixth, and ninth hours, dawn, too, and evening, are the right times. And no food should be taken until after a prayer, nor should we leave the table without rendering thanks to the Creator. Twice or three times in the night we should rise from the bed and say over passages of Scripture which we know by heart.... Speak evil of no one and slander not your mother's son. "Who art thou who judgest another's servant? To his own lord he standeth or falleth."13. . . . If you have fasted for two days, do not think yourself better than one who has not fasted. You fast and are peevish; the other eats and is pleasant. You work off your irritability and hunger by quarreling; the other eats moderately and gives thanks to God....

For our salvation the Son of God became the Son of Man.... He held the world in his little hand but he was contained in a narrow manger. I say nothing of the thirty years He lived obscure and content with his parents' poverty. He is scourged and says not a word. He is crucified and prays for his crucifiers.... But we are annoyed if our food lacks flavor and imagine we are doing God service when we drink water with our wine....

Step out, I beg you, a little from your body and picture above your eyes the reward which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man."14 What will be the splendor of that day when Mary, the Lord's mother, shall come to meet you, attended by her virgin bands. . . ? . . . Then shall the hundred and forty and four thousand hold their harps before the throne and before the elders and sing a new song. And no man will know that song but the company appointed: "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 15 Whenever the world's vain display allures you, whenever you see in the world something glorious, pass over in mind to Paradise. Begin to be now what you will be hereafter....

(St. Jerome, selected letters, translated by F. A. Wright, Loeb Classical Library.)

Endnotes:

1 This heresy was another effort to settle the persistent problem of the nature of the God-man, Christ, by regarding Him as human in body and spirit but never anything but divine in mind.

2 On Origen, see above, , D. 5.

3 These five books, together with the books of Tobias, Judith, and Sophonias, not included in the Protestant Bible, are in the Catholic Bible.

4 Hexapla, Greek for six-fold, was the name given to Origen's edition of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Greek, because it was arranged in six columns, giving six different versions of the text.

5 For an account of the Pelagian heresy, see below, , p. 106.

6 This letter, written in 403 to the Roman matron Laeta, who with her family had fled during the barbarian invasion, gave advice on her daughter's education and the winning over of her pagan father, but ends with a vivid report on the advances which Christianity was making.

7 Serapis was an Egyptian deity; Marnas was one of the chief Syrian gods.

8 John v, 44

9 Of virginity.

10 Matthew vi, 25.

11 Job i, 21.

12 I Timothy vi, 7.

13 Romans xiv, 4.

14 I Corinthians ii, 9.

15 apocalypse xiv, 4.

Saint Jerome, Confessor, Doctor of the Church. Celebration of Feast Day is September 30. Taken from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.


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Scripture Sundays-- The Barbie Bible (on note taking and Bible psychosis)

alekdrake said...
Your highlighting looks...extensive. You should write a post about that. Pretty pleez? I'm at a total loss when it comes to actually working in my bible like that.

I love answering questions like that because my inner Bible G33k gets stirred up. She isn't the first to ask me that, due to my Bible OCD (read: purchasing endless "almost perfect"Bibles and filling them up with "perfect" notes until I have the "PERFECT" Bible to carry around) I have been asked that question any number of times.
So for those of you are interested in achieving nerdiness of biblical proportions, here is a post that explains my notetaking method, which is insanely (really, INSANELY) extensive and complex.

To start with, you need a little background information. I am partial to the Revised Standard Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible. The reasons are too numerous to list here, but suffice to say that it is the one I find the most clear, concise, and accurate. As far as study bibles go, the best notes I have ever seen are the notes in the Spirit Filled Life Bible by Jack Hayford. As a protestant, it was my go-to Bible for more than 13 years, and I still think it is hands down the most Spirit-Led, fruitful, and interesting place to go for scholarly (but sensible and faithful-- yes, even though it isn't Catholic. The Holy Spirit is awesome like that!) notes. As a Catholic, there are like, four places where I take issue with the doctrinal position of the note-writers. Everything else is just.... perfect. And I wish with all my heart that I had a Bible that spoke to me (encouraged me?) the same way that my Spirit Filled Life Bible has all these years that contained ALL of the Bible (ie the Deuterocanonical books) with the same kinds of notes for those of us who are firmly planted in Catholic Orthodoxy but have experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and desire to grow in that special grace. I may have to put one together one day because, as a daily bible reader,  it truly is driving me nuts... so nuts, in fact, that this is what I'm forced to do in order to make my Catholic Bible even remotely similar to the awesomeness level of the SFL Bible-- but more awesome, because-- you know... We're Catholic.


The purpose of my notes and additions. 
Why don't I leave my bible alone? Well, first of all, because I want to make sure I understand it. I spend a significant portion of each day immersed in Scripture, I teach it to my kids, and I talk about it with my husband and family and friends. It's a huge chunk of my life, and since I order my life around it, I would say it IS my life. So if I am making notes and additions, it's only so as to help myself learn and remember those things which I have learned/heard/felt while immersed in scripture so as to be able to apply it and pass it on.

What are the additions?
In my bible you will find: (1) an apologetics cheat sheet. --- this is a feature inside the CSS Bible so I won't be needing that anymore, yay! The sheet contains a list of the most commonly raised objections to Catholic doctrine and their scriptural support locations with corresponding passages from the catechism. (2) a counseling cheat sheet-- this is also a feature inside the CSS Bible that I won't be needing to carry anymore, yay! :D This is a series of sheets that have an alphabetical listing of subjects and their corresponding locations in scripture that are common when in need of counsel or when counseling others... things like family, marriage, abortion, birth control, anger, suffering, death, financial problems, loneliness, etc. (3) a praise and worship starter sheet, which is a listing of biblical, liturgical, and other expressions of praise and worship for when I lead a prayer meeting or a praise and worship event. (4) a listing of common prayers (Scriptural and not) I use daily-- prayers for the pope, for priests and pastors, for vocations, for families, for exorcism/deliverance, for health and healing, for nations and governments, etc. (5) a series of faith-building pictures to meditate on. There are just a few of these, mostly related to the events at Fatima, the life of Christ, St Josemaria, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and a couple other saints I connect with. (6) An examination of conscience and a brief "how to" for the confessional. (7) my "war room" cheat sheet, which is a series of suggestions and reminders for when the Spiritual Battle gets heavy. (8) My coding guide (more on that later) and (9) a character qualities chart which gives you a different virtue to meditate on each day and (10) a brief guide to praying the Liturgy of the Hours from the Bible (extraordinary form) with two prayers I say before I recite the office: St Patrick's Lorica in the morning and the Evening prayer for the family. Sounds like a lot, but I just find slots for all of it, glue or tape them down, and carry a couple of extra sheets in plastic folded up in there and it does the trick without adding too much bulk..

How do I take notes?
I take notes in the margins, either making lists of things I have noticed/seen, or marking additional information relevant to the passage I have learned or heard in a homily/sermon. I also mark dates if a particular passage speaks something particular to me for a huge life lesson etc. with a keyword to remind me of what it is. I make notes of things I have looked up in a Bible commentary or dictionary about a particular verse. Most commonly, I make a note of any Strong's numbers that seem important so I can have the greek or Hebrew right there with a clearer picture of the meaning of the text. I mark any passages that speak to a particularly relevant-for-me text from the Catechism with it's corresponding number in the CCC. I mark notes about how the Church Fathers might have interpreted a specific verse or chapter. And I mark notes that directly relate either to the Ascent of Mount Carmel and St John of the Cross' spirituality, or St Josemaria Escriva's spirituality. I write very small and in sharp sharp sharp ballpoint pens. Below, you will find a sample section of my notes.

What do I do with my notes?
I compile them into notes for Bible studies I teach or am writing, or I pull a few of them to work with and unpack in my prayer journal, where I write out my daily devotions. (I journal in a notebook about what God is saying to me through scripture each morning.) Mostly, I just use them in a Bible Study setting, when someone makes a comment or brings up a particular passage, I have all this additional information about it right at my fingertips and it's really helpful.

How do I mark the text?
I mark the text with symbols which represent keywords or themes in what I'm reading. I have a specific marking for geographical locations, personal names, people groups, dates and lifespans, and keywords. I use them consistently, so that I can make connections between passages and also more easily pull out the text's meaning. I have been doing it this way since I gave my life to Christ and began reading my Bible, even though I recently discovered this method has a name: it is called the Inductive Bible Study Method. Catholics should know that the inductive Bible Study Method is great.... but only great if you compare your discoveries and findings against the TEACHING AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH, without which your "discoveries" may very well lead you into making up your own doctrines and whatnot. My coding is separated into Key THEMES and Key WORDS. Below, you will find my personal coding sheet and also a series of downloadable PDFs of someone from Precept Ministries Canada's personal bible keyword markings, should they be of help to you.

Precept Ministries Canada's Sample Bible Keyword Markings:

SIXTH: What am I highlighting? How do I highlight?
OK, onto the highlighting. :D I like to pray scripture. But before I became very familiar with scripture, I had a hard time finding the right passages to pray. So I started marking in highlighting pen the passages relating to the different types of prayers  I was praying. Below, you will find the coding guide I use for my highlighter colors.

SCRIPTURES TO PRAY ABOUT FAMILY LIFE
SCRIPTURES TO PRAY ABOUT NATIONAL LIFE
SCRIPTURES TO PRAY ABOUT FAITH
SCRIPTURES TO PRAY ABOUT HEALING
SCRIPTURES TO PRAY ABOUT DELIVERANCE AND WARFARE
SCRIPTURES TO PRAY ABOUT PROVISION AND PROSPERITY
Then I just mark them as I come across them. When you read the Bible everyday, you find that you cover a lot of ground. And I can assure you, you never run out of things to notice/mark/be amazed at. The Bible is incredible. The end result?

What's left?
Buying a new bible, and starting over again, with a modified and perfected method. Seriously. For me, this never gets old. :) Hope this post was helpful to you. One more piece of very good advice: Try to remember what St John of the Cross said about the sacramentals we use (and I think this applies to The Bible.)

"St. John of the Cross points out that sacred objects (sacramentals such as statues, religious articles, spiritual rehcs, crucifixes, rosaries, holy water), and so forth, can play an important role in the spiritual life. However, some people in their prayer life become so attached to these sacred objects that they begin to lose the spiritual benefits they bring. He explains it thus. In the early stages of the spiritual life - he identifies the stages as beginners, advanced, and proficients - God does lead people to him through such sacred objects. However, as they advance in their prayer life from meditative prayer to meditative-contemplative, and finally into pure contemplative prayer, he emphasizes very strongly that they, upon seeing any of these sacred objects, should immediately raise their hearts (souls) to the hidden, incomprehensible God in Heaven Who resides within our own very souls. For He is closer to us than we are to ourselves, but still remains always a hidden God for Whom we should continually search for in our soul. A God Whom we must constantly search out through our prayer life, and through the carrying of our crosses in imitation of Jesus Christ our Saviour. He points out very clearly that when persons sincerely strive for spiritual development and a greater love for God, for holiness, they should avoid the habits of preferring this crucifix to that one because of the quality of wood or metal; or to accumulate rosaries of various types, preferring one to the other because of its colour, metal, size, form and so forth. They begin to accumulate all kinds of statues one after another. In contrast St.John of the Cross affirms that one of the most devout persons he knew had made for himself a rosary of fish bones. Another carried all of his life a simple crucifix made of a palm fastened with a pin.
In following these practices of a habitual attachment to sacred objects considered by them to be more valuable they cease to derive as much spiritual benefit from these sacred objects, than if they had fewer of them. He recommends that they should instead discipline themselves to prayerfully raise their hearts from these sacred objects to the hidden, incomprehensible God. For he cautions, that as such persons excessively attach themselves to sacred objects they are in actuality detaching themselves from a more true, pure love of the hidden God in their hearts and in heaven. He emphasizes, however, lest there be a misinterpretation of what he is advising, that sacred objects are always an aid to raising one's heart closer to God; providing that at a certain stage in one's prayer life, upon seeing these sacred objects, they immediately make a very determined effort to raise their hearts to the ineffable, incomprehensible God."

(From The Book: "SPIRITUAL DIRECTION & SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS")