Treasures

Mom has been cleaning and organizing for the past few months in anticipation of a move, in case it becomes necessary.  In one of the storage areas, she came across “The Family Rosary Edition of the Holy Bible”.  It had a copyright date of 1950, 1952, 1953, and 1954.  Ours was the 1954 edition.  Mom told me that Dad bought it and several other prayer books as a set from a door to door salesman shortly after the loss of my sister at birth.  She asked me if I would like to have it, and of course I said yes.  It is the first bible I ever read!   I have been carrying it around in my car for a couple of weeks, hoping to find someone who can repair the tattered cover.  I brought it up to my apartment tonight to get it out of the weather and to do some old-fashioned (not electronic) Scripture reading and hopefully get some inspiration for a blog entry tonight. 

I didn’t get much Scripture reading in, because there was a lot of family history and important Sacramental milestones recorded within the pages of the book that caught my attention; a family tree, dates of baptisms, first Holy Communions, Confirmations, Confessions, deaths, and so on.  But that wasn’t the only treasure I found in the family bible. 

The book is filled with pictures of artwork that is found in the Vatican.  There were some familiar famous paintings, but most I have never seen (or should I say remembered?) before.  More treasures.

Also within the pages was an old, worn list titled, “Biblical Passages for Daily Living”.   It was written in script font on a typewriter (which goes to show how old the list is).   I remember hunting for this list a few years back, thinking it was in my own family Bible.  Here is the list:

Thanks, Mom, I really appreciate the gift.  I hope to pass it on to my kids and their kids.  I will get it mended, first.  What a treasure!