A: The contents are 'not the same' not because the content is 'different', but that the content is lacking with respect to what we have always had in the Catholic Church. There are some books that the non-Catholic bibles do not include; other participants also asked regarding this in particular, so I'll just discuss it further there, in continuation of my answer here.

And so lugi lang tayo if we use the non-Catholic versions, because of the books that they leave out.

A: The protestant bibles leave out the following entire books that we have in the Old Testament: Tobit, Judith, 1-2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch. And aside from that, they also don't have some sections of the books of Daniel and Esther.

So we see that the difference is only in the Old Testament books; the list of New Testament books is the same in the Catholic and Protestant bibles.

If the only contact that we have with the Bible are the translations, it would not be so easy to see why these books (and sections) were left out in the protestant version. But seeing the texts in the original languages makes it clear: all of these texts were in Greek.

So the principal criterion for leaving out these texts is not theological but actually linguistic. Why? This is something that goes way before Martin Luther.

Even before Christianity, around the 3rd century BC onwards, the Jews already had a translation of their own scriptures into Greek, which we technically call the 'Septuagint' or 'LXX'. It was mainly for the use of the diaspora Jews who were already growing in number in Alexandria, in northern Egypt; the Alexandrian Jews were more used to Greek than Hebrew (similar to today's children of Pinoy OFWs born abroad, who are better versed in the language of the country they were born and grew in, rather than the native language of their parents), and so this translation was quite useful for them.

At the dawn of Christianity, Greek was already the 'lingua franca' of the Eastern Roman Empire (also taking into account Alexander the Great's conquest of that area before it was taken over by Rome). The early Christians made use of the LXX in spreading the Christian message (from there showing how the Scriptures find their fulfillment Christ).

The Christians began to adopt Greek; and a bit later, Latin as well. It is also of note that the entire New Testament was written in Greek. This would be for practical purposes: to spread Christ's message to as many people in the world as soon as possible, and not just to Jews in their own language; and the best way to do that was to use the most known languages in the Roman Empire, which was a huge part of the 'whole wide world' back then. And obviously the LXX (a pre-Christian Jewish document) was very useful for the early Christians.

Remember that the first Christians --including John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Jesus and the Apostles-- were all part of the Jewish people. But the Church isn't only for the Jews, but for all nations (cf. e.g., Mt 28:19-20; Jn 4:22; Acts 1:8; Rm 1:16).

From then on the Jews wanted to distinguish themselves from the Christians. One of the ways they did this was to renounce the LXX, something originally their own. They decided that the only sacred books that they will consider are those written in the language of their people (i.e. Hebrew and Aramaic). But maybe this criterion is not so 'clean cut', since Aramaic is not native to Israel but to the Arameans in the ancient region of Syria.

And it was this criterion that Martin Luther followed; no longer as a way to distinguish Jews from Christians, but to distinguish Protestants from Catholics. It just seems ironic that this criterion was anti-Christian in its origins.

And a principally linguistic criterion for determining a canon of scripture might not be so solid, because just recently in the mid-20th century, several ancient manuscripts (approx. from 1st-2nd century BC) have been discovered of Sirach/Ecclesiasticus...in Hebrew.

A: In 2010 Pope Benedict XVI published a post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation entitled "Verbum Domini", on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. The organizers already included it as auxiliary material, in case the participants can still manage to find the time to read it (as if there weren't many other things to read for this course already).

This is quite a long document, but worth reading even little by little, as in this course you grow deeper in understanding and loving God's Word: not just Scripture, but Jesus Christ himself.

Just looking at its table of contents, one could see that there are so many good things to read up on there. But just to answer your question, I think a particular subsection of Verbum Domini would be quite pertinent (among several more). This one I selected has the title "The Prayerful Reading of Sacred Scripture and 'lectio divina'." It comprises points 86-87 of the document, and let me just paste the contents here for you (but without the footnote references, though, but you can always use the link, or the epub download for the full text):

"The prayerful reading of sacred Scripture and 'lectio divina'

86. The Synod frequently insisted on the need for a prayerful approach to the sacred text as a fundamental element in the spiritual life of every believer, in the various ministries and states in life, with particular reference to lectio divina.[290] The word of God is at the basis of all authentic Christian spirituality. The Synod Fathers thus took up the words of the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum: “Let the faithful go gladly to the sacred text itself, whether in the sacred liturgy, which is full of the divine words, or in devout reading, or in such suitable exercises and various other helps which, with the approval and guidance of the pastors of the Church, are happily spreading everywhere in our day. Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred Scripture”.[291] The Council thus sought to reappropriate the great patristic tradition which had always recommended approaching the Scripture in dialogue with God. As Saint Augustine puts it: “Your prayer is the word you speak to God. When you read the Bible, God speaks to you; when you pray, you speak to God”.[292] Origen, one of the great masters of this way of reading the Bible, maintains that understanding Scripture demands, even more than study, closeness to Christ and prayer. Origen was convinced, in fact, that the best way to know God is through love, and that there can be no authentic scientia Christi apart from growth in his love. In his Letter to Gregory, the great Alexandrian theologian gave this advice: “Devote yourself to the lectio of the divine Scriptures; apply yourself to this with perseverance. Do your reading with the intent of believing in and pleasing God. If during the lectio you encounter a closed door, knock and it will be opened to you by that guardian of whom Jesus said, ‘The gatekeeper will open it for him’. By applying yourself in this way to lectio divina, search diligently and with unshakable trust in God for the meaning of the divine Scriptures, which is hidden in great fullness within. You ought not, however, to be satisfied merely with knocking and seeking: to understand the things of God, what is absolutely necessary is oratio. For this reason, the Saviour told us not only: ‘Seek and you will find’, and ‘Knock and it shall be opened to you’, but also added, ‘Ask and you shall receive’”.[293]

In this regard, however, one must avoid the risk of an individualistic approach, and remember that God’s word is given to us precisely to build communion, to unite us in the Truth along our path to God. While it is a word addressed to each of us personally, it is also a word which builds community, which builds the Church. Consequently, the sacred text must always be approached in the communion of the Church. In effect, “a communal reading of Scripture is extremely important, because the living subject in the sacred Scriptures is the People of God, it is the Church… Scripture does not belong to the past, because its subject, the People of God inspired by God himself, is always the same, and therefore the word is always alive in the living subject. As such, it is important to read and experience sacred Scripture in communion with the Church, that is, with all the great witnesses to this word, beginning with the earliest Fathers up to the saints of our own day, up to the present-day magisterium”.[294]

For this reason, the privileged place for the prayerful reading of sacred Scripture is the liturgy, and particularly the Eucharist, in which, as we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament, the word itself is present and at work in our midst. In some sense the prayerful reading of the Bible, personal and communal, must always be related to the Eucharistic celebration. Just as the adoration of the Eucharist prepares for, accompanies and follows the liturgy of the Eucharist,[295] so too prayerful reading, personal and communal, prepares for, accompanies and deepens what the Church celebrates when she proclaims the word in a liturgical setting. By so closely relating lectio and liturgy, we can better grasp the criteria which should guide this practice in the area of pastoral care and in the spiritual life of the People of God.

87. The documents produced before and during the Synod mentioned a number of methods for a faith-filled and fruitful approach to sacred Scripture. Yet the greatest attention was paid to lectio divina, which is truly “capable of opening up to the faithful the treasures of God’s word, but also of bringing about an encounter with Christ, the living word of God”.[296] I would like here to review the basic steps of this procedure. It opens with the reading (lectio) of a text, which leads to a desire to understand its true content: what does the biblical text say in itself? Without this, there is always a risk that the text will become a pretext for never moving beyond our own ideas. Next comes meditation (meditatio), which asks: what does the biblical text say to us? Here, each person, individually but also as a member of the community, must let himself or herself be moved and challenged. Following this comes prayer (oratio), which asks the question: what do we say to the Lord in response to his word? Prayer, as petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise, is the primary way by which the word transforms us. Finally, lectio divina concludes with contemplation (contemplatio), during which we take up, as a gift from God, his own way of seeing and judging reality, and ask ourselves what conversion of mind, heart and life is the Lord asking of us? In the Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul tells us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (12:2). Contemplation aims at creating within us a truly wise and discerning vision of reality, as God sees it, and at forming within us “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). The word of God appears here as a criterion for discernment: it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). We do well also to remember that the process of lectio divina is not concluded until it arrives at action (actio), which moves the believer to make his or her life a gift for others in charity.

We find the supreme synthesis and fulfilment of this process in the Mother of God. For every member of the faithful Mary is the model of docile acceptance of God’s word, for she “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51); she discovered the profound bond which unites, in God’s great plan, apparently disparate events, actions and things.[297]

I would also like to echo what the Synod proposed about the importance of the personal reading of Scripture, also as a practice allowing for the possibility, in accordance with the Church’s usual conditions, of gaining an indulgence either for oneself or for the faithful departed.[298] The practice of indulgences[299] implies the doctrine of the infinite merits of Christ – which the Church, as the minister of the redemption, dispenses and applies, but it also implies that of the communion of saints, and it teaches us that “to whatever degree we are united in Christ, we are united to one another, and the supernatural life of each one can be useful for the others”.[300] From this standpoint, the reading of the word of God sustains us on our journey of penance and conversion, enables us to deepen our sense of belonging to the Church, and helps us to grow in familiarity with God. As Saint Ambrose puts it, “When we take up the sacred Scriptures in faith and read them with the Church, we walk once more with God in the Garden”.[301]"

A: The fulness of revelation was already in Christ. We could distinguish revelation from salvation history in the sense that revelation is the cause, and salvation history is the effect. What continues up to today is how we (and peoples of all periods of time) are saved because of God's revelation, making us part share in its effects. And with respect to revelation, what continues is not revelation in itself, but its faithful transmission from the Apostles to the present day (which we call Sacred Tradition).

And as for the notion of 'private revelation', we can read from pt. 67 of the Catechism:

"67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations"."

A: Well, anyone could just feel entitled 'to say what they want' regarding Jesus and Mary, even to the tone of the proverbial "wala 'yan sa lolo ko!"

So that's why just 'saying something different' is not enough; anyone can do that. What is important is to know the arguments behind such statements, and how these arguments stand up to what the Church and many of her intellectually gifted members have reflected on regarding these topics all throughout the Church's history.

So this is an important thing to note: The things regarding Jesus and Mary are divine mysteries after all, but it doesn't mean that the human intellect could not do anything in order to appreciate these truths and mysteries of faith in a more profound way.

The first source to dialogue with is the Bible itself. And from there, they would have to dialogue with centuries, if not millennia of Catholic reflection on these truths of the faith: (just to cite a few) from ancient sources such as St. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, St. Athanasius, and St. Augustine; and moving forward to St. Thomas Aquinas, and even fast further forward to Pope Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth".

And particularly for a deeper reflection on Mary we have (just to cite a few) for example, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, St. John Paul II; and we could also add Scott Hahn's book "Hail Holy Queen".

But I guess even more importantly, the very lives of the saints --even if they hadn't written any book or treatise-- would also be a solid testimony to what it means to live according to the truths of faith regarding Jesus and Mary.

The Holy Spirit is always living and active in the Church; so when we come across 'strange' notions other people might say about Jesus and Mary, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) For those who have the capacity and possibility, then there's a whole lot to study regarding the Catholic Faith, so that such people can also put their talents to good use. That way they play their particular role in that very same mission for all of us, each according to our capabilities: "sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame." (1 Pet 3:15–16)