User Guide

Our Faith Explained is an online library you can read from any device. It holds the whole Bible with commentary beside the text, together with books on apologetics, prophecy, the parables and miracles, and a saint, a prayer and a proverb for every day of the year.

What you can read without an account

Reading is free and open to everyone. You do not need an account, and you do not need to donate, to open any book on the shelves and read it from beginning to end, with Scripture, commentary and cross-references included.

A donation of $24 or more adds the personal tools: private notes, bookmarks and your own My Notes book. Section 4 explains how that works and what it gives you. Anything needing it is marked, so you always know which is which.

1. The site badge. Press it from anywhere to return to the homepage.
2. The main menu: Home, About Us, Prayers, Contact Us and this User Guide. It also has My Books, for My Notes and In Memory Of (section 11).
3. Register. This begins a donation, which is also how an account is made.
4. Site search. Finds a book from anywhere on the site. See section 3.
5. Today's readings: Saint, Proverb and Prayer of the Day, with Read More to open the full entry.
6. The shelves. Every spine is a book. Press one to take it down.

Everything on the site is a book, and every book behaves the same way. Once you can read one, you can read all of them.

• The Bible. The Old and New Testaments, verse by verse, with commentary and cross-references.
• Apologetics. Explanations of what the Church teaches and why.
• Prophecy. Prophecies together with the passages that fulfil them.
• Parables and Miracles. Each one with its Scripture reference.
• Saint of the Day, Prayer of the Day and Proverb of the Day. A new entry for each day of the year.
• My Notes. Your own notes gathered into a book of their own. It appears once you have member access.
• In Memory Of. Books of remembrance, written together with family and friends. They are on the My Books shelf in the main menu.

The three daily books also appear on the homepage, so today’s saint, prayer and proverb are visible the moment you arrive.

1. Saint of the Day.
2. Proverb of the Day, with Read More to open the full entry.
3. Prayer of the Day.

Every page carries a search box in the top bar. It looks across the whole library, so you do not have to know which shelf a book is on before you can reach it.

1. Press the magnifier at the top right of any page.
2. Start typing. Results appear as you type, each with its book cover.
3. Press a result to open that book.

This box searches the LIBRARY, meaning the books on the shelves. Once you are inside a book the reader has its own search, for finding a chapter, a verse or a date. Both are described later.

Site search is open to everyone and needs no account.

It is worth understanding this early, because a few of the tools described later depend on it. The library is paid for by donations, and a donation of $24 or more also opens a set of personal tools.

How it works

1. 1You donatePress Register or Donate and give $24 or more.
2. 2You get an accountYou are offered one at the end of the form. Accept it and set a password. You are signed in straight away and taken to the Home page. This is your member access, and it lasts a year.
3. 3Your tools appearNotes, bookmarks, My Notes and the commentary controls become available while you are signed in.

What needs access, and what does not

Most of the site is open to anyone. Only the personal tools, the ones that save something of yours, need an account.

Reading is never taken away. If your access ends you keep every book, all the commentary and all the cross-references. Only the personal tools pause, and nothing you saved is deleted.

In Memory Of: contributions of $35

Creating In Memory Of books (section 11) needs member access plus contributions of $35 or more within your year of access. Contributions add up, so if you have given $24 you can give another $11 to reach $35. Taking part in someone else's memory book needs no membership at all.

When access is running out

Access lasts a year. For the last 15 days a bar appears at the top of every page telling you how long is left, with a link to renew. Reminder emails are sent at 15 days and at 7 days.

After it ends

• You keep everything for a further 15 days, called the grace period. Nothing changes during it.
• After that the personal tools close. You cannot write new notes or save new bookmarks.
• Nothing is deleted. Your notes and bookmarks are kept and return the moment you renew.

Renewing

Use the Renew link in the bar, or donate again from your profile. Access is restored straight away.

Opening your first book

1. On the homepage, look at the shelves on the right.
2. Point at a spine to see its title.
3. Click it. The book comes off the shelf and opens.
4. Turn pages with the arrows at the top of each page, with the left and right arrow keys, or by dragging a page corner.

Old Testament and New Testament are not books. They are doorways. Opening either takes you to a further shelf holding the books inside it.

On a phone

The site works the same way on a phone, with one page shown at a time instead of two. Swipe to turn.

A Bible book opens at its first chapter. The chapter summary comes first, then the text itself, verse by verse, with the commentary for each verse directly beneath it.

1. The running head, showing the book and chapter you are reading.
2. Add Note writes a private note on a verse. Members only.
3. Bookmark saves your place in this book. Members only.
4. Cross-reference shows other passages that speak to this verse.
5. Commentary hides or shows the commentary for a verse.
6. Your bookmark ribbon. Click it to return to your saved place.

Commentary

Under most verses you will find a short commentary. Anyone can read it. Signed in with member access you also get the controls that hide and show it: a switch on each verse, and a second switch above the book that clears them all at once.

Members only The commentary itself is open to everyone. The hide and show controls come with member access.

Hiding commentary changes nothing permanently and affects only what you see. The Scripture itself is never hidden.

Turning pages

• The arrows at the top outer corner of each page.
• The left and right arrow keys.
• Dragging a page by its corner.
• On a phone, a swipe.

Leaving a book

The Return Book button at the top puts the book back on its shelf and returns you to where you came from.

1. Search inside this book.
2. Return Book, which closes it and takes you back.

These are the controls you will meet while reading. Each one is shown here exactly as it appears on the page.

Add Note

Top of a page, beside the chapter title.

Opens a panel where you pick a verse and write your note.

When something strikes you and you want to keep the thought.

View Notes

Against a verse you have written on, at the end of the line.

Marks a verse that carries your note. Pressing it opens My Notes in a window of its own, at that note, and the book you are reading stays where it is.

When you are reading and want the note you left here.

Edit Note

Beside each entry in your My Notes book.

Reopens the note so you can change the wording and save it.

When the wording no longer says what you meant.

Delete Note

Beside Edit in My Notes. It asks before anything is removed.

Removes the note. The confirmation step is shown here.

When a note has served its purpose.

Add Bookmark

Next to Add Note, at the top of the page.

Saves your place. Each book keeps one bookmark.

When you stop reading and want to return to the same page.

View Bookmark

The ribbon hanging from a book you have marked.

Takes you straight back to the place you saved.

When you open a book again and want to carry on where you stopped.

Cross-reference

At the end of a verse, wherever related passages exist.

Opens the other passages that speak to this verse.

When you want to see what else Scripture says about it.

Commentary switch

Beside the word COMMENTARY under a verse.

Hides or shows the commentary for that one verse.

When you would rather read a passage on its own.

Search

The round button above the open book.

Goes to one place: a chapter and verse, or a date.

When you already know where you want to be.

Filter

The second tab of the search panel in the daily books.

Narrows the book to matching entries. Remove Filter restores the rest.

When you want everything about one saint or one author.

Back

Top corner of any panel.

Closes the panel and returns you to the page.

Any time you want to get back to reading.

Search and Filter are different controls and it is worth knowing which you want. Search takes you to one place. Filter changes what the whole book contains until you clear it.

Members only Notes need member access, which is section 4 above.

A note is a private thought you attach to a particular verse. Only you can see your notes.

Writing a note

1. Open the chapter you want.
2. Click Add Note at the top of the page.
3. Choose the verse, write what you want to keep, and save.

Reading, changing and deleting

• View Notes lists everything you have written in the book you are in.
• Opening a note lets you change the words and save again.
• The same panel deletes a note when you no longer want it.

Notes belong to verses, not to pages. If you come back to the same verse later, your note is still there beside it.

Members only Bookmarks need member access, which is section 4 above.

A bookmark is not a note

They are easy to confuse, so it is worth being plain about it:

• A note is something you wrote. It stays with its verse, and you can have as many as you like.
• A bookmark is a place. It remembers where you stopped reading, and there is one for each book.

Saving your place

1. Click the Bookmark control at the top of the page.
2. Choose the chapter and verse you want remembered, and save.

Going back to it

A book with a saved place shows a small ribbon hanging from the top of it. Click the ribbon and the book turns to your place.

Across different books

• Each book keeps its own bookmark. One saved in Genesis has nothing to do with one saved in Matthew.
• Saving a new place in a book replaces the old one for that book only.
• Removing a bookmark leaves every other book untouched.

Members only My Notes needs member access, which is section 4 above.

My Notes is a book made out of your own notes. Every note you have written anywhere in Scripture is gathered here, in order, with the verse it belongs to printed above it, so you can read back over your own thinking as though it were a book of its own.

Getting back to the Scripture

My Notes always shows you where a note came from, so you can return to the passage itself and read it in context.

When you press the note icon beside a verse, or Edit in the notes panel of a Bible book, My Notes opens in a window of its own. The book you were reading stays open where you left it. Pressing a note icon again uses that same My Notes window rather than opening another one.

The My Notes book stands as the last book on the first shelf: on the homepage, on every category shelf, and on the My Books shelf. On the homepage and category shelves only an account with a membership of its own sees it; on My Books everyone does, and without a membership it opens a page that explains My Notes.

My Notes fills itself. There is nothing to set up. Write a note anywhere in the Bible and it appears here.

In Memory Of is a place to remember someone who has died. You create a memory book for them, invite family and friends to add their own memories, and share the finished book with anyone you choose. Each memory is a page of the book, headed with the date it belongs to and the name of the person it comes from.

Creating a memory book needs the In Memory Of level: member access plus contributions of $35 or more within your year of access. Contributions add up, so after a $24 donation another $11 is enough. Section 4 explains both. Taking part in someone else's book needs neither. Section 12 covers that side.

Finding In Memory Of

• My Books in the main menu, shown to everyone. It opens the My Books shelf, where My Notes and every memory book you own or take part in stand. While you cannot create memory books and have none of your own, the shelf also holds a book that explains In Memory Of.
• Your profile. Members find In Memory Of under Your Access. Books other people have shared with you are listed under Shared Access, each with a View Memory button.
• Your email. Invitations and sharing emails have a button that takes you straight to the book.

• Create Memory starts a new memory book.
• A book that someone else owns and has invited you to is marked Shared.
• Members also find their My Notes book here, as the last book on the first shelf.

Creating a memory book

1. Open My Books and press Create Memory.
2. Under Memory Title, enter the full name of the person you are remembering. It becomes the title of the book.
3. Enter the Date of Birth and the Date of Passing. Neither can be in the future, and the date of passing cannot come before the date of birth.
4. If you like, add a cover picture under Cover Upload (JPEG, PNG or WEBP). Image Editor lets you position it.
5. If you like, press Add Participants and enter a name and an email address for each person you want to invite, one row per person. The page shows how many people you can invite. Press Save Participants to keep the list. They do not need an account.
6. Press Create Memory. The book is made, every participant is emailed an invitation, and you are taken back to the shelf.

The two dates cannot be changed once the book is made, so check them before you press Create Memory. The title on the cover can be changed later.

The cover, the title and the summary

Open your book from the shelf. While it is still closed, the tool above it, Change Cover / Title, opens Change Cover & Title. There you can change the Book Title, write a short Summary of up to 700 characters for the first page, and upload or replace the cover picture. Press the save button to keep your changes.

When the book is closed on its back cover, Change Back Cover lets you put a picture on the back in the same way. The first page of the book shows the title, the date of birth, the date of passing, and the summary if you wrote one.

The tools above the book

• Search opens Find a Memory. Choose a person and press Go to Memory, or jump to the first or last page.
• + opens Add Entry, for adding a memory.
• Share opens Share This Book. Owner only.
• Participants lists the people invited to the book. Owner only.
• Pending memories shows the memories waiting for your approval, with a count. Owner only.
• Return Book puts the book back on its shelf.

Adding a memory

1. Press + to open Add Entry.
2. Under Whose memory is this?, choose the person. As the owner you can add a memory for anyone invited to the book. Search by name or email.
3. Choose the Date the memory belongs to. It cannot be in the future.
4. Write the memory under Entry Content. Select some text and press B or I for bold or italic.
5. If you wish, add one picture with Upload Image (JPEG, PNG or WEBP) and one video with Upload Video (MP4, MOV or WEBM). Add Title and Description gives each one a caption.
6. Press the save button. A memory you add as the owner appears in the book straight away.

If the date you choose already has a memory, the panel says so. Several memories can share a date, so this does not stop you. As the owner you can press Open Existing Entry to look at the one already there.

Each person can contribute one memory to a book. If you choose someone who already has one, the panel says This participant already has a memory entry and offers View Existing Memory instead of saving.

Approving memories from participants

Memories added by participants wait for you before they appear in the book. The shelf shows how many are waiting, and so does the Pending memories tool above the book. If the site has switched owner approval off, participants' memories appear straight away instead and nothing waits here.

1. Press Pending memories to open Pending Memories. Each memory shows who wrote it, their email address and the memory's date.
2. Press View to read it in full. Edit lets you correct the text, picture or video before you decide.
3. Press Approve to publish it. The book turns to the new page.
4. Or press Reject and confirm under Reject Memory. The memory is not published.

Either way the participant is told by email. A participant whose memory was rejected can submit another.

Editing and deleting memories

As the owner you can change or remove any memory in the book. Each memory page has Edit and a delete button beside its heading.

• Edit opens Edit Entry, where you can change the text and replace the picture or the video. The date and the person cannot be changed.
• The delete button opens Delete Memory and asks Do you want to delete this memory? Press Yes to delete it, or No to keep it.

Participants

The Participants tool lists everyone invited to the book. View Participants shows each person with their status, Owner, Accepted or Pending, and how many memories they have.

• Add Participant invites more people, one row per person with a name and an email address. Each is emailed an invitation.
• Resend sends a pending invitation again with a new link. The earlier link stops working.
• Remove withdraws an invitation that has not been accepted.
• Revoke access removes someone who has accepted. They can no longer open the book, and the memories they already contributed stay in it.

Each of these asks you to confirm first, in a box titled after the action: Remove Invitation or Revoke Access. An invitation link lasts 14 days; after that, use Resend.

Sharing the book to be read

Share opens Share This Book. Anyone you share with can read the book and turn its pages. They cannot add, change or delete anything. There are two ways to share.

• Share Link. Press Get Share Link, which reads Show Link once a link exists, then Copy Link and send it however you like. It is one link for everyone who has it. Turn Off Link ends access for all of them; people invited by email keep theirs.
• Email Access. Enter a name and an email address for each person, using + Add another for more, and press send. Each person is emailed their own link. View Access lists everyone, shows whether they have opened it yet, and lets you remove anyone's access.

Someone who receives an emailed link and has an account here also finds the book on their profile, marked Read Only. See section 12.

Deleting the whole book

At the foot of the Participants panel, Delete this Memory Book removes the book, every memory in it, all participants and any share links. You are asked to confirm under Delete Memory Book, and it cannot be undone.

Reminders

On the birthday and on the anniversary of the passing, the owner of a memory book is sent a reminder email with a link back to In Memory Of.

If your own membership ends, your memory books and every memory in them are kept. Renew to open and manage them again. Nothing is deleted.

Someone may invite you to add your own memory to a book they made, or share a book with you to read. You do not need a membership of your own for either, and neither stops working if your membership ends.

Accepting an invitation

The invitation arrives by email. What you do next depends on whether you already have an account here.

An invitation link lasts 14 days. If yours has run out, ask the owner to resend it.

Adding your memory

1. Open the book from My Books, or press View Memory on your profile.
2. Press + to open Add Entry. Your own name is already chosen under Whose memory is this?.
3. Choose the date, write your memory, and add a picture or a video if you wish.
4. Press the save button. You will see Memory Submitted: your memory has gone to the owner, and it appears in the book once they approve it. If the site does not ask owners to approve memories, you see Memory Added instead and it is in the book straight away.

• One memory each. Each participant contributes one memory to a book. If you have already sent yours, pressing + shows Already Submitted.
• A date can be shared. If another memory is already on the date you chose, you see A memory already exists for this date. You can still add your own memory. Carry on and save yours.
• You are told by email when the owner approves or rejects your memory. If it is rejected, you can submit another.
• The note at the top of Add Entry says your memory will be sent to the owner for approval only when that is how the site is set up.

What participants cannot do

• Change or delete a memory once it is in the book, your own included. Pressing Edit or delete shows Already published; ask the owner if something needs changing.
• Open or edit anyone else's memory.
• Invite people, share the book, change the cover or title, approve memories or delete the book. These belong to the owner.

Reading a book shared with you

When an owner shares a book with you to read, you receive an email with a View Memory button, or the owner sends you the link themselves. The link opens the book under a banner that says You are viewing a shared book. Read only. You can turn every page, but nothing can be added or changed, and you do not need to sign in.

If the book was shared with your email address and you have an account here, you do not need to keep the email. Sign in and open your profile: the book is listed under Shared Access, marked Read Only, with a View Memory button.

If the owner turns off the link or removes your access, the link stops working.

Your membership and shared access

• Taking part in a memory book, and reading one shared with you, do not depend on a membership of your own. They keep working if you have never donated, and if your membership has ended.
• Making a memory book of your own needs member access, which is section 4.
• Your profile keeps the two apart. Your Access lists what your own membership gives you; Shared Access lists what other people have shared with you.
• The My Notes book belongs to members, so an account that only has shared access does not see it.

Three books follow the calendar: a saint, a prayer and a proverb for each day. They open at today’s entry.

Two ways to find an entry

All three books work the same way, and the search panel has two tabs. The first moves you to a date. The second narrows the book to the entries that match a name.

By date

1. Open the book and press Search.
2. Stay on the first tab, choose a date, and press the button beneath it.
3. Today returns you to today's entry at any time.

By name or author

The second tab searches the whole book instead of moving within it. In Saint of the Day it looks for a saint by name; in Proverb of the Day and Prayer of the Day the same field looks for an author. Type what you want, apply it, and only the matching entries remain.

Remove Filter brings the rest of the year back. The book turns a page into your results, so you can see it has changed.

These three books are open to everyone.

Every book can be searched from the Search control above it. What the panel offers depends on the book you are in.

In a book of the Bible

Choose a chapter and a verse and press Go. First page and Last page jump to either end of the book.

In Apologetics

In Prophecy

In the daily books

Search by date, or filter by name or author. See the previous section.

Searching and filtering are open to everyone.

Signing in gives you a profile page. It shows your details, the state of your access, and the settings you control.

Changing your details

Edit Profile opens a panel on the page where you can change your name and the rest of your details, then save.

Your password

Your password is changed from your profile. If you cannot sign in, use the forgotten-password link on the sign-in page and follow the email that arrives.

Your Access and Shared Access

Your Access lists what your own membership gives you: My Notes, the User Guide and In Memory Of. Shared Access lists the memory books other people have shared with you, each with View Memory, or Accept Invitation while an invitation is waiting. A book shared only for reading is marked Read Only. Section 12 explains these.

Notifications

You can choose whether the site emails you. It sends the daily readings, meaning the saint, the prayer and the proverb, and notices about your access when it is coming to an end.

You can turn these off at any time from your profile. Turning them off does not affect your access or your reading.

A cross-reference points from the verse you are reading to other passages that speak about the same thing: a prophecy and its fulfilment, a promise and its keeping, or an image that returns later in Scripture.

Where a verse has them, a small eye appears at the end of it.

1. Click the eye at the end of the verse.
2. The related passages open, with their text, so you do not have to look them up yourself.
3. Close the panel to return to your place.

Cross-references are part of the reading and are open to everyone. No account is needed.