Bible Reading & Study
Blog posts in the “Bible Reading and Study” category tend to be practical: most concern HOW and WHY to read and study the Bible, but they also offer Bible readings plans and consider things like how to read a particular book or genre of Scripture. (For more specifics, see the Resources tab of this site.) These posts take to heart the words of St. Gregory the Great: “Study [Scripture], I beg you, and meditate daily on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God.” Take a look through the posts pictured below, or start with one of these:
- God’s Word is Forever! 12 Reasons that Matters
- Build a Bible Reading Habit: Three “Ps” to Get You Started
- Choose from 3 Bible Reading Plans for Lent
- The ABCs of Reading St. Paul
I grew up in a Bible-believing, Bible-reading, Bible-loving Protestant family. You could say that the Bible was our Sacrament: it was the place where we met God. At least, it was the place where my parents met God, and the place from which they dispensed wisdom and taught us right from wrong. I wasn’t much interested in it myself, beyond ...
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All over the world this week, Scripture is being specially celebrated by Catholics in the first-ever “Sunday of the Word of God.” Parishes will mark the day in various ways. Many will enthrone the Bible in their churches. They will honor and pray for people who teach and translate and study and proclaim God’s word. And they will look for ...
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Starting January 12, the Sunday Gospel readings in 2020 come for the most part from the gospel of Matthew. While all the gospels cover similar ground, Matthew’s gospel stands at the door to the New Testament as a bridge from the Old, showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of not only the hopes of the Jews, but of all salvation ...
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I’m holding in my hands a brand-new Bible, one I have been waiting for for 20 years: the hot-off-the-press English Standard Version – Catholic Edition (ESV-CE). It was a Christmas gift from my son Clay, who works and studies at the Augustine Institute, which published it last month as The Augustine Bible. Isn’t it beautiful? I love the cover, which ...
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How would your life be different if you read the Bible every day — or if you turned to it as often as you do your smartphone? Pope Francis asked that question and had this to say: “If we had the Word of God always in the heart, no temptation would be able to estrange us from God and no ...
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I wouldn’t call St. Paul the master of the tweet. It would take three full tweets, in fact, to cover 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 — and that’s one of his shorter quotables. But it’s definitely worth sending out to your friends, if only they’ll pause long enough to take it in: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus ...
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I wasn’t thinking of Lent when I scheduled our annual baking day in the old wood-fired oven. The home we meet in was originally a boarding school, built in 1830 just as the side-flue oven was invented. The 7’ deep, brick-lined oven heated by a fire in an adjoining chamber provided ample room to bake the bread needed to feed ...
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I just spent the most boring hour of my life at Jiffy Lube, waiting for an oil change and car inspection. There were no magazines or pictures to look at, so I was stuck with my own thoughts. All around me, people were absorbed in their phones. Not even the three-year-old twins beside me offered a diversion, as they had ...
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“Put your hand in the hand of the man who stills the waters . . .” It’s been decades since I heard that song by Ocean, but the snatch I caught took me right back to seventh grade. I was riding the after-school bus, sitting not with the cool kids in the back; not with the nerds and little ones ...
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