BIBLE IN A YEAR
Many Catholics are not aware of the many references to the Bible that occur in our everyday practice of our faith and the importance of understanding these Scripture passages which serve as a “lam to [our] feet and a light to [our] path.” (cf. Isa 50:4). Holy Mother Church most strongly encourages us to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,’ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. It takes somewhere between 54 and 72 hours to read the entire Bible. If we read just under 15 minutes a day we can read the entire Bible in less than a year. Our pastor, Fr. Koo, challenges all of us to read the entire Bible; here are some simple steps to help you grow your faith:
- Download the “The Bible in a Year” reading plan below. This is the same used by Father Mike Schmitz at Ascension Press’ very popular “The Bible in a Year” podcast.
- Ensure you have a Catholic Bible. Our Bible has 73 books which include Tobit, Judith, I & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach (Wisdom of Ben Sira), and Baruch. Fr. Schmitz uses the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) for his podcast and is the most literal of the Catholic translations. Our readings for the Mass use the New American Bible (NAB). Bibles with only 66 books are typically used for Protestant worship, can have different translations which provide different theological meaning, and are not recommended.
- Start reading, or follow Fr. Schmitz’ “The Bible in a Year” podcast by going to our LINKS section in this website and clicking on Fr. Mike’s page. You can start on Day 1 by typing “Genesis 1-2” in the search box on Fr. Schmitz’ site.