I have done this a few times in the past, read the entire bible in one year, but this year I am going to follow Fr. Mike Schmitz listen to the entire bible in one year podcasts. It is free, so join me if you like.
You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog.
I will be adding religious art and some commentaries from my home library to accompany the readings and at the end, A Daily Defense from Jimmy Akin to strengthen our apologetics.
Bible study is a necessary part of our Catholic journey. I will say quite frankly I do not understand everything I read, but with the help of the Holy Spirit at times He peels back a few more layers of the mystery. God bless you and much peace.
(St Augustine: Confessions 1:1:1)
Bible in One Year Readings Index
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.
And kindle in them the fire of your love.
Creation of Adam (Michelangelo)
Day 1 In the Beginning
God Dividing Land and Water (Michelangelo)
A Covenant with the Universe
Understanding the Scriptures - The Didache Series
God creates by the power of his Word. Ex nihilo, out of nothing he simply speaks the world into being. When we read the New Testament we will see that this same Word of God becomes flesh and dwells among us. Bringing to light that saying, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament Revealed or the Old Testament lies hidden in the New and the New Testament reveals what was hidden in the Old.
But back to creation. The first three days are the creation of the environments in which God's creatures will live. In those first three days, God creates day and night or time, sky and sea or space, and land and vegetation or life.
Separating Light from Darkness (Michelangelo)
Over the course of the next three days we are told of the creation of the rulers of time, space and life. On day 4 the sun and moon are created to rule over time. Day 5 brings the birds and fish to rule over space. Day 6 humans and animals to rule over life. On the day 7 God's rests.
The Hebrew word that means "to swear a covenant" is based on the Hebrew word for seven. Someone who said "I swear a covenant" in Hebrew was literally saying "I seven myself." So in creating the world in seven days. God is swearing a covenant with the universe. "So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation." God invited us into this rest, because that rest represents a covenant relationship that God established with his creation.
Creation of Eve (Michelangelo)
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A Daily Defense
Day One: Spiritual or Religious?
CHALLENGE: ”I consider myself spiritual rather than religious. Why isn’t that enough?”
DEFENSE: Because God loves you and wants even better things for you. When people say they are spiritual rather than religious, they frequently mean that, although they don’t practice a specific religion, they recognize there is more to the world than matter; that it has a spiritual dimension. This is good! But it doesn’t go very far. Wouldn’t it be nice to know more about the world’s spiritual dimension? In every field, having more knowledge is better, and it makes sense to ask if we can learn more about the world’s spiritual dimension.
From a Christian perspective, we can learn more. God loves us and wants us to know him—not just have feelings or guesses. When he created the universe, God left evidence allowing us to learn certain things about him: “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal
power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." (Romans 1:20)
power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." (Romans 1:20)
He also left evidence in the human heart: "With man's openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material, can have its origin only in God." (CCC 33)
Further, God has entered history, communicating with us through his prophets and, most importantly, through his Son, Jesus. Apologetics examines and presents the evidence showing God has communicated with us, and its ultimate purpose is to help us discover God and the joy and happiness he wants us to have. "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will man find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for." (CCC 27).
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