...is ignorance of Christ."
-St. Jerome
How many times have we all heard this quote? And how many times have we, after hearing it, resolved to correct this ignorance and start reading the Bible every day? AND, how many times have we faithfully followed our unrealistic plans of reading so many chapters of the Old and New Testament daily for the first week, then slowly dropped off as we lost time and make-up readings began to overwhelm us?
This is something I have tried and failed at repeatedly. I've told you all in a previous post about how I tend to create huge goals while in an inspired moment, only to realize later how challenging my resolutions truly are as I sadly stop trying to meet them.
Well, right now I'm going through a wonderful phase spiritually. I can feel the Lord really encouraging me to grow closer to Him. And, as I strive to become more united with Him, I keep running into this barrier. Hundreds of years after this scholarly Saint translated Christ's words, his quote has been on the front of my mind. So, finally, I'm going to listen. This time I'm really going to do it. I'm going to read the whole Bible this year. Starting today.
I went online and found a great website with all sorts of suggestions for Bible reading in the light of the Church. After reading the various forms of studying the Bible, I settled upon the Daily Scripture and Catechism Devotional. Not only will I grow in knowledge of Christ through this daily plan, but also in knowledge of His Church! Since this plan has one read about one chapter from the first half of the OT, the second half of the OT, the NT, then the Catechism, I'm hoping the variety of the different sections will help me through the difficult ones.
I would love to hear from you! What tricks help you read Christ's Word? Is there a method or technique you have used that has succeeded, or failed?
May God bless you today!
I've felt this nudging as well! Lately, I've noticed that God speaks to me profoundly through scripture -- meaning I always find exactly what I need to hear in Scripture (which is the point). Anyway, I'm trying to start a daily plan of reading Lectio Divino. Basically, I don't want to concentrate on quantity, but take passages and then just go through and meditate/think about them, and possibly journal as well. I don't really have any ideas of where I'm going to start though, or how much I'll do; but I'll probably go through various books one at a time in the Old and New Testaments. I think I'll start with Colassians, then maybe Ruth or another OT book. :)
ReplyDelete--Liz B
Yes, it is good that God is hinting at us to start this for His Word truly is filled with so much helpful wisdom! That's a very good idea as well; our deacon spoke of that plan during Lent, though I failed to execute it... May God bless your reading and reflection, and hold you to your goals! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou go girl! I would not recommend my lame approach. I know that I needed some immediate success to stay motivated, so I read all of the shortest books of the bible first. I'm also a "checklist" person, so I got the great pleasure of checking each book off of the list each time I'd finish one. I'm currently stalled out in 1 Kings. I'm not a big history buff - too much fighting and ruling going on! I hope you have greater success!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) That makes sense; I'm a checklist person too. Keep at it! God Bless!
ReplyDeleteNot to be a creepy stalker or anything - I found your blog a couple weeks ago when Google searching for something about Marian devotion - but I just saw this post and wanted to give you an internet high five for finding a good reading plan.
ReplyDeleteAs this is a subject close to my heart, I can't help but pipe up and share a personal lectionary that you might find handy in part: http://leorningcniht.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/brench-lectionary/
Blessings to ya!
Hello leorningcniht!
ReplyDeleteVisitors are always welcome! :)
Thank you, internet high-five back! I was very excited to find something I could actually follow, of course, to be honest I have fallen a bit behind. But the little pledge in the corner that you sign saying "... even if I fall behind I will not give up!" is keeping me from giving up, and I still plan to finish it in a year!
Thank you for the link, I left a comment about it on your blog.
God Bless!