How to Read the Bible – A Three Step Plan (written for Catholics

How do you read the Bible? Today is the feast day of Saint Jerome, who once quipped, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” – Saint Jerome

It’s a running joke that if you want to find a Bible verse, you ought to ask a Protestant and not a Catholic. Protestants read the Bible. Catholics not so much.

This raises the question:

Why Don’t More Catholics Read the Bible?

I think the answer lies in the fact that we Catholics go to Mass. The Holy Mass has at least two Bible readings every time. If you pray the Breviary or Liturgy of Hours, multiply that several times.

Joe Catholic says to himself, “Why should I study the Bible? I go to Mass. I hear it there. Check and check.”

There is something beautiful in this. For Catholics, Bible reading is liturgical. Hence, Bible reading remains chiefly a community experience.

Three Step Plan to Kick It Up a Notch

It’s good to listen to the readings from the Bible at Holy Mass. However, we also need a personal (even private) encounter with God in the pages of Sacred Scripture. All of the saints breathed Sacred Scripture. Scripture served as the grammar for their souls. They couldn’t communicate without it.

Here are some basic spiritual needs that you have every single day of your life:

Praise – Voicing your delight in God and His provision for your life. Gratitude destroys discouragement.
Wisdom – You need practical advice to navigate the complexities of life.
Challenge – You need to be lifted higher. You need to grow in your faith. You need to be inspired. You must be an intentional Christian.

So when you wake up tomorrow, do the following:

Read a Psalm. Start with Psalm 1. Make it your anthem of praise for that day.
Read at least one Proverb. Proverbs are the wisdom morsels of your day. There are 31 chapters. Why not read one chapter every day during the month. Oct 1 is Provers 1. October 31 is Proverbs 31. You get the idea.
Read a chapter of the one of the Gospels. This is your challenge. Your Savior challenges you in the four Gospels. He calls you to be not merely a nominal Catholic but a disciple. You cannot seriously read the Gospels and stay lukewarm. Christ speaks in a way that cannot be ignored.

“But I’m so busy. I don’t have the time!”

What? You’re too busy. Sorry, you just got served a yellow card:

That’s a yellow card. You’ve been warned…

Doing these three readings will take you only 3-5 minutes. That’s the time of a commercial break. It will change your life for good. I promise. It takes 21 days to make a habit, so give it 21 days and see if you aren’t hooked. Put the Bible on your night stand and read it in the mornings. Start fresh.

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” – Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church

my point exactly...the number is huge but the exact number is irrelevant...more than 1 is too many.

Unless it's inane bad popes; then they just get waved away...

1,601 posted on 10/10/2013 3:40:07 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

...I've never won that damned lottery!!

You've accurately described it!

I figger that since I'm more likely to be hit by lightning, when I feel the sizzle, THEN I'll buy a ticket!

1,602 posted on 10/10/2013 3:41:46 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

....I pick a group (the ones who wrote it)...

Them guys must be REALLY old by now!

Let's see if I understand the Catholic teaching...

One person canNOT interpret Scripture when led by the Holy Spirit, but a GROUP of these people who can't figger it out by themselves somehow mange to VOTE on what it really means.

Did I state it correctly?

2 Corinthians 1:13

We don't write anything to you except what you can read and also understand.

1,603 posted on 10/10/2013 3:47:31 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

RCC is only used by non Catholics and generally not by those with a favorable view of the Church.

Oh?

1,604 posted on 10/10/2013 3:48:59 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

the asinine picture of the bottle of blood is still stupid

Your OBESSION with DRINKING blood is still creepy!

1,605 posted on 10/10/2013 3:49:53 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

the asinine picture of the bottle of blood is still stupid

Your objection is noted; and dismissed as yet another ox owner complaint whose beast is being gored.

1,606 posted on 10/10/2013 3:51:13 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

the asinine picture of the bottle of blood is still stupid

Mary is still dead.

(No WONDER you got a NO!)

1,607 posted on 10/10/2013 3:51:54 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

That is why I have begun using non Catholic, out of deference to what I perceive is offensive to some here.

Why use a LABEL at all?

How about...

non-TRADITIONAL Christian?

1,608 posted on 10/10/2013 3:54:08 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

It exists only in the minds of anti Catholics.

Uh...

Your 'beginning' has slipped...

#1528

1,609 posted on 10/10/2013 3:55:18 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

I say that the ONLY reason that you have a modern Bible and know of our Savior, is thanks to the Catholic Church

Oh?

1,610 posted on 10/10/2013 3:57:06 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

The writers of the NT, with the possible exception of Luke, were Jews.

DAMMIT!

They're CATHOLIC now!

1,611 posted on 10/10/2013 3:58:46 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

... the early church was virtually all Jews, thousands of them, until God sent Paul to the Gentiles.

Well; they're catholics TOO!!

(It says so in ACTS 15!)

1,612 posted on 10/10/2013 4:00:48 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

common sense has a lot to do with reality

So true.

Too bad you feel like you need to DRINK BLOOD so your sins are REALLY washed away.

1,613 posted on 10/10/2013 4:02:34 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

why would God, the creator of everything that ever was, allow His Son to come to Earth in a stained vessel????

Why not?

Matthew 23:26

You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

1,614 posted on 10/10/2013 4:05:22 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

would He arrive in less than a PERFECT environment???

Yes He did.

1,615 posted on 10/10/2013 4:06:15 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

why would God, the creator of everything that ever was, allow His Son to come to Earth in a stained vessel????

Since the Catholic claim is that Mary was sinless; then SHE could have DIED FOR OUR SINS!

1,616 posted on 10/10/2013 4:07:13 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

To: narses; terycarl

Hey tery!

Here is a bunch of text.

Wanna comment on whether it’s INANE or not?

1,617 posted on 10/10/2013 4:09:10 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

Prove it?

You’ve got Moses and the prophets; believe them.

If you won’t, then even if someone raises from the dead, you STILL won’t believe.

1,618 posted on 10/10/2013 4:11:22 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

Nope, He needed a courier, someone to spread the word, so He founded a Church and ordered her to do so....the Catholic Church.....Smart, wasn't He??

We KNOW what happened to the FIRST 'chosen people' when THEY didn't 'carry the message'.

Now the same has happen to the CAtholic Church based in Rome.

No; bad POPES appear to have had NO effect in causing this...

1,619 posted on 10/10/2013 4:15:15 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

you ask me to prove that something didn't happen???no one can prove a negative

Mary went to heaven and is...

1,620 posted on 10/10/2013 4:15:55 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

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