Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray:
My God, I adore and thank your loving and wise Providence, manifested on every page of Sacred Scripture. You have always been close to sinful and erring humanity, and have indicated the way and given hope. Amid the shadows of error and corruption, you kindled the light of your truth; amid universal corruption, you are the Just One; amid so much idolatry, humanity in every corner of the earth has cultivated a sincere worship of you.
Let my reading today increase my trust in your goodness, your mercy, and your unfailing faithfulness.
Today's chapters are Judges (yay!) 1-2, and (because it is Sunday) Psalms 21 and 22.
The Book of Judges is another transitional book and a kind of theological history. It tells the story of the people in their first generations of life in the Promised Land, and shows what happens when they depart from a life of faithfulness to God. Without a charismatic prophet like Moses or Joshua and only intermittently faithful to God, they are subject to raids from enemy peoples. When misery leads them to penance and prayer God raises up a leader (a "judge") to deliver his people, but once they are comfortable, the whole cycle begins again.
Psalm 22 will be the Responsorial Psalm on Palm Sunday. Notice how the Psalm begins with the familiar words Christ quoted from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Its expressions go back and forth between cries of deep distress and firm affirmations of trust in God. Our attention should especially be at the confidence that the final story will be one of deliverance. Isn't that what the Gospel message of Jesus' resurrection is?
Start reading Judges here and the Psalms here.
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