Read the Bible with Me!

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: 

Everlasting Father,

All time belongs to you, and all the ages. In signs, in songs, in words of promise, you reassured your chosen ones, “I am with you; fear not.” You taught them through the prophets to trust that your saving deeds were not limited to the past.

When Jesus came, he fulfilled “all that was written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

The Church has found him everywhere in these same holy books.

Help me to find Jesus in my reading today, to listen to him, and to follow him with all my heart.

Amen.

Today's chapters are Isaiah 62-64.

We have come across marriage imagery in the Bible before, especially in the Song of Songs and in Psalm 45, and in references to apostasy as "adultery." It is in the prophets that the marriage metaphor really comes into high relief. Through Isaiah, God refers to the Chosen People as his bride, and himself as bridegroom. The Covenant (to which God remains faithful) is revealed as a marriage bond.

Following on an acknowledgment of the people's unfaithfulness in the form of a lament, Chapter 64 begs for the Lord's intervention. A selection from Chapter 63 and the first part of Chapter 64 form the first reading on the First Sunday of Advent (Year B cycle). I think you will be able to see why when you read it!

Start reading here.

If you are looking for a solid but approachable companion to the Bible, I can wholeheartedly recommend A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre. Although the authors are top-level Scripture scholars, they write for "real" readers. Notes include recent findings from archaeology and ancient manuscripts, and how each book of the Bible has been understood by the Church Fathers and used in Liturgy.