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 Jeremiah 11-13. 

Jeremiah's life is at stake on account of his forthright preaching. In this, he begins to become a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus himself. In fact, Jeremiah 11:18-20 is the first reading for Mass on Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent, paired with a Gospel about the results of a failed attempt by the Temple authorities to arrest Jesus.

After this, we start to see prophetic signs from Jeremiah. God is adding to his repertoire actions and events that are designed to make people ask questions and think long and hard about what is at hand.

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.