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 Ezekiel 32-34.

We are now in the twelfth year of the exile, and word of the fall of Jerusalem arrives in Babylon. With this news, Ezekiel's role changes somewhat: he is now a "sentinel." Up to this point, he had been in a state of prophetic muteness; now that the disaster has actually occurred, Ezekiel is again able to speak

There are two really important passages in today's chapters. Another reminder of the role of personal responsibility and a call to conversion, and the powerful sermon to the "shepherds of Israel." In response to the criminal negligence of those leaders who, instead of serving as pastors to their people, exploited the people to serve themselves, God offers the consoling promise that he will be the Shepherd of his sheep; that David will once again be their princely leader.

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.