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 29-31

There are two particularly interesting things in today's chapters. In Chapter 29, Jeremiah addresses a letter to the exiles, telling them to settle in for the long haul: this exile would last generations, so their contribution to the Babylonian economy would benefit the sons and daughters of Judah. Words that appear in many a craft-shop project, be it embroidery or woodcraft, are from this letter: 

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord: plans for your welfare and not for your woe; to give you a future and hope.

Then, in Chapter 31 we hear, for the first time, the promise of a "new covenant." It will be "written within them"; "in their hearts." This promise would be fulfilled in Jesus' Paschal Mystery: "This cup is the New Covenant in my Blood..." (Luke 22:20).

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.