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 Hosea 5-7.

Knowing what we do about the disastrous fall of the northern kingdom, and the disappearance of the people (the "lost tribes of Israel"), it is painful to read the prophet's call to repentance. Who knows? Perhaps it could have changed the course of history. 

In the midst of a complaint about the people's superficiality and contrariness in religious observance, we find the heart of the matter.  Jesus will refer to it when the Pharisees reproach his disciples for inadequate piety: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (see Matthew 9:13).

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.