nunblog: Read the Bible with Me!

Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We've reached the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:

Father,

When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this, until Jesus comes again in glory.

Open my mind today to the gift of life and truth your Word offers me through the Church. By your Holy Spirit, grant me wisdom and strength to put this Word into practice and to become, myself, a presence of Jesus for people who are looking for you.

Jesus, eternal Word and Son of the Father, live in me with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Today's chapters are Mark 9-11.

In Chapter 8, Jesus confirmed the apostles in their belief that he was the Messiah, but he began to clarify their understanding by predicting his suffering, death and resurrection, challenging them to follow him by losing their own lives for the sake of the Gospel. (In all, Jesus will predict his violent death--and his Resurrection--three times.) With the Transfiguration (at the very start of Chapter 9), the Heavenly Father gives three chosen apostles a kind of preview of the future glory destined for the Messiah after he has been "handed over to men" and "killed." As clear as Jesus is, his apostles seem unable to grasp what he is saying. They still want positions of worldly power. Mark juxtaposes James and John's audacious request with the faith of a blind man who, once cured, follows Jesus on the way that leads directly into Jerusalem.

And us?

Start reading here.

For additional background

I am happy to recommend this volume of The Four Gospels in an edition directed to young readers and their parents. The text of all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Revised Standard Translation is accompanied by FAQs that a middle-school reader might ask (or, to be honest, anybody reading the Gospels for the first time). The footnotes were prepared by a team of Scripture scholars for parents and guardians, making the book ideal for family Bible reading.