At the start of Advent 2022 the Church begins a new liturgical year. This entails a shift from the Gospel of Luke being the primary source of our Sunday gospels (in Cycle C) to our primary source being the Gospel of Matthew (Cycle A; the Gospel of Mark for Cycle B). You can find the upcoming Sunday readings of Advent, as follows:
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” So said Pope Francis as part of a papal audience. But it is not original to Pope Francis; he is quoting St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar and translator from the late 4th and early 5th century. What about you? What is your comfort level with Sacred Scripture? Where would you place yourself on the scale? Continue reading
I have been leading Bible studies “since Jesus was rowing on the Sea of Galilee.” Not really, but it been for more than 30 years. Over the years I have written and posted lots of commentaries and have even begun to collect all the posts into groupings of the Liturgical Year (see the menu above). I will admit that the written commentaries tend to be a bit nerdy, especially when it comes to the nuances of words. But, I think when I am leading a Bible Study I default to my more natural motif… story teller – the bard of things biblical but without the musical accompaniment. If someone asks me about being a student of God’s Word and how will they know when they “know” enough, my answer is always, “when you can gossip the Gospel over the backyard fence.” People telling people the story and stories of the Bible is at the heart and soul of what it means to be the People of God. Continue reading
Monday was the Memorial of St. Jerome, best known for his translation the Vulgate Bible. St. Jerome translated from OT Hebrew and NT Greek into Latin. He famously said: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Advice we should all take to heart.
The first reading on the Memorial is from 2 Timothy and, in part, reads: “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16). The phrase is theopneustos (Theos, God, pneō, to breathe). It would sound odd to our ears, but I would rather like the translation to be “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Continue reading
From time to time people tell me that “this year I am going to get into the Bible!” Music to my ears! Their declaration is quickly followed by something akin to “So, what should I do?” Maybe next week I will take a shot at answering that question, but for now let me tell how not to read the Bible! Continue reading
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” So said Pope Francis as part of a papal audience. But it is not original to Pope Francis; he is quoting St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar and translator from the late 4th and early 5th century. What about you? What is your comfort level with Sacred Scripture? Where would you place yourself on the scale? Continue reading
If you have been following this blog for a while – first of all: thank you! Secondly you probably realize that by following the cycle of Liturgical readings I have been around the loop more than once. Many (or most) of the times, the Monday through Friday postings of gospel commentaries for the upcoming Sunday are re-posts of something from three years ago. For example, the posting for the week of February 4th (5th Sunday, Year C) was actually written about 6 years ago – updated a bit three years ago – and simply re-posted this year. That being said the following weeks were new as I had never had the need to provide a commentary on the gospels for the 6th, 7th, or 8th Sundays of Year C. Just a quirk of when Easter falls in a particular year. Continue reading
From time to time people tell me that “this year I am going to get into the Bible!” Music to my ears! Their declaration is quickly followed by something akin to “So, what should I do?” Maybe next week I will take a shot at answering that question, but for now let me tell how not to read the Bible! Continue reading
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” So said Pope Francis on June 15th of last year as part of a papal audience. But it is not original to Pope Francis; he is quoting St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar and translator from the late 4th and early 5th century. What about you? What is your comfort level with Sacred Scripture? Where would you place yourself on the scale? Continue reading
It was a simple e-mail. The writer said that she was committed to reading and studying the Bible. For her first time through, she wanted to accomplish it in a two-year period. She had already researched the Internet for Bible study plans and discovered there are tons of plans, lots of perspectives, and advice a plenty. So much so, it was hard to sort through it all. And such was the genesis of the e-mail asking for advice on “the plan.” Continue reading
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