OK so it’s confession time.
I am really, really bad about reading the Bible.
Given that I love to read, this is even worse, I think. I love to read—and I neglect the Bible?
(That’s not precisely true. I love the New Testament. I love certain parts of the old, especially Isaiah, Esther, the Psalms, and the Song of Songs, and Lamentations during Lent. And when I say the Office, I am getting quite a bit of Scripture in!)
Every time I’ve tried to read the Bible “straight through”, I’d get bogged down in Leviticus and that would be it. Ugh.
So this year, my spiritual director said, “You need to do the Bible in A Year Podcast.”
And, being obedient, I did. I started in May.
The first thing about this is—it does cover the entire Bible in a year. But each day doesn’t take terribly long. Each podcast is about a half hour or so (sometimes less than that!). You can listen in your car! The podcast will also remain up permanently, so even if you start today, you’ll still have access to the podcast next year!
Second, Fr. Mike explains things. (I’ll get to my two big revelations in a second). This is so helpful. Everything is explained through a Catholic lens, which can be hard to find! There are a lot of “study bibles”, but they can be….yeah. Dense. Let’s just put it that way. He also has special episodes with Jeff Cavins, a bible scholar, before every new reading “period”. (There are 15 periods that make up the plan.)
The podcast uses the Great Adventure Catholic Bible (published by Ascension), but if you want to use your own bible, that’s cool too. I use the Great Adventure Bible tabs to mark up my bibles and I love them.
I’m on Day 126 now, so I’m more than 1/3 of the way through the Bible, which is amazing to me. So far I’ve read: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, and the book of Job, as well as parts of Psalms and the book of Proverbs (those last two are sprinkled throughout the entire year) . Right now I’m in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles (the “Royal kingdom” period in the plan.)
Here are the two biggest takeaways I’ve had so far:
1) God cares about worship—and particularly about the Sabbath
Leviticus is actually all about the worship of God (as is a lot of Numbers). It’s not just names and rules. It’s God telling his people how he wants to be worshipped. He’s taking these people who don’t know him and forming them into his people. And that means they need to know what God loves and what he hates, and how to worship him, because they couldn’t in Egypt!
A lot of how we worship today is reflected in this readings! The Eucharist is even prefigured, when talking about the bread of the presence! Moses anoints Aaron, the same way priests are anointed today during the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Altars are also anointed when new churches are constructed—same as in the book of Leviticus. The sanctuary lamp that you see in every Catholic Church? Leviticus 24:2!
He also cares about how the Church is constructed. God actually cares about these little things! (Which was sort of amazing to me, that he cared about the types of wood!)
God also really cares about the Sabbath. Hoooo boy does he care about it. He says it over and over again “you shall keep my sabbaths” (Lev. 25:3, Lev. 26:2, for example). He promises blessings to those who keep the sabbath. (Lev 26:6). He doesn’t just mention it once on Mt. Sinai. He says it over and over and over again. Keep the sabbath. It’s important to him!
You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
—Leviticus 26:2
Now, the Christian sabbath is different from the Jewish sabbath—but it’s still important.
How are we keeping the sabbath day holy? Are we resting from work—including things like laundry and dishes? (I mean sometimes it needs done—but if it can wait until Monday, is it?) Are we enjoying leisure and relaxation? Are we spending time with God in church, and in additional prayer?
God is serious about this and I didn’t realize how much so until I read these chapters.
(If you want to read more about this, I suggest: Leisure: The Basis of Culture and Souls at Rest)
2) God is serious about tithing
Tithing is another thing God is serious about. He mentions it in Leviticus with offerings, especially the offerings of first fruits (Lev. 23: 9-13), and the priest’s portion was the people’s tithed offerings (Numbers 18).
Tithing is something that we do talk about, but do we talk about it enough? It’s one of the precepts of the church that we are to “provide for the needs of the church.”
But it’s also clearly biblical, and it’s also in the New Testament, where Jesus tells us to give our extra cloak to a person who doesn’t have one. The Epistle of James tells us that, and we heard it this past week at Mass:
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
—James 2:15-17
Generally we talk about giving 10% of our income. I’ve seen some Catholics talk about giving 5% to the parish, and 5% to other good charities, like pro-life organizations. (I think St. Pope John Paul II once mentioned dividing it up that way, but I’m not entirely sure.)
As you all know, I do not have a lot of money. But after reading so much about tithing, I figured out what 10% of my income would be, and I subtracted the number I already tithe. The final number is the amount I need to up my tithing to hit 10%. I am slowly working towards that goal. It’ll take time, but that’s OK.
Some people aren’t in a position to give much, and Jesus talks about that when he talks about the widow’s mite:
He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
—Luke 21: 1-4
We really do need to take this seriously. We have to give to the poor and the those who need our help. You might want to support pro-life charities, or adopt a child from an organization like World Vision. You might want to give to a charity that helps provide clean water around the world. Whatever it is that touches your heart, even if we only have a little—giving a little is still giving.
These are the two things that have really impressed themselves strongly upon my heart. As I continue through the next 2/3 of the Bible, I hope I’ll find other things that I want to share with you!