This blog is a gift to my wife, Renee, and my children, Adele, Athan, Audrey, Anne, Amelia, and Andrea.

Saturday, January 30, 2021

2021 New Year Resolution: Bible in a Year!

 

When I was in my teenage years, I had read the bible literally from cover to cover (Genesis to Revelation) over the course of a couple of years.  Although it was a good exercise and something that I can brag about (like what I'm doing right now 😉), I don't remember too much of it nor do I think I really benefitted that much.  It was probably because I had read it without much guidance nor did I really do much reflection of the text.

More than 10 years ago, I had enrolled in Regis College's (U of T) Master of Theological Studies and had taken a few courses on Scripture.  They were quite eye opening!  Unfortunately, I only finished about half the program and had to quit due to juggling of work and newborns which seemed to come quite regularly 😂.  After that point, I had rarely picked up the bible, which is always something that made me feel quite sad.

Fast forward to last year, the COVID pandemic has had quite a number of silver linings.  One of them was our discovery of Father Mike Schmitz on YouTube.  We alternated between masses said by Father Francis Ching (in Cantonese) and Father Mike when the churches were/are closed.  Both fathers have amazing homilies and I would recommend tuning in every Sunday.

Since the start of the year, Father Mike had started a Bible in a Year Podcast.  It's a daily podcast with Father Mike reading a few chapters from the bible and then reflecting on it.  Each day's show is about 20 minutes long and so it's not much effort at all to follow along.  The podcast is advertised as reading the entire bible but it's not quite that.  I don't think reading Deuteronomy on a podcast would be a great idea, except if the podcast was designed for insomniacs!  It will read through the most common books like Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Psalms, Luke, Acts, and Revelation.  You can take a look at the reading plan.  Father Mike is super charismatic and passionate and he has (re-)lit a fire in my heart!

So, this is my New Year resolution: to complete this Bible in a Year program and bring Scripture back into my life. If you're Catholic, Christian, or just curious, I'd encourage you to do the same.

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