The Lord be with you! About four weeks ago we went over how to understand the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. When we understand the Bible’s literal sense, we can then explore its many spiritual senses: allegorical, moral, and anagogical. Having a good scripture commentary becomes essential here as we will inevitably run into phrases and references that we are not familiar with.
Where should we begin reading the Bible? Many saints had the pious - but perhaps overly simplistic - approach of opening the Bible randomly. Afterall, if it is the Word of God, why worry? For the purpose of inspiration and encouragement, this method works really well. Nevertheless, many of us will want to read in a more structured manner. Accordingly, here are some reading plans:
The Abbreviated Old Testament
If you want to read as much of the Bible and not get bored, this approach works really well. We start with Genesis and Exodus and read them one or two chapters at a time. Skip Leviticus entirely and proceed to the tenth chapter of Numbers. This chunk is where a lot of people give up because it is centered on the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. After Numbers you can read some or all of Deuteronomy, but only its ending is essential for setting the stage for Joshua.
The next books, from Joshua to Nehemiah, are great to read in sequence as long as one remembers that the book of Chronicles supplements the books of Samuel and Kings. Ruth can be skipped, but the heart of the sacred history here is the rise and fall of Israel as a kingdom, which Samuel and Kings lays out. Then read Isaiah and Jeremiah since you will have the overarching context for these great prophets. Congratulations: you now have a wild sense of the major events of the Old Testament.
Wisdom Literature: Pick One, or Read Them All
The Wisdom Literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach) can be read individually or all together. These works are self contained - especially Job - and do not even need a detailed understanding of their historical context. With the exception of the Song of Songs, all of these works can be meditated upon with great profit at any time.
Just Jesus
You don’t actually have to read the Old Testament to read the New. In fact, you can just read the Gospels and understand Christ fairly well. A common practice for priests and religious in formation is to take a weekend and read a single Gospel.
In our next article we will go over the final two plans and some recommendations for scripture commentaries. The more we pray with Scripture, the more we can understand ourselves in Christ's Light. May we all learn to live by the Word of God in thought, word, and deed!
In His Sacred Heart,
Fr. John
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