Bible in a Year – 2021

Thanks to the wonderful Ascension Press team (and definitely aided by the Holy Spirit!) that put together the Bible in a Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz this year, I’ve finally finished reading through the whole Bible for the first time in my life!

As with most folks, at some point in our lives we decide we want to know more about the word of God, and we pick up the Bible and we dig into Genesis, then Exodus, and by Leviticus we’re out of steam…

I’ve probably done that cycle couple times in my life and I’ve always wondered what I’m missing. Because as a Catholic who attends mass, you generally get to hear most of the Gospels – Mark, Matthew, Luke and John but am unsure what happens in Judith or Tobit.

So having been brought through the whole Bible in a Year was great. And the bonus was really the commentary each day by Fr. Mike. He has condensed so much of what he has learnt into summaries and simple explanations for us to understand.

Because reading the Bible is just the baseline challenge. Understanding what the authors were trying to convey is truly a Herculean task as modern readers probably do not understand the mindset of them 2000 years ago and the context they live in. Expert interpretation is truly needed.

I can now see how fundamentalism or deviations in thinking from the mainstream interpretations occurs. It is so easy to just put a position or idea across because it was written in the Bible as so… And hence we now have so many denominations of Christianity.

So to go further in your own faith journey, I do encourage you to take the step to dive into the Bible in a Year. It’s really been the easiest way to fully comprehend the word of God and I’m proud that we’ve finally leveraged this whole digital revolution and social media to build this cornerstone which will allow generations of Christians going forward to have easy access and a basic overview of the Bible.

I know many folks intend to use 2022 to do a whole round again, and I’m considering some sort of deep dive based on it myself. Here’s wishing you a blessed 2022 and your own walk with God.