Reading - The Bible

I was listening to Catholic radio this morning while out doing some errands, and there was discussion of love letters and the Bible.

The speaker noted that if a person gets a love letter from someone that person in turn loves, then the letter receiver likely reads the letter over and over again in its entirety.

The speaker then noted that the Bible is a love letter from God - but that all too often we only read it partly and sporadically.

The speaker then observed that for many years she read the entire Bible annually.  

I thought of my own Bible reading habits. I try to read it daily - in addition to reading the readings for Mass in advance. But there are days when I fail to read it. Over the years, I have read the New Testament several times, and some of those New Testament books multiple times. I have read parts of the Old Testament - some of the books a few times - but I have not read the entire Old Testament.

Now I've set some reading goals for this year. I plan to read at least 80 books/plays, 12 of them mystery books and 12 of them Shakespeare plays. In addition, I'm trying to read Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries, and some Dickens, as well as all of Robert Frost's published poetry books, though for none of those have I set a specific number to read this year.

At this point, by the way, I'm up to 34 books, 9 of them mysteries (5 of them Hillerman's), 6 of them Shakespeare plays, and 1 of them a Frost book. And I dug out some of the Dickens books I haven't read yet, but haven't started on them. So I'm well on my way to my various secular reading goals.  

But the Catholic radio program made me realize I do need to read the Bible in a more regular way, and I need to read all of it. 

Nourishment for my soul, and not just my mind. 

Moreover, I was listening to the show after having gone to confession - and one of the things I confessed was wasting my time on frivolous things like watching mindless or political television shows, playing online games, reading (and reacting to) social media posts, and so on. Father mentioned trying to make better use of my time, and he's a big promoter of reading the Bible. In fact, my penance was to read a particular Psalm each day this week leading up to Easter.

Hmmm. A sign?

I have several Bibles - the ones I read the most are the New American Bible, and the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. The RSVCE Bible has 1065 pages. If I were trying to read the entire Bible in a year, that would work out to just over 2.9 pages a day. Rounding it up, that's 3 pages a day.

So, that's my new goal. Three pages a day of the Bible, aiming to finish the entire Bible by March 29, 2022. Taking the hint from the Mass readings, I'll read part of the Old Testament and part of the New Testament  each day.  

I'm already reading Mark, so I'll begin there for the New Testament. And start Genesis,with a Psalm mixed in.

After all, it is a love letter. 

Pax et bonum