What is typology? Why does it matter? It matters because the writers of the Bible, specifically the authors of the New Testament, used it. To understand what they wrote, and what the Catholic Church teaches, you need to understand this. And this: The Bible is a Catholic book. +JMJ+ Learning to read the Bible as a Catholic involves more than buying a commentary and a Bible and thinking you’re all set. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a start, but it’s only a start. A bare beginning. An important thing to keep in mind while learning to read the Bible as a Catholic is this word right here: typology. It ..read more

+JMJ+ I’ve been watching videos, hearing people give explanations of Christianity—by both those who claim Christianity, or at least to be sympathetic to it, and those not—and it’s obvious that all they know is some form of Protestantism. I’ve heard some say that Christianity is all about what a person is supposed to believe but that other religions are more concerned with what a person is supposed to do. Now this just gets Christianity all wrong. Jesus says over and over what we are to do in order to have salvation. Examples from Scripture The Rich Young Man, also Rich Man, Rich Young Ruler ..read more

+JMJ+ Oh, my goodness, where to start? First, I need a fresh cuppa. Ah, now, let me get situated here and I’ll tell you what happened. I was searching for info on the Magi (there’s a pun to be made there but I’m not making it) and then Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died, may he rest in peace. So I wanted to write something about him and decided to post some quotes and began another search.  Then I found out that the Catechism In a Year podcast had started. Then I remembered that Pope Benedict (when he was Cardinal Ratzinger) had something a lot to do with the Catechism all those years ago ..read more

+JMJ+ Once again I’m tried to do too many things during Lent and ended up doing them all badly or not at all. Began listening to the Bible In A Year podcast and reading along and writing up and sharing notes, and then promptly fell behind, got behinder, then had a crazy week, my router died (or my modem and my router so now I have brand new ones). I tried to catch up by letting the notes slide but I ended up not getting any of it done at all. Argh. Seriously, I was doing well enough to get my two weekly blog posts done. I knew I shouldn’t add much to that. An aside: I can write a post moderat ..read more

+JMJ+ Thanks to everybody who responded to the Flash Giveaway celebrating my three anniversaries.* I assigned numbers to the entries in the order received, then used the Google Random Number Generator to select two numbers. And here they are, the winners of the Lent Giveaway 2022. First Prize and winner of the Great Adventure Bible is Carol Steele! Second Prize and winner of the Introduction to the Spiritual Life is Lyle Pearce! I’ll announce this on social media after I finish announcing the winners on the blog. I’ll email the winners directly to get mailing addresses and get the books sen ..read more

The Lent Giveaway 2022 is now closed. See the winners. +JMJ+ Join me as I celebrate the 26th anniversary of my reception into the Catholic Church, my 13th year as a Catholic blogger, and my 3rd year owning this site, with a Flash Giveaway. Drawing will be this Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. I’m hoping that way the winners might receive their books by Ash Wednesday, or close to it. 1st Prize Great Adventure Bible, Alpha Cowhide® cover (if available, paperback if not), from Jeff Cavins and Ascension Press. 2nd Prize Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus, by Brant P ..read more

+JMJ+ Inspired by the Bible In A Year podcast, and memories of past Bible studies, I was exploring to see what I could find about something about a certain serpent. The serpent in Genesis is not called a snake, no matter how many times non-Christians try to mock it in that way. It’s more like a monster or dragon like Leviathan. We’ve already covered the serpent’s appearance to Eve and it will come up again later in Job. (See the links at the end of this post.)  Here’s a good seven-part series from Philip Kosloski about the devil. I’ve enjoyed everything of his I’ve read so far. The Enem ..read more

+JMJ+ I’ve been listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible In A Year podcast. I wish I’d realized that he was uinsg the Great Adventure Bible, the one Jeff Cavins came up with. What a cool Bible study tool his Bible Timeline is. I took a course of that at a parish back in 2010 (that long ago?) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still have the workbook, dug it out this weekend. Got my Great Adventure Bible a few days ago, too. Not for doing the podcast, at the time I ordered it I had no idea he was using it. I almost didn’t even listen to the podcast because I wanted to use the Bible Timeline method. Lit ..read more

+JMJ+ When I began studying the Bible as a Catholic in 1996, I found a lot of tapes (yes, tapes) of Scott Hahn and a few others, but there was nowhere near the wealth of resources then that are available to us now. In the past few years Catholic studies have really taken off. But with all of these resources around us it can be confusing to know where to start. Listed below are three ways you can get started studying the Bible as a Catholic, right now, today. You’ll find more info (where to buy, etc.) in the notes section at the end of the post. The Bible in a Year podcast is free. Great Adve ..read more