I am starting the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan this fall. In fact, our Opening Day of Reflection was yesterday! 🙂 I am excited for this 4-year journey and for growing closer to God by becoming more familiar with His Word.

I don’t intend to write out all of my answers for all of our questions here, but there were just a couple this week that I’d like to share.

1. When looking at the culture behind the Bible, looking at what the text of the Bible says and means, and thinking about what impact the Bible can have on us today, which of these three do you find most challenging and why?

Thinking about what impact the Bible can have on us today is, for me, the most challenging aspect because it requires understanding of the other two aspects (looking at the culture behind the Bible and looking at what the text of the Bible says and means). To take that knowledge and then apply it to our own lives is a very different activity. I think our culture today is so media-saturated that we tend to read for the sake of information, and rarely let anything penetrate to our hearts. But that is precisely what the Lord wishes, for us not to keep His Word at an external distance, but to pull His Word inside of us and incorporate it into our very being. To pray and live and have a relationship with His Word. To let it change us. And that level of self-abandon is challenging.

4. We are supposed to read the Bible with our heads and with our hearts. Which of these do you find easier to do and why?

It is far easier to read the Bible with our heads. In fact, I think the only way we can read the Bible is with our heads. Once we engage our hearts into the text, we are no longer reading the Bible, we are praying it.