Catholic Bible Study Made Simple

Most of us would have difficulty in relating to these readings because our current culture has so little awareness of leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease. However, in past centuries it was as virulent as Covid is today.

Perhaps the responsorial psalm is the best place to begin to understand the Church’s reason for giving us these readings. Leprosy is a type or a symbol for sin, and sin is as contagious as is leprosy. (cf. Mt 18:15-17) And we go and show ourselves to the priest when we receive the sacrament of reconciliation.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 02/14/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 02/14/2021

From the book of Job, it would appear that the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people”, is nearly as old as mankind itself. Job understood that his relationship with God should not change based upon his circumstances in life. He had been drafted into God’s service. Paul tells us something similar. And when Peter’s mother-in-law is once more able, she too enters into service to the Lord.

Ours is not to complain and to question God and His motives; ours is to be obedient to Him. If and when He chooses, He will change our circumstances from what they are today. Are you ready to live your circumstances without complaining?

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 02/07/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 02/07/2021

Throughout the scriptures, God has rarely spoken to His people directly. Though He did speak to His prophets, one who speaks for God. In the Gospels, we see that God speaks through His Son.

In the first reading, we see Moses relaying God’s message to His people in the wilderness that He will send a prophet; and the prophet of whom He was speaking was Jesus.

In the Gospel reading, we find Jesus fulfilling that prophecy; but the people fail to recognize His call to speak for His Father. Nor as we read in subsequent encounters with religious leaders do we find a recognition of Jesus as the fulfillment of this or any of the other prophecies of the Old Testament.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 01/31/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 01/31/2021

We don’t always get a second opportunity to answer God’s call as Jonah did. Too often our response is one of reluctance, if not outright refusal, out of fear—fear of the unknown and an outlook that focuses on potential negative consequences for our desires for ourselves.

Though the gospels give us a variety of accounts of the apostles’ call, what they agree upon is an immediate response of following Jesus. May the apostles be our role model in hearing and responding to Jesus’ call in our own lives.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 01/24/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 01/24/2021

Are you in the right place and sufficiently attentive to hear God when he calls to you? Are you willing to believe another when told by someone else that God is right over there or you can find Him in a particular location or way of doing something? Samuel was; Andrew and John were. Their willingness was rewarded with a call that changed their lives and the lives of many others.

God speaks to each of us many times, perhaps not as dramatically as in these readings. However, He does speak to each of us; and He gives us the ability to hear and to follow.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 01/17/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 01/17/2021

The feast of the baptism of the Lord is the transition between the Christmas season and ordinary time.  The Church provides this transition between Jesus’ hidden life and his public life as reminder that we too go through transitions.

Many of us do not remember our baptism, and most of those that do not remember God the Father saying to us that we were His beloved son or daughter. Yet that is what we are by nature of our baptism, because our baptism made us God’s beloved children.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 01/10/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 01/10/2021

God had promised a Savior for all mankind. Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise. When He came, His own people were not observant enough to recognize His coming. However, gentile pagans were—even if they did not realize that He was the Savior.

How often are we so entangled in the minutia of our lives, both secular and religious, that we do not recognize the signs that Jesus is entering our lives to save us from all that has us in bondage.  We, like the Jewish leaders, may have heard and read the promise; but we do not take the time or expend the effort to look for Him. If we truly believed the promise and the importance to our lives, perhaps we would be more observant.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 01/03/2021

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 01/03/2021

The life of the Holy Family is one to which we should strive. However, we should not become overly discouraged when we find that we cannot quite live up to that standard. Still the readings for this Sunday provide a pattern from God’s word to which we should attempt to conform our lives.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 12/27/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 12/27/2020

The readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent tell us 3 things: (1) God is always faithful no matter how long it takes for Him to be so. (2) God often uses intermediaries to speak for Him. (3) God desires obedience from us even when His desires don’t match our desires or our expectation of how things should be.

Mary and David experienced all three of these. Oftentimes, I suspect that we do as well. Are we as alert and as willing as David and Mary were?

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 12/20/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 12/20/2020

“Semper gaudete.” (1 Th 5:16, Vulgate) Rejoice always. The Third Sunday of Advent became known as Gaudete Sunday because the Introit, what we now call the Entrance Antiphon, came from Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Gaudete marks the middle of Advent. The rejoicing is not only because the penitential period of Advent is half over, but also because we supposed to be more prepared for the Second Coming of Christ.

The Church also takes this Sunday to remind us the second week in a row about who John the Baptist was, his role in salvation history, and his knowledge of who he was and of his role. He is a role model for all Christians of their basic calling in life—to point to the Lamb of God.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 12/013/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 12/13/2020