Is it too early for New Year’s resolutions?
Not when you start with the new liturgical year!
Last October, Pope Benedict asked the whole Church to study the Catechism for the Year of Faith.
At that time I challenged myself and you to take him up on that–to read the Catechism in a year with Flocknote’s “Catechism in a Year” program.
Now the Year of Faith is over, and I can honestly now say that I’ve read the whole Catechism…twice.
It wasn’t easy. There were some bumps in the road. I didn’t always read every day. Sometimes I had to catch up on 4 or 5 emails at a time because I was too busy when they came in. But I did it!
Now that it’s over…what to do? What are you going to do? Well here’s an idea.
Flocknote is starting it all over again. If you’d like to give it another go and read the whole thing again (which I should), you can sign up and get back on the track. The actual content in the emails is from the Youth Catechism (YOUCAT), but there’s a link at the bottom to the corresponding paragraphs in the Catechism. So the actual CCC text is only a click away.
However, if you’re up for a change (me, me, me), Flocknote is also offering the new program, Read the Gospels in a Year.
Every day you’ll get a short, daily Gospel reading (+commentary) in your inbox. Read that little bit every day and you’ll make it through all 4 gospels in a year. That is sweet!
The commentary is from the Ignatius Study Bible written by my professor, Scott Hahn. I may be slightly biased but this really is the best Bible commentary you can get. Not only is it theologically rich (come on, this is Scott Hahn!), but it also references Church doctrine, Ecumenical Councils, commentary from the Saints, and most importantly, the Catechism.
Every time the Catechism cites a Scripture passage, there’s a note in the commentary with the paragraph number and a short description of what the Catechism says. It’s a natural follow on from reading the Catechism all last year.
The Ignatius Study Bible commentary truly allows you to read the Bible within the mind of the Church. It looks at the New Testament in light of the Old. It references the Living Tradition of the Church in the Magisterial pronouncements and writings of the Saints. And, it takes into account how the Church’s authoritative norm for teaching, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, interprets passages. You just can’t go wrong with this!
So, sign up to read the Catechism (perhaps again), or put your name in the hat to read all 4 gospels this year.
The choice is yours, but please…take one. Over 100,000 people did last year.
This year you’ll be happy you’re one of them.
Thanks, I signed up for the Gospel series. I use Hahn’s Ignatius NT for class prep, and will be hearing him this Saturday at my parish. Small world.
I LOVE the Ignatius New Testament study Bible. It’s fantastic!
Good challenge, Marc. I didn’t take the Flocknote CCC challenge in the Year of Faith due to an often overloaded inbox. Instead I tried to commit to a reading plan on my own but to be honest, it failed. So I’m gonna clean up my inbox and try the challenge this year with the YOUCat. Two good challenges there, actually 🙂
I tell you what, that inbox can be a hard taskmaster. But there is no easier way to read the CCC than getting an email with the content or at the least a link to a bite-sized piece. The key…don’t put off reading the installments for too long. After a while, if you let it pile up too long, you’ll lose your zeal and it will become easier to give up.