In preparation for Christmas and hopefully lots of good music... While listening to a local classical radio station they had a segment talking about the song "Joy to the World". It was written about Christ's coming in glory/His second coming, not his birth. Brings a whole new meaning to the lyrics that I never realized before:

1. Joy to the world; the Lord is come;

Let Earth receive her King; Let ev'ry Heart prepare him room, And Heav'n and nature sing.

2. Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns,

Let men their Songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, Repeat the sounding joy.

3. No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow Far as the curse is found.

4. He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove The glories of his righteousness, And wonders of his love.

Yesterday, we read about Joseph getting wrongfully accused and thrown to a prison where he interpreted the dreams of his co-inmates. In the NT Jesus, yet again, foretold His incoming death and explained a bit about the afterlife.

Today's passages: Genesis 41-42, Psalms 20, Luke 21

See you tomorrow.

Thanks be to God that this sub has a full Bible in a Year being posted daily.

As another option, I plan to do a "Bible in a Year Lite" for 2025, going throught the narrative books only. By reading 1 chapter a day, the plan goes from Genesis (January 1st) through Acts (end of December), reading all the main narrative books in order.

Here's the reading plan I developed for any interested in joining me: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HC6DqDYACSiG3dkwnZw_I5PecnWuXjJj/view?usp=drivesdk

Yesterday we read the story of Joseph being sold by his brothers (for a long, LONG, time I was certain he was sold for 30 silver pieces, not 20), and Tamar outsmarting Judah. In the NT we met Zacchaeus, learned why it is important to use all the good we got from God to create even more good, witnessed the original Palm Sunday, and were reminded of the role of the temples.

Today's passages: Genesis 39-40, Psalms 19, Luke 20

See you tomorrow.

Yesterday, we learned about Esau's descendants and were taught about humility, persistence in prayer, and how wealth can obscure what is truly important.

Today's passages: Genesis 37-38, Psalms 18:21-51, Luke 19

See you tomorrow.

Yesterday, we read about Jacob reuniting with Esau, and his sons killing an entire village in retaliation for what happened to Dinah. In the NT we got, unless I am mistaken, the first prophecies of the end of times.

Today's passages: Genesis 35-36, Psalms 18:1-20 (I hope I wrote that correctly), Luke 18.

See you tomorrow.

I went to my RCIA class a little bit early so I could pray the rosary. I decided to sit down next to a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi. I had this thought in my mind that I should invite him to pray the rosary with me. Out of nowhere, I heard birds chirping. Immediately it hit me that this is the Saint who loved animals, and wished to mimic their simplicity. As I got to around the 3rd mystery I thought about the saints praying with me and I began to cry. By the time I was done, I heard a bird chirp again. During the rosary I didn’t hear any, only before and after. I believe this was a sign of encouragement from Our Lord. Most Holy Trinity, our God, we LOVE you. Have mercy on us, grant us wisdom, love and mercy. Amen

Yesterday, we read about Jacob fighting the Lord's Angel and becoming Israel. In the NT, we were reminded to always aim to use what we have to do good.

Today's passages: Genesis 33-34, Psalms 17, Luke 17

See you tomorrow.

Yesterday, we read about Jacob's life at Laban's place, how his father-in-law technically forced him into bigamy, and the "birthing contest" between Leah and Rachel. In the NT parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigious son reminded us why repentance is important.

Today's passages are: Genesis 31-32, Psalms 16, Luke 16

See you tomorrow.

My mother asked me to help her set up a bottle tree in our yard. Apparently this tradition was used to ward off evil spirits which obviously as Christians we shouldn’t believe in such practices. I don’t think this is her reasoning for doing it, it’s just a piece of art to her. Then I started wondering about how it’s kind of similar to Christmas trees in that the origins of the tree itself are not Christian, but it has been changed and adapted into something that honors Christ and the light coming into the world through the incarnation. Bottle trees however, have not been changed or adapted to honor Christ. You see where I’m going with this? I can’t decide if it’s wrong but simultaneously don’t want to tend toward a mindset that goes against similar things that ARE Christian traditions.

Yesterday, we read about Jacob stealing Esau's blessing and escaping from his anger. We also witnessed the famous Jacob's Ladder scene. In the NT we learned about the importance of humility as depicted in an equally famous feast parable.

Today's passages: Genesis 29-30, Psalms 15, Luke 15

See you tomorrow.

Yesterday, we followed Isaac's story and learned that he made the same mistakes his father had made and that you can buy first-born privilege if you're a good cook. In the NT we were told of the importance of penance.

Today's passages: Genesis 27-28, Psalms 14, Luke 14

See you tomorrow.

Would Jesus have been happy with communion being reduced to the awkward consumption of a thin cracker while an old man is drinking alone at the end of the hall?

Yesterday we met Rebecca and were taught always to be prepared.

Today's passages: Genesis 25-26, Psalms 13, Luke 13

See you tomorrow.

I guess I’m just trying to understand what the beef is. Of course most of their stuff is condensed much more than it should be (but I think that’s the point, trying to provide answers to people who either don’t have the time or motivation to go read 20 pages on something). Besides this I’m not really sure why so many catholics seem to dislike the brand, their style, and a lot of their staff apologists. In fact, it seems many catholics (both theologically progressive and conservative alike) are prone to using them as a prime example of what not to do as a catholic (or better, how not to speak).

Just in general, if people could sum up the complaints with Catholic Answers, I’d really appreciate hearing what the major disagreements are? (Perhaps it’s just a vocal minority who think this way. I’m just explaining my experience).

Yesterday, we finally met Isaac, learned how to pray, and listened to Jesus condemning Pharisees' hypocrisy.

Today's passages: Genesis 23-24, Psalms 12, Luke 12

See you tomorrow.

So here is my review. As with anything Mary related this is always controversial because of the subject matter.

The film's producers being connected to Joel Osteen also raised serious eyebrows as to how the film would be treated.

I am happy to say that the film treats the Holy Family and Mary's parents with respect and its clear that the people making this film did so from a place of love and a desire to bring another angle to the holiday story to a wide audience.

The Good:

• The cinematography is great. There are so many times during the film (like the meme image) where its clear that things were very thought out in terms of style, direction and poise. Some of the shots are simply gorgeous... like the shot from the film regarding the annunciation. I paused it just to look at it.
• The casting. Casting is done exceptionally well. They tried wherever they could to hire a majority Jewish cast to preserve a sense of historicity and lineage. The woman who plays Mary looks the part and does a great job.
• Anthony Hopkins - Easily the best part of the movie. He steals the film as Herod and plays him almost to perfection. Herod is portrayed as an aging and almost dead tyrant that smiles through his lies, changes moods on a whim and murders without care or though to advance his schemes. Hopkins portrayal of him is simply brilliant.

The Mid:

• The film is largely based on the non-canonical apocryphal writings, the proto evangelium of James. The script here doesn't have much to go on until the nativity and biblical parts start kicking in and it had to be based on something. This is neither good nor bad, it simply is. The characters for St Anne and St Joachim are played very well by the respective actors.
• It's played in a fairly realistic way. The angel Gabriel is presented as appearing in a normal human form and not some over the top spectacle. For what it is, its done well for an audience that can't accept over-the-top stories and craves more realistic depictions of things.
• The treatment people were worried about for the angels and Satan were largely unfounded. The scene where Satan carries Mary is a dream sequence and works for the film. The angelic sequences work and even Gabriel calling Satan brother works in context. He is not greeting him in a friendly way but in a way that you would greet someone you used to know.
• The age of Joseph. Thankfully there is NO romance other than the initial attraction of Joseph to Mary. The relationship is presented as chaste. I found his age to be a bit odd as my understanding that Joseph is older (30s or even 40s to 50s) and acts more as a fatherly caretaker than true spouse. I don't think they could present it this way without secular audiences protesting it as being weird or unnatural not to have a romantic spouse your own age.

The Bad or Questionable:

• So... this is obviously produced by Protestants for a large mostly Protestant or lay audience that doesn't regard Mary the way Catholics do. If you have a problem with that, just skip the film entirely. I found the film watchable but not re-watchable. This will not be going into a regular holiday rotation. The portrayal of Mary is good but decidedly not Catholic and Catholics will object to some of the dialogue Mary uses. Other things like pain in birth are contested as there is no dogmatic position within the Church. Some say she experienced pain to highlight here union with the suffering of Christ and her participation in a normal human life. Others (including my Catechist) instructed me that Jesus entered the world as easily as light passing through glass. If you hold a firm stance in that regard you will object to the birth.
• This one is more funny than a complaint... but the treatment of horses and animals in general. There is a compressed view of space and time for run time but horses are used entirely out of historical context and are basically treated like motorcycles. What would be a multi-day or even multi week journey is shown as "just jump into a horse or wagon and we're there". Horses were not used outside of war and travel was on foot or by donkey or camel or mule so as a history nerd that one bugged me. 1900s style wagons are also used which I didn't like at all... but this is made for a largely uneducated lay audience for which total authenticity might come across as weird.
• The pacing. The pacing in this film can seem very disjointed and uneven... there is tremendous setup work done in the first half only to rush through the actual biblical scenes. It felt like the director was like "ok now do Simeon, ok now the wise men now Herod go go go".

Overall I would give this a 6.5/10. It's not re-watchable and its decidedly not Catholic but its done with enough respect that I think its worth at least one watch, even if just for Hopkins great portrayal of Herod.

Yet again, yesterday, we got really nicely chosen fragments. The OT showed us the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, while in the NT Jesus prophesied the fate that awaits cities that do not atone. We also witnessed Lot's daughters' deed, Abraham again pretending to be Sara's brother, and read the Good Samaritan parable.

Today's passages: Genesis 21-22, Psalms 11, Luke 11

See you tomorrow.