Yes, I went on Amazon and searched for a highly rated bible. I’ve written a handful of posts on my admiration of catholic traditions, church architecture, and sacred music. Yet, I have never bought a Bible for myself. The last Bible I owned is one issued by my high school, and I left it at my parent’s house.

I initially began writing this post by citing examples of religious things that I have expressed an interest in. It sounded apologetic, and I feel ashamed that that is my first instinct. Why is it now embarrassing to tell even the slightest belief in Christianity? You’re seen as educated and open-minded when you know about religious holidays of other cultures, but saying things like Merry Christmas, God’s creation, and The Lord are not acceptable. Why is it easy to say “I was raised Catholic,” but not “I am Catholic.”

As I was watching planners on YouTube, I noticed a few of them mentioned that they had Faith planners to remind them to read scripture and reflect on it. I admired them for doing it and found myself missing being a part of that for so many years during elementary and high school. I used to be in campus ministry in high school and was even a Eucharistic minister. So how and why did I ignore that part of me for many years?

Perhaps this is all part of the journey. I have studied the sciences–especially biology–, and I am a firm believer in science. I accept what I’ve been told about the universe on faith alone since I have no way of directly proving so many things. Have you ever seen a black hole? Can you see the spiral shape of our galaxy? I’m going to take a wild guess and say you haven’t. To be fair, there is a lot more readily available evidence for what we know about sciences than there is evidence supporting God’s existence. It’s a bigger leap of faith, but it’s one I want to make. I want to believe, even if it is for nothing more than the beautiful teachings one can find. There are many zealots and extremists that twist the messages, whether it be of the Bible, the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Quoran.

I want to read the scriptures for myself and use its message in my daily life to live a more wholesome life.

So I bought a Bible.