Reading through the Bible and Catechism in a year

I am using Coming Home Network's plan for reading the Bible and Catechism in a year.  I have been through the Bible in 90 days and a lot of study since from the questions that arose. Now armed with more understanding, I want to go through it again. In looking for a yearly plan, I found this one that included the Catechism.

Day 1
Genesis 1
Psalm 1
Matthew 1:1-17
Intro to Catechism

Genesis 1 - This outlines the creation of earth. So this brings up the question of creationism vs evolution. You will find a lot of arguments about whether the earth is thousands of years old or millions of years old. Some will question how long a day is. But does it matter?

What are the important matters to take from this first chapter. God was here before anything else and he created it all. Now does it matter if POOF it all appeared or if a process was spoken and God watched it unfold. No, it only matters that we acknowledge a divine intelligent Creator.

Now many creationists will argue that we must take it very literally or people won't believe the rest of the Bible. Then many of these faced with John 6 and the necessity for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist will then argue that Jesus though adamantly repeating the same thing over and over without the typical alternate explanation that he offered in other cases where people misunderstood him, allowed majority of his followers to leave over something "symbolic." Their theology isn't consistent.

You can question things on both sides but I think that is the point. If we could find all the answers in science, why would we need to look for something higher? There's always the evidence of intelligence in the tiniest cells. You can never be satisfied with creation til you look for the Creator

Psalm 1 - I remember staying with my grandparents and memorizing this passage of Scripture. So it is one of my favorites. I think it highlights that we need to be in some cases physically separated from wickedness but most importantly in our minds and hearts. We need to meditate on the law of The Lord day and night. I just finished a book by Tami Kiser, Smart Martha's Catholic Guide for Busy Moms.  While there are a lot of tips to do things simply and efficiently like Martha, we have to constantly be mindful of how Christ is beckoning us to sit at his feet as Mary did. We need the time in Bible study and prayer. We may find him in the service to our children, husband, neighbors, church family, etc. But prayerfully keeping our focus on the source so life itself.

Matthew 1:1-17

The genealogy of Christ is divided into 3 periods; from promise given to promise fulfilled, from promise fulfilled to promise lost, from promise lost to promise fulfilled eternally. The number of generations in each period is 14. Some scholars note that 14 is the number of David always pointing to Jesus as the Son of David.

Catechism - Intro

This talked about the purposes of the Catechism as a "reference text" that "fulfilled the mission of the Church to guard the deposit of faith." You can look in the index at any Scripture and find the teachings of the Church that correlate to that particular passage. You can also reference documents by Early Church Fathers and more. The Catechism is "offered to every individual who asks us to give an account of the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15) and who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes." We have a guide to exactly what the Church teaches. We still have to form our conscience according to the Scripture but I am thankful for a means to avoid confusion.

In a college town in Mississippi, I sat in a restaurant near a table of six college students. I couldn't help overhearing bits of their conversation. They compared and contrasted their various denominational beliefs amidst a lot of confusion of the ones trying to explain the reasons why. But they never seemed to arrived at any truth. In the Catholic Church, we have a book compiling our beliefs and backed up by thousands of years of Scripture and a couple thousand more of the Holy Spirit's work in the Church.