{"id":39758,"date":"2013-05-20T08:35:01","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T13:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=39758"},"modified":"2013-05-20T08:35:34","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T13:35:34","slug":"dominican-sisters-and-the-american-bible-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/dominican-sisters-and-the-american-bible-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominican Sisters and The American Bible Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/dominican-sisters-and-the-american-bible-challenge\/biblechallenge-jpg-728x520_q85\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-39759\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-39759\" alt=\"American Bible Challenge\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/biblechallenge.jpg.728x520_q85-630x385.png?resize=500%2C305\" width=\"500\" height=\"305\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As you might be aware of the\u00a0Dominican Sisters of Mary have been contestants on this season&#8217;s &#8220;The American Bible Challenge&#8221; and will be appearing in the final at\u00a09 p.m. ET\/8 p.m. CT Thursday, May 23 on The Game Show Network. We had the\u00a0opportunity to ask Sr. Maria Suso\u00a0some questions about her and her follow Sister&#8217;s time on the show and are happy to share that interview with\u00a0y&#8217;all.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Catholics aren\u2019t known for reading the Bible; what\u2019s the best way to get started?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No matter what Maria sings in the Sound of Music, the beginning isn\u2019t always \u201ca very good place to start.\u201d If you want to begin reading the Bible, I would recommend starting with the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Not only are they \u201ceasy reads,\u201d but they contain the core of God\u2019s selfrevelation to us. They focus on Jesus, and isn\u2019t He the reason we want to read the Bible in the first place? Also, Jesus is the Key Who unlocks the true meaning of everything else we encounter in the Scriptures.<\/p>\n<p>After the Gospels, I recommend reading Acts of the Apostles, which tells the story of the early\u00a0Church, and the letters of the New Testament, which are beautiful, inspiring, and instructive. Also, the\u00a0book of Psalms is a great place to find ready-made prayers for every possible occasion or emotion.\u00a0A good Catholic study Bible or book of biblical commentary can help you understand difficult\u00a0passages. Most study Bibles also include reading plans that will take you through the most important\u00a0parts of the Bible, sometimes in chronological order (surprisingly, the Bible is not in chronological order).\u00a0Similar reading plans can also be found online. These can especially help you as you delve into the\u00a0unfamiliar territory of the Old Testament. They give the books a context and show how God\u2019s loving\u00a0plan for us unfolds over time.<\/p>\n<p>A final word: no one ever masters the Bible, but if we let it, the Bible can master us. The\u00a0Scriptures are meant to be read daily; the same passages can be read over and over again because they\u00a0are a \u201cliving word,\u201d the Word of God, our God Who is always speaking to us. Never be discouraged if you\u00a0don\u2019t understand, but keep seeking. Through His Word, Jesus is calling you to himself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: The Bible is such a dense collection of stories, was it easier to have each player focus on, say, one\u00a0part of the Old Testament while the others focused on another part and the last the New Testament?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As you might guess, it\u2019s next to impossible to \u201ccram\u201d for a test on the Bible! That said, we knew\u00a0we needed heavy review if we were going to be competitive on the show. We decided that each book of\u00a0the Bible should be \u201ccovered\u201d by one or two sisters. We each had different strategies for \u201ccovering\u201d\u00a0books: sometimes we just read them through, sometimes we took notes, and sometimes we used\u00a0reference books or atlases to help us focus on key people, places, and events.<\/p>\n<p>Since two of us have a special love for the Old Testament, we both covered everything up to the\u00a0Wisdom books (like Psalms, Proverbs, Wisdom, etc.). Then we divided the Wisdom books and the\u00a0Prophets between us. The third Sister focused on the New Testament, and she and I both covered Acts\u00a0and Revelation. All of us were supposed to be experts on the Gospels.<\/p>\n<p>Though all this may seem complicated, it was, for the most part, a joyful and prayerful\u00a0experience to prepare for The American Bible Challenge. Our preparations challenged me to pay more\u00a0attention to the details in the Scriptures and helped me realize more deeply that nothing in the\u00a0Scriptures is wasted \u2013 everyone matters, even the wicked Israelite kings who only get a few lines in 2\u00a0Chronicles. They are, in some mysterious way, part of God\u2019s providential plan to save mankind from our\u00a0sins and shower His mercy upon us.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How confident were you going into the final round focusing on the Miracles of Jesus?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We felt very confident going into the Final Revelation of the semi-finals for two reasons. First,\u00a0we knew that God was in charge of everything and that we were doing God\u2019s will. Because we live a life\u00a0of obedience, we knew that God, through our superiors, had brought us to that moment and was taking\u00a0care of everything. We had a deep peace.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the Gospels are extremely familiar to us. As religious sisters, we take a vow of chastity:\u00a0Jesus is our Spouse. We love to read and savor the Gospels while we spend time with Him. As a\u00a0community, we make a half-hour meditation each day, usually during our daily Eucharistic holy hour.\u00a0Often that mediation is based on a passage from the Gospels. If you add that to daily Mass readings,\u00a0daily spiritual reading, mediation during the Rosary, and all our other ways of encountering Scripture,\u00a0the sum is a strong familiarity with Jesus and His miracles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you might be aware of the\u00a0Dominican Sisters of Mary have been contestants on this season&#8217;s &#8220;The American Bible Challenge&#8221; and will be appearing in the final at\u00a09 p.m. ET\/8 p.m. CT Thursday, May 23 on The Game Show Network. We had the\u00a0opportunity to ask Sr. Maria Suso\u00a0some questions about her and her follow Sister&#8217;s&#8230;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/dominican-sisters-and-the-american-bible-challenge\/\">[Read&nbsp;More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[90,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-faith-blog","category-news","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":180704,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/review-new-testament-basics-for-catholics\/","url_meta":{"origin":39758,"position":0},"title":"The Story of the King and His Kingdom (Review: &#8220;New Testament Basics for Catholics&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"December 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to a few years of Bible studies, I could easily tell you that the \"plot\" of the Bible is the fulfillment of the covenant between God and his people. Now I can tell you that the New Testament has its own \"subplot,\" so to speak. A few summers ago,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A review of \"New Testament Basics for Catholics\" at AustinCNM.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/acnm-newtestamentbasics-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/acnm-newtestamentbasics-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/acnm-newtestamentbasics-550x367.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":350798,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/get-through-bible-today-video-john-bergsma-bible-basics\/","url_meta":{"origin":39758,"position":1},"title":"Get Through the Bible Today! (Video: John Bergsma, &#8220;Bible Basics for Catholics&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"January 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you a member of the Perpetual Bible in a Year Club? I am. I know several people who have read through the entire Bible. Some have even managed it in a year. About ten years ago now, I set out to join them... and like many others, I fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/BmxgYU54rgU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44581,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/free-tickets-dinner-benefiting-dominican-sisters-mary-march-24\/","url_meta":{"origin":39758,"position":2},"title":"FREE tickets to dinner benefiting Dominican Sisters of Mary, March 24","author":"Martina","date":"March 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Texas\u00a0Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and Catholic Sistas have come together to offer two free tickets to the dinner and live auction for Open Wide the Doors, a benefit that will help the Sisters with the Texas Expansion project. The event will be held on Monday,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;World and News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"World and News","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo-100","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/photo-100-630x630.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41678,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/encountering-god-encountering-beauty-dominican-sisters-stay\/","url_meta":{"origin":39758,"position":3},"title":"Encountering God, Encountering Beauty: The Dominican Sisters are Here to Stay!","author":"Kathryn Whitaker","date":"September 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cYou encounter God when you encounter beauty.\u201d While a Dominican Sister of Mary may have stolen those words from my brain, they are oh-so-true, aren\u2019t they? From the first moment I met these Dominicans, three words came to mind: beauty, joy and faithfulness. 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