In my previous post, I talked about starting a new program here at New Walden that is intended to help improve our practice of the Christian faith. I’ve been planning to make a video to kick this project off, but that is taking too long to complete, so I will need to settle for a written blog post.

For the past twelve years or so, I have been keeping what I call a “Rosary Journal.” It is a plain composition book with tabbed sections, each devoted to a different mystery of the rosary. What goes into the tabbed sections? Bible passages that are connected by theme or imagery to a particular mystery of the rosary. In essence, what we are doing is creating our own scriptural rosary book.

This has been a tremendously fruitful exercise in my spiritual life. It has become the foundation of my prayer and contemplative life, and it has vastly improved my knowledge and comprehension of the Bible. If you are familiar with my book, you know that it is loaded with passages from the Bible. It was my rosary journal devotion that gave me that Biblical knowledge. Without the rosary journal, it would have been impossible for me to write my book.

The rosary journal exercise is especially powerful during the Church seasons, and so I think we should start this project right away for the season of Advent. If you are interested in this project, you should go out today and get yourself a composition book and some tabs. Look up the Mass readings for the first week of Advent and see if you can decide where they should go in your rosary journal. You can find those readings online here. For the truly ambitious, you can also include the Office of Readings, which are online here.

I am going to try and get back to you today with more information, and I am going to share some of my own thoughts about where I think the readings go in the rosary journal. It’s a very fun way to immerse yourself in the Bible! Talk to you soon. JG