Catholic Bible Reading Checklist — Douay-Rheims Liturgical Year, Printable PDF
For Catholics who want to pray the Bible, not just read it.
Most Bible-in-a-year plans were built by Protestants, for Protestants — chronological timelines with no Deuterocanon, modern translations, and no connection to the liturgical life of the Church. A Year of Grace was designed from the ground up for Catholics who pray the traditional liturgy and read the Douay-Rheims.
The organizing principle is the Church's own calendar. Every book of the Catholic canon is placed in the season the Church has always associated with it — not because of a timeline, but because of what the Church is doing in that season.
— Advent waits with Isaias, Micheas, Zacharias, and the Apocalypse. The year opens with the prophets crying out for the coming King and ends, on Christmas Eve, with the last verse of Scripture: Come, Lord Jesus.
— Christmastide contemplates the Word made flesh: the infancy narratives of Luke and Matthew, the prologue of John, the Book of Wisdom, and the letters of Saint John.
— Ordinary Time I returns to the beginnings — Genesis and Ecclesiasticus — as the Church settles into the mystery of the Incarnation.
— Lent goes into the desert with Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Jeremias. The seven penitential psalms are added weekly, ending with Psalm 142 on Good Friday.
— Holy Week reads Saint Mark's Passion alongside the Servant Songs of Isaias and the Lamentations of the Tenebrae office — exactly the texts the Church chants in those sacred days.
— Eastertide runs from the empty tomb through the Gospel of John, the Acts of the Apostles, and the great epistles of new life — from Mark 16 on Easter Sunday to Acts 28 on Pentecost.
— Ordinary Time II carries the long story of the People of God: Leviticus through Machabees, the wisdom books, the remaining prophets, and the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The year ends on the feast of Christ the King with the Letter to the Hebrews.
The Psalter is prayed in course. One psalm every day, straight through from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150 in Vulgate numbering — twice over the year, the way the Roman Breviary prays the Psalter in the Divine Office. Psalm 118 is prayed in eleven days of two stanzas each. Longer psalms are split into two days.
What you receive:
- A beautifully formatted, printable PDF — 8 pages, landscape, ready to tuck inside your Bible or place on your prayer desk
- Color-coded by liturgical season (Advent purple, Lent violet, Holy Week crimson, Easter gold, Ordinary Time green)
- Douay-Rheims book names throughout (Isaias, Jeremias, Josue, Paralipomenon, Machabees, Apocalypse)
- Vulgate Psalm numbering as printed in your Douay-Rheims
An original work, built on the public-domain Douay-Rheims text and the Church's ancient lectionary tradition. Not affiliated with or derived from any podcast or published plan.
© 2026 Rommel I. Langomez, writing as faithfulsails · faithfulsails@gmail.com