Prayer with Scripture Is Not Just for Monks

Many Catholics may have fairly active sacramental lives and prayer lives. Unfortunately, for some, their prayer lives often omit prayer with Scripture. Instead, they focus almost solely on vocal prayer—talking to God. Prayer with Scripture, or lectio divina, as it is called—is “mental” prayer. It’s a process whereby we read and meditate on a passage of Scripture, to listen to God talk to us. Through this process, we can develop a stronger relationship with Our Lord. In doing so, we become closer to Him and more open to understanding His will for us in the concrete circumstances of life. It allows us to both talk to, and listen to, God in a true dialogue. None of our human relationships will grow and prosper if one party does all the talking. Why would we expect that to be different for our relationship with Our Lord?

Isn’t Prayer with Scripture Difficult?

Prayer with Scripture is not difficult. As with any other process, it’s something we can learn. Indeed, we will find that the more we do it, the more likely, through God’s abounding grace and love, we will want to do more of it. It’s not just for cloistered monks and nuns. It is a path to God’s grace open to all of us, lay and religious alike. Nor does it require us to devote multiple hours of time to it each day. A person can start out with about 15 minutes a day. Just a quarter hour of time or less can open up the door to let Christ come into our hearts more often and more deeply. Who doesn’t have that much time available? We can waste far more time than that surfing the web, looking over social media sites, or mindlessly flipping through television channels.

Getting Ready for Prayer with Scripture

Before we begin our prayer with Scripture, we need to place ourselves in God’s presence. This is as simple as saying, “You are here with me, my Heavenly Father. I place myself in Your presence.” As we do so, we sit there quietly—in silence—and relax, imagining how much He loves us and how He is looking at us with His infinite love, right now, in this moment. We ask Him to send the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us to pray.

Our daily prayer with Scripture should be a time when we come to have dialogue with God. That means we are not focused on reciting a litany of special prayer intentions. Rather, we are focused on getting to know God better and to understand His will for us. Thus, we should be directing all our thoughts toward Him. He should be our heart’s top priority at this time.

Acknowledging our poverty in front of Him helps set the right tone for this time of prayer with Scripture as well. In other words, we need to recognize that we are weak, and without Him, we can do nothing. This is true humility—recognizing that He is God and we are not, and that we, as His children, depend on Him for everything.

Faith in God opens us up to His abundant graces. The more faith we have, that is, the more we trust in Him, the more we receive from Him. How much do we trust God? We may trust Him, but do we trust Him with full surrender to His Divine Providence? Or do we still have the training wheels on our spiritual bicycle? We therefore make an act of faith, and if necessary, ask for the grace for total faith and trust in Him.

Graces Sought in Prayer with Scripture

Before reading the Scripture passage, we want to be sure ask the Lord for the special grace we are seeking. “What grace?” you may ask? If we have a spiritual director working with us, he or she may have identified a grace for us to consider. We may, through a review of the patterns of sin we’ve been confessing, have an idea or two as well. In any event, we should let no prayer time begin without asking for the grace we seek.

Prayer with Scripture—A Simple Approach

One simple method of diving into prayer with Scripture involves taking two or more passes at reading the Scripture passage. In this method, we initially would prayerfully read the entire passage. At the end of your reading, we might stop and reflect. What is the overall point of this passage—what lesson is it teaching? Of course, if we are moved to stop at any time during the reading, we should do so. We want to be open to the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to us.

Next, we would read through the passage again, stopping at any word, phrase or verse that catches the attention of our heart. This is the time to speak openly with the Lord about what comes to us—our desires, fears, thoughts, feelings—whatever comes up. We’ll talk with Him about what’s on our heart. At some point, we’ll have said all there is. Perhaps we’ll start thinking about other things or encountering distractions. It’s then time to move on to the next verse, repeating this process through the chosen passage.

We should be reading the Scripture slowly, and if possible, even out loud, to let the Word soak into our hearts. This is not the time to speed-read. Now, obviously, if we’re in the chapel or the sanctuary with others, we shouldn’t be causing any distractions, so we may not be able to read it out loud.

Take Time to Listen

After we’ve gone through the passage as above, we want to leave time to just be present to the Lord. This is the time when we want to just be there with Him and listen. Now, we should not expect to hear an audible voice when listening. Many times, when we listen, we may not hear or feel anything in terms of a “do this” or “don’t do that” message. But we often feel a movement of our heart—some uplifting sense, the warmth of His gaze and His love. We may get an answer to a question we’ve had. Sometimes, we just don’t feel or “hear” anything. That’s okay. He knows what we need and He knows we’ve carved out this time to spend with Him—to listen to Him.

Take Notes

After our prayer time, we ought to jot down what we think the Lord told us, what we felt, and how we think it went generally. Writing our notes down afterwards keeps the praying time flowing. Over time, looking back at these notes can provide us with insights as to where the Lord is working on, and with, us. They’ll also help us identify ongoing improvement opportunities for future prayer with Scripture.

Optimizing Your Prayer with Scripture

If someone is new to prayer with Scripture, beginning with the Gospels is a good way to start. We can use the daily Gospel reading, or we can just begin to work through one of the Gospels. As with just about any other area of life, there are some things at can help us, and others that can impede us in this effort. These include setting a time and finding a place for prayer from which we can create a routine. They also include avoiding distractions that can dissipate our attention and reduce the quality of our time with God.

Create a Set Time and Place

Getting into a rhythm of daily prayer helps immensely. This requires fidelity to a set time every day. The time and location where we pray should be free of distractions—no noise from the television, iPod, radio, family, etc. It helps, as well, to have a separate location in which to pray. If we have a separate room we can devote to the prayer, that is set aside (the definition of “sacred”) it’s ideal. Even if we don’t have a separate room, can we find a corner or spot in a room that we can set aside for prayer? Getting into the rhythm makes it easier to keep up a daily prayer pattern.

What time of day? It depends—on your schedule, the family schedule, availability of the space and quiet you need, and on you personally. I’ve learned, personally, that the first thing in the morning is optimal for me. I hit it when I have not been set upon by work and other “emergencies.” This makes it easier to focus on Him. I’ve learned also to not have my coffee until after prayer time. The caffeine makes it all too easy for me to become distracted. We’re all different, though, and we each need to do what works for us.

Avoid Technology Distractions

These often come in the form of screen time on the computer, tablet, smart phone or television. Not much good comes from spending any time on these devices immediately preceding prayer with Scripture. Rather, they are a source of stimulation, agitation and dissipation that can get in the way of our actively listening to God. That’s one reason why I personally favor old-fashioned, printed Bibles and classic spiritual books over electronic versions, at least for praying. With the paper book, there’s no technology to tempt me or distract me.

Time to Get Started

The approach suggested here is one of many, or actually, a combination from several, approaches. There’s no one best way to approach this, and many books have been written on the topic. This post is intended to encourage those who might have been putting off this wonderful time and method of prayer. If you are not presently praying with Scripture, there is no time like now to begin practicing lectio divina. Prayer with Scripture should be a part of all of our lives. It’s not hard, and it doesn’t require a lot of time. Many blessings will come to those who commit to taking a little time to talk with—and listen to—the Lord.

Some Resources on Prayer with Scripture

Into the Deep, Dan Burke

Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina, Tim Gray

Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, Michael Casey, OCSO