Praying a Text

Winning the prize for the shortest, yet also really good, introduction to this topic is Praying the Bible, by Kristine A. Haig, coordinator for spiritual formation in the Presbyterian Church, USA. Haig commends a four-part practice, "read, listen, pray, respond." Check out her article for more on each of these words.

I learned the practice of lectio divina, or sacred reading, when I was living at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research on the campus of St. John's University and Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. I finished my Ph. D. dissertation there during one long winter semester (deceptively called "spring semester" in the school catalog).

Thinking it was a way to avoid work on the dissertation as much as anything else, I developed a daily practice of praying the psalms both alone and in community. I found more than just a way to avoid my studies. Here is some of what I know about praying scripture.

Lectio Divina

In lectio divina, the way into prayer is with the words of a scripture passage. Usually your text is just a few verses. The Latin words associated with this practice are lectio (reading), meditatio (meditation), oratio (prayer), contemplatio (contemplation). If those words sound too much like the same thing to you, it might help to think of the practice this way:

Reading

With a little quiet space and time, choose a passage to pray. This may be a text you are working on in other ways in order to prepare a Bible study or a sermon, or not. Read the text slowly, listening for a word for you today.

Meditation

When something occurs to you as particularly meaningful or striking to you, linger over that part or word or phrase from the text. What caught your eye? How is the word a word for you? I like this part of lectio divina because I can welcome my mind going from one idea to another and then back to the first idea, trying to make connections. I don't have to worry that I'm "distracted" when I should be praying. The distractions are part of the prayer and lead to ways that I see the text connecting with my life. Any time you seem to be getting too far from the text, just return to reading it. It will focus your meditation.

Prayer

Has your reading surfaced anything you would like to address to God? Thanksgiving, confession, petition, intercession: any of these can occur to us as we are reading scripture. Each of them is a prayer.

Contemplation

At this point, lectio divina calls for just sort of being with God, perhaps without words or actions. Luke Dysinger, OSB, calls this "resting in the embrace of God." I've never gotten the hang of this, but I commend it to you just the same. Perhaps it would work to say lectio divina begins and ends with quiet.

Resources

Praying the Bible is a very short introduction to the topic by Kristine A. Haig, coordinator for spiritual formation in the Presbyterian Church, USA. Haig commends a four-part practice, "read, listen, pray, respond."

John Veltri, S.J., has a clear, readable piece on praying with scripture that he summarizes with 5 P's and 1 R. These are his points:

• Passage of Scripture | Have one ready.
• Place | Where you are alone and may respond freely to God's presence.
• Posture | Relaxed and peaceful.
• Presence of God| Be aware of it, acknowledge and respond to it.
• Passage | Turn to this when you are ready. Read slowly, listening with the heart.
• Review | Review your experience to notice what God is doing in and through it.

For a longer piece on Lectio Divina, including how to practice lectio in a group, see Accepting the Embrace of God: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.

Next: Seeing a Text