Read (and meditate)

St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church, reminds us that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Jesus is the Word made flesh that dwelt among us as so beautifully declared by St. John in the Prologue to his Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him (John 1:1-18).

Those desiring a deep relationship with Christ must frequently meditate with His inspired Word. A Catholic practice known as Lectio Divina can be very fruitful to this end. It involves selecting a short scripture passage and then pray with it by following four basic steps: Lectio (read), Meditatio (meditation), Oratio (speak), and Contemplatio (contemplate). Here is a helpful link to a pdf file for more detailed instructions.

Consider spending 15 minutes or more each day praying with the Word. The best days begin with the bible and a cup of coffee!

Thankfully there are many resources available to aid our study and meditation with the Word, including: Fr. Mike Schmitz’ “Bible in a Year” podcast, the Ignation Study Bible (currently only the New Testament is available), The Word on Fire Bible (currently only the New Testament is available), The Navarre Bible series, anything by Dr. John Bergsma, Dr. Peter Kreeft’s commentary entitled “Food for the soul” (and really anything from Dr. Kreeft), resources at Dr. Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center, the Augustine Institute, www.formed.org and on and on and on.

A spiritual plan of life and our prayer becomes fruitful and we find true and everlasting peace when we are regularly doing spiritual reading. Here are a few suggestions (we welcome suggestions as this site list will continue to be updated):