Probably most of us have heard of a couple who were deeply in love with each other and then were separated for some reason or another. Perhaps the man went off to World War II or one of them went away to college. This was before phone calls were really an option, so they bridged the gap with frequent letters. These letters bore witness to just how much they loved and cared for each other, and how much they missed one another’s company. One, or perhaps both of them, carefully kept all of these letters in a box. Then many, many years later that box is stumbled upon in the attic. By this time, the children are all grown and gone . . . even the grandchildren are well launched into their careers. Perhaps the elderly spouse rediscovering the letters is a widow or widower now. Reading through these treasures causes a flood of emotions to well up. His heart burns within him as he once again tries to bridge the gap between them by means of words left on paper.
Words left on paper . . . bridging the gap . . . a Tremendous Lover. Cannot these images be applied to Scripture? The two disciples in our gospel today exclaimed: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” It was Jesus who opened the Scriptures to them. And it is his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who is still available to us to do the same thing. Perhaps we have had the experience of opening up our Bible, spending some time reading, and not feeling any effects. A good practice to cultivate is to ask the Holy Spirit to assist us in our reading before we start. He can open the Scriptures to us and make our hearts burn within us as we ponder what we read.
God wants to speak to our hearts; he wants to be in dialogue with us. In some of our other forms of prayer we speak to God. But reading and meditating on Scripture gives God a chance to speak to us. It is good to set aside 15 to 30 minutes for this every day. The Church encourages this practice by attaching a plenary indulgence to reading and praying with Scripture for 30 minutes.
Because there is such a diversity of temperaments among individuals, or even different stages and seasons in one person’s lifetime, there are many ways to go about interacting with Scripture. With the help of the daily missal or publications like Magnificat one is able to spend time meditating on the readings that will be used at Mass each day. Some people prefer doing what in monastic circles is termed “lectio continuo,” or continuous reading – choosing a book of the Bible and reading all the way through it. Some people like to take a highlighter and mark the sentences or phrases that really spoke to them. Sometimes different colored highlighters represent different functions, and help us relive their significance when we go over these words again some time in the future.
Some Scripture readers like the method called “Bible Roulette,” where they open the Bible at random and start reading. They figure God will mysteriously guide them to just what they need to hear at that time. This sometimes works, but we don’t want to get too superstitious about it.
Some people find it helpful to journal as they meditate on Scripture. Some people like making little notes in the margin. Others are so moved by some thought that they just want to sit and dwell with it. All of these forms are good, and might even all happen to the same person in the same prayer period. The important thing is to open ourselves up to the communication of God in a way that is rewarding and meaningful to us, and not something that we will dread doing.
We are composite beings, and the spiritual side of ourselves needs to be cared for just as our bodies do. If we go too long without sleep, we eventually stop functioning. If we neglect supplying our physical nature with food and drink, the same will happen. Praying with Scripture is an excellent way of nourishing our spiritual life. By listening to God in his word we are being fed. It is like putting fuel in the tank, or charging our batteries. If we do not find time for it, our spiritual energy will start growing dim, and our spiritual life will look like one of those malnourished children we see in mission magazines.
Even in a monastery it is possible to let our “holy reading,” or “lectio divina,” as we call it, get squeezed out in a busy schedule. Periods of aridity may make us gravitate toward something a little more exciting or interesting. But it is important to persevere. These “words left on paper” really do have a supernatural dimension to them. Their authors were intimately guided by the Holy Spirit. And our God, who is so infinitely in love with us, wants to speak to our hearts and make them burn with the same love for him.
