1. CHEWING THE BREAD OF THE WORD
Equipping Our Spiritual Toolbox: Rediscovering the Practice of Spiritual Reading
CHEWING THE BREAD OF THE WORD

2. INTRODUCTION: WHAT MAKES OUR READING “SPIRITUAL”?

3. What makes our reading “Spiritual”?
INTENTION
ATTITUDE
MANNER we bring to the words…
Spiritual Reading is REFLECTIVE & PRAYERFUL
Macrina Wiederkehr:
“We do not always realize what a radical suggestion it is for us to read to be formed and transformed rather than to gather information. We are information seekers. We love to cover territory.”
Spiritual Reading is more FORMATION than it is “Information”

4. Willingness to HEAR GOD through the words to help SHAPE US into a deeper relationship with Christ
MANY KINDS of literature can be used in this way…

5. SACRED SCRIPTURE: GOD’S WORD TO US

6. Human words becoming transparent to some mysterious and infinite depth we can never fully grasp
“Sounding in and through the human words of scripture, like the sea within a conch shell, is another reality, vaster than mind or imagination can compass. God has chosen to be bound to the words of scripture; in and through them, the Holy One comes near.”

7. Cistercian Abbot William of St. Thierry:
“The Scriptures need to be read and understood in the same spirit in which they were written…. You will never understand David until by experience you have made the sentiments of the psalms your own. And that applies to all Scripture. There is the same gulf between attentive study and mere reading as there is between friendship and acquaintance with a passing guest.”
When it comes to sacred scripture…it is not WE who read the Word…rather…IT IS THE WORD THAT “READS” US!
Not an issue of “mastering” the text…but rather…being MASTERED BY THE SOURCE of the text

8. HOW TO READ SACRED SCRIPTURE AS SPIRITUAL READING

9. LECTIO DIVINA Macrina Wiederkehr:
“Read with a vulnerable heart. Expect to be blessed in the reading. Read as one awake, one waiting for the beloved. Read with reverence.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa [c ] & St. Benedict of Nursia [c ]…
LECTIO DIVINA

10. FOUR BASIC STEPS (IN THE DANCE) OF LECTIO DIVINA
LECTIO(N)
Reading…
MEDITATIO(N)
Meditation…
ORATIO(N)
Prayer…
CONTEMPLATIO(N)
Resting in the Divine Presence

11. “When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart….” Jeremiah 15:16

12. CONCLUSION…

13. “How sweet to my taste are your words, sweeter than honey to my mouth
“How sweet to my taste are your words, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103 “Your words are more precious than gold, even the finest gold; they are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.” Psalm 19:10

14. LAST SESSION OF THE SEASON:
LAST SESSION OF THE SEASON: SUNDAY APRIL 7 The Practice of Self-Examination: Daily Examen, Confession & Awareness