Bible reading and prayer

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Does anyone have any suggestions for integrating Bible reading into daily prayer? Praying the Psalms? Meditating on the Gospel?
 
Start at Genesis 1:1 and pray that God will reveal Himself through His Word. Continue reading and praying for wisdom, understanding, discernment and things of the like and work your way through until you reach Revelation 22:21. God bless you.
 
I was also going to suggest the Liturgy of the Hours. It is the Bible as prayer… centered on the psalms and longer (Office of Readings) and shorter readings (other hours) throughout the day.
 
We have a multitude of resources that would assist you with this, one that I love and use daily is Living Faith
livingfaith.com/
It has the reading for the day with a short devotional written by some interesting people. they have recently added a Kindle addition which comes up on my phone and Ipad making it so easy to use. I also have some apps that are very good, giving all the readings for the day. Depending on if you have access to a these apps, you just have to go to the app store and all of them are free. I have Laudate on my Ipad which gives you more than just the daily bible readings, it is free and great.
 
ephesians2 said:
Start at Genesis 1:1 and pray that God will reveal Himself through His Word. Continue reading and praying for wisdom, understanding, discernment and things of the like and work your way through until you reach Revelation 22:21. God bless you.
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Big N-O on this. You will absolutely die at Leviticus and stop all together. Leviticus is a law book and just as nourishing and entertaining as reading a tax form or legal code. You might even drop off early in when Exodus once all the religious furnishings and protocols are described.

Read up on what Lectio Divinia is and apply it with LotH or Daily Mass readings. I also recommend the Great Bible Adventure. You can get the reading assignments here. The Bible Timeline Alternate Reading List and listen along for free here: Our Father’s Plan. They won’t match up perfectly but it works out in the end.

As you search around for bible readings stay away from Protestant Devotionals. Some Protestants use the term Devotional to refer to bible study or bible readings. They may have more resources in that department, but it’s all filtered through their theological perspective. Also they are particular to the tastes and choices of the maker as opposed to fitting in the whole scheme of the Catholic Church’s teachings.
 
OraLabora said:
I was also going to suggest the Liturgy of the Hours. It is the Bible as prayer… centered on the psalms and longer (Office of Readings) and shorter readings (other hours) throughout the day.
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I suggest this as well
 
Skygor said:
Big N-O on this. You will absolutely die at Leviticus and stop all together. Leviticus is a law book and just as nourishing and entertaining as reading a tax form or legal code. You might even drop off early in when Exodus once all the religious furnishings and protocols are described.

Big N-O on reading the Bible in its entirety? Hmm. I’d disagree here. That’s like saying only read sections of a great novel. Or skip the first few sections of the instruction manual. The books are there for a reason. While I agree with you on Leviticus being brutal to read, it’s history and it plays into the entire Old Testement. After reading through all the rules and regulations of the old covenant we can come to the New Testament and PRAISE THE LORD that a Christian no longer has to abide by all those rules and regulations because now we have Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!
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"My dear young friends, I urge you to become familiar with the Bible, and to have it at hand so that it can be your compass pointing out the road to follow. By reading it, you will learn to know Christ. Note what Saint Jerome said in this regard: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (PL 24,17; cf Dei Verbum, 25). A time-honoured way to study and savour the word of God is lectio divina which constitutes a real and veritable spiritual journey marked out in stages. After the* lectio*, which consists of reading and rereading a passage from Sacred Scripture and taking in the main elements, we proceed to meditatio. This is a moment of interior reflection in which the soul turns to God and tries to understand what his word is saying to us today. Then comes oratio in which we linger to talk with God directly. Finally we come to contemplatio. This helps us to keep our hearts attentive to the presence of Christ whose word is “a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Pet 1:19). Reading, study and meditation of the Word should then flow into a life of consistent fidelity to Christ and his teachings.

Saint James tells us: “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act - they will be blessed in their doing” (1:22-25). Those who listen to the word of God and refer to it always, are constructing their existence on solid foundations. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them”, Jesus said, “will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Mt 7:24). It will not collapse when bad weather comes.

To build your life on Christ, to accept the word with joy and put its teachings into practice: this, young people of the third millennium, should be your programme! There is an urgent need for the emergence of a new generation of apostles anchored firmly in the word of Christ, capable of responding to the challenges of our times and prepared to spread the Gospel far and wide. It is this that the Lord asks of you, it is to this that the Church invites you, and it is this that the world - even though it may not be aware of it - expects of you! If Jesus calls you, do not be afraid to respond to him with generosity, especially when he asks you to follow him in the consecrated life or in the priesthood. Do not be afraid; trust in him and you will not be disappointed."

–Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/youth/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20060222_youth_en.html

Latin: lectio divina -divine reading
lectio: reading
meditatio: meditation
oratio: prayer
contemplatio: contempation
 
I am very much interested in lectio divina, and have realized that I already practice it in a sort of rudimentary form. I want to understand and do it better. Can someone explain to me the difference between steps 2 and 4 (meditatio and contemplatio)? I intuit that meditatio is of course meditating upon and thinking about the meaning of the reading, but how does this differ from contemplation? And how does either of these differ from oratio? What am I praying about?
 
I started with the gospel of John, and I’m glad I did. 🙂

I ended up reading the gospels “backwards” the first book last, and the last, first. 😛

And other than that I love almost anything in the New Testament. I really don’t spend enough time in the O.T. but for most of the time when the N.T. refers back I can take the footnote and look at it.

Alan
 
I’m currently reading the Bible cover to cover but I’m doing it as part of an organised, online academic course which makes it more meaningful. The section I did tonight emphasised the importance of attitude when reading the Bible. We need an attitude of “worship and humility of mind” so that God can reveal his word to us.

Personally, when I read the Old Testament is generally makes more sense to me. I find it very hard to understand Jesus teachings without them being explained to me. If I hear a sermon, I can sort of get it. But they are each a puzzle to solve. Maybe its just me. 🙂
 
StMartinTours said:
I am very much interested in lectio divina, and have realized that I already practice it in a sort of rudimentary form. I want to understand and do it better. Can someone explain to me the difference between steps 2 and 4 (meditatio and contemplatio)? I intuit that meditatio is of course meditating upon and thinking about the meaning of the reading, but how does this differ from contemplation? And how does either of these differ from oratio? What am I praying about?
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Oratio I find is the shortest step sometimes. Based on the passage you read, you ask God for something, perhaps help in achieving a virtue expressed in the reading, or the grace to overcome a sin. Most of the time I just ask God to reveal what He is saying to me in the passage.

Contemplation is simply listening to what God has to tell you after you have done the other three steps. In truth, I find that this final step is not always easy to achieve given all the distractions. We often want to talk to God, to tell Him what we want or need, but listening is difficult. I find that if I sit with my journal I write what ever comes to me from God. Sometimes I don’t get anything but just sitting in silence in His presence is good enough at that moment. I am still receiving His Grace.
 
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