Dumb question: What is Scripture?

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scapularkid8

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How can I use it to speak to me?..well, how can I listen for God’s voice in it? If I’m short on time in the morning, how can I take a couple seconds to meditate on the Word if I’m worried about getting to work on time? What are your strategies?
 
Open it and read a verse or two as soon as you wake in the morning. Maybe ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Then reflect on that passage during the day in quiet moments.

Maybe you could set you alarm 15 minutes earlier.

Fr Larry Richards has a saying, “No Bible, no breakfast. No Bible, no bed.” Meaning, make it a habit to read a little at the beginning and end of each day.
 
Someone once told me, that I could spend a full half-hour, or more–even an hour–on one verse. I was convinced she was wrong, but I tried it.
Where am I going with this? That it is really true: there is an enormous amount to be gained from just a single verse. And you can carry it with you. Read the words over, say them over; get them planted in your head. The rest of the day, whenever you have a minute, go back to the same words, as best as you remember them, in your mind.
By the end of the day, you will have gained so much from those few words. We all do basically “mindless” things all the time, things that we do by rote. (For me, its the dishes. I HATE washing dishes). Those few words…you will start out carrying them, & in time, you will find that they will begin to carry you instead.
God bless, & HTH!!
 
scapularkid8 said:
How can I use it to speak to me?..well, how can I listen for God’s voice in it? If I’m short on time in the morning, how can I take a couple seconds to meditate on the Word if I’m worried about getting to work on time? What are your strategies?
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minimalist, to begin with. go on line to the usccb.org bishops website for the daily readings, and just do the gospel if you are short on time. keep a 3x5 card, notebook, or palmpilot with you for notes. If a word or phrase speaks to you, jot it down, and reflect on it during the day whenever you have a moment. Write the whole verse if you can, or just the word or phrase. stay with it as long as it speaks to you. If a prayer rises from it, address that simple prayer to God.

example:
from James 2,
speak and so act as a people who will be judged by the law of freedom . .
the actual reading is a bit longer, but the words “law of freedom” leap out, so stop there. what is the law of freedom? freedom from what? freedom from sin and death. how did we get that freedom? from Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf? how do I live by the law of freedom? by ridding myself of anything that draws me to sin. what is that right now? a situation at work that is calling for a definite choice of action on my part. how would I make that choice if I were being judged by “the law of freedom?” Prayer: Lord, please keep me free from sin, in this matter and in all my life, so I may live in your freedom. Help me make and stick to the right decision, no matter what the cost. Amen
I would write “freedom” on my notecard or electronic memo pad, and glance at it throughout the day, and pray on this thought again when the particular difficult situation arises.

Sacred Scripture is the revealed Word of God, and the ordinary way in which God speaks to us, both through reading it ourselves and as transmitted through the teaching office of the Church.
 
yes, daily practice if possible, but we are talking about less than 15 minutes to begin with, and some of that reflection can be done in the car on the way to work, waiting for the bus etc. If at all possible, find some time even 10 min. to devote your mind entirely to this exercise, but like anything else worth doing, yes it takes practice (Maybe that is why they call us “practicing Catholics”)

some days you may just read the gospel and nothing seems to stand out, just restate the story in your mind, and try to return to it from time to time during the day, and to recall it at night. Very often some situation during the day will bring it to mind again. For instance we just had a gospel about use of wealth, and the topic came up in a discussion of using resources of our organization for a worthy purpose, and that gospel really spoke to our situation.
 
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