How much time you spend to read the Bible?

[UnityofTrinity]

How much time you spend each session to meditate on God’s word?

 

[prayerboy]

Hi

I read the bible everyday anywhere from 5-20 minutes a day (depending how long the psalm is) I read a psalm daily starting with psalm #1 on Advent Sunday, and then read the Mass readings for the week coming up starting on Monday and re-read them everyday through Friday. This helps me to prepare for the Sunday Mass. I also read the footnotes on the bottom of the page to help me understand some of the readings.

Blessings

 

[jtodisco]

It varies. I used to spend at least a half an hour reading Scripture every day. Sadly this is no longer the case due to the great deal of school work I have this semester. I hope to get back to reading Scripture every day as soon as possible, but for the time being my goal has been reduced to reading Scripture for 30 minutes to an hour at least once a week.

 

[Glorthac]

I’ve read the whole Bible, and some parts (Gospels) dozens of times.

 

[puzzleannie]

for lectio divina, about 15-20 minutes seems about right most days (I sadly don’t make time for it many days, for instance if we have spent a lot of time with the day’s or Sunday gospel in a CCD class I may not do it on my own). The actual time in contemplation varies however. There have been times I have found an hour goes by, but generally perhaps another 10 minutes or so after the active phases of lectio. I don’t think there is any rule, except to try and dedicate some time every day, the same time usually works best for most people. We promised our bishop at the Catechist Convocation to read scripture every day so I at least do that.

 

[Oldtimer_7]

Puzzleannie, I have been doing lectio divina on the 22nd Psalm as part of my Lenten discipline. I am still in meditation on the first line. I told some students I talked to that I may not finish the entire psalm over Lent, but that did not matter.
Three were from China and have zero religious background and four were from India, so were able to relate through Hindu practices. It has also been very fruitful to talk to them and get their viewpoints.

Since I teach Bible Study, I do a lot of reading throughout the week, and try to make time each day to do personal reading and devotion in addition to my more scholastic pursuit.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

At times I have gone for weeks at a time without reading anything outside of Mass.

Also at times I’ve read and studied for a couple hours a day. These days it is much less, probably 10 minutes or less per day on average.

Once I got an audio file of the New Testament, and played it on repeat (it took about 17 hours each time through) continuously for a few months, in a room where I sometimes worked, sometimes slept. Sometimes I paid attention to it, sometimes not – but it was always there anytime I was. It was really a good experience.

Alan

 

[puzzleannie]

Puzzleannie, I have been doing lectio divina on the 22nd Psalm as part of my Lenten discipline. I am still in meditation on the first line. I told some students I talked to that I may not finish the entire psalm over Lent, but that did not matter. .

I may spend, and have spent, a week or even a month on one passage, even one verse. I spent several months meditating almost daily on a couple of key passages that had particular relevance to my life at that time. As you say, there is no rule as to how long you stay with a particular verse, or even a word.

I don’t know what OP refers to specifically in his question, but lectio divina is not the same as bible study which I do inevitably in groups in which I am a facilitator or participant, nor is it the same as small group faith sharing, nor is it catechesis specific to RCIA, “Breaking Open the Word”. Your description comes closest to capturing the essence of lectio, slow meditative reading of a chosen passage.

I still don’t know if any of this is helpful to OP.

 

[rotlex]

I generally spend 30-60 minutes per day reading, and praying with the bible. My general routine is out of bed 4:45am, brush teeth, get coffee, say my opening prayers, and begin reading. I generally read from the old testament, then new, in the AM, and something from the old\psalm\proverb\wisdom area before bed. The morning time is definitely more though, as that is how I start my day. Evenings, before bed, can be as little as 5 minutes, reading maybe a few versus or a Psalm.

In general, it takes me roughly a year to work through the whole Bible. I thoroughly enjoy it, and have now been completely through the NAB, RSV-CE and the DR at least once each!

 

[nissa_ami_kato]

Sometimes all I do lately is read the daily Mass readings as a part of playing the FaceBook game PriestVille, where I get game points for doing it…

But doing the Bible reading in the game has got me started doing some daily Bible reading about 15 minutes a day. I’m trying to get in the discipline of doing that every day (pray for me!)

http://apps.facebook.com/priestvillegame/?ref=bookmarks&count=0

 

[Crumpy]

I spend more time now with commentaries. When I “read” the Bible, I just can’t get the meaning out of it.

In the last ten days or so, I read 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galations, and now part of Ephesians in the RSV-2CE. But, I’m re-reading them in the Ignatius Study bible and trying to absorb the notes and commentary.

There is so much to think about in these letters of Paul. Some of it seems so profound, I wonder if Paul really knew what he was saying. I know, sounds stupid. But, he says things that are so profound and then just scanters along to something else. I wonder why he couldn’t have given us a little more about these profound ideas.

I don’t think it’s too important to dwell on quantify of Bible reading, as much as it is to absorb what I read. I have such a long way to go towards spiritual maturity.

 

[puzzleannie]

I spend more time now with commentaries. When I “read” the Bible, I just can’t get the meaning out of it.

In the last ten days or so, I read 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galations, and now part of Ephesians in the RSV-2CE. But, I’m re-reading them in the Ignatius Study bible and trying to absorb the notes and commentary.

.

I too have found the Ignatius one book editions to be the most helpful place to begin in depth study of a particular book. I have used I think all that have been published, and typically begin by reading the entire book one chapter a day, without the notes. Then another careful reading, one section of a chapter with notes each day. Then look up other references if needed during the second reading. The third reading is slower and more contemplative as the first two are preparation for lectio, and the passages are shorter, with longer meditation and prayer. This way takes about a year to go through each book. Between the second and third, reading I sometimes read the entire book, over a few weeks from another translation as well,usually the Jerusalem bible. That is because I have already been through most of the NT in the NAB through RCIA and other settings. Epistles make take less than a year. John’s gospel took over two years. Revelation I have not finishes, will probably take several years. I am in no hurry.

As I said before, the first two or even three readings are more for study, and set the stage for lectio. So I may be doing lectio in a book I have studied quite a while ago. At my stage in life it is more important to protect my time for lectio divina, so outside the more formal study type reading that is necessary for my job and apostolate, my personal reading is now almost entirely devoted to lectio divina.

 

[roveau]

I spend between 10 and 20 minutes per day reading the bible, depends on the length of the chapter(s). I’m reading through the New Testament again, King James Version (KJV)this time (Schofield Reference Bible). I started a month or so before last Advent and am now up to Hebrews. I have to say that I find some chapters of the Epistles very difficult to make sense of but I just carry on.

Today purchased the KJV Zondervan Study Bible which is a good conservative study bible with 20,000 study notes. I am well versed in my faith so can easily spot any bias in study notes. I’ve read the Scriptures in a number of Catholic and general versions but I prefer the KJV.

I don’t formally meditate on the Scriptures but I do think about passages that have some sort of resonance to me.

I’d like to read the Old Testament again from cover to cover again but on my second attempt some years ago I had a terrible dream at a time when I was reading about Israel’s killing of the people of the towns that they captured and that is as far as I got that time. I think I am just about ready for a second cover to cover reading now.

I am so thankful to God that He has given us this gift of the Bible and I think it is a gift of the times that the Church is encouraging all of us to read the Bible.

 

[Abundant]

Puzzleannie, I have been doing lectio divina on the 22nd Psalm as part of my Lenten discipline. I am still in meditation on the first line. I told some students I talked to that I may not finish the entire psalm over Lent, but that did not matter.
Three were from China and have zero religious background and four were from India, so were able to relate through Hindu practices. It has also been very fruitful to talk to them and get their viewpoints.

Since I teach Bible Study, I do a lot of reading throughout the week, and try to make time each day to do personal reading and devotion in addition to my more scholastic pursuit.

I have never heard of lectio divina until now. I googled it and got some information. What else can you tell me about it?

 

[Oldtimer_7]

It sounds like Puzzleannie is more experienced at this than I, but I will tell you my experience. We studied *Lectio Divinia *some years ago in a Sunday School class. I came to realize that in my atheist period, which grew out of my college days, I was reading the Bible as I would a scholarly text and applying the same techniques as I would to a modern work. While this did yield some results, I was missing so much in the poetry, imagery, and depth of the writing. This sort of rationalism leads to an understanding of the Bible on a very literal level. As an aside, I think that much fundamentalist thought comes from just this sort of rationalism.

As a student when I was in school, there was a great pressure to do readings in a short period of time. It was not unusual then to have to read over 50 pages a day. The medieval readers did not consider time. Though it is a much more modern thought, the Shakers had a saying, “Work as though this was your last day and as though you had a thousand years.”

Can you imagine walking into a college library and hearing everyone reading aloud? We read silently, and so miss the sound of the words. The sound too is important. That is why my denomination uses the New Revised Standard Version in liturgy, but still says the KJV Lord’s Prayer.

Another aside. English speakers are doers. English has many less verbs of being and many more of action. The subjunctive voice is largely lost in modern usage. The passive formation of verbs is strongly discounted in books of style and usage. One of the things lost from English’s German roots was a verb in the active voice that means to be silent, schweigen. In* lectio divina*, both the sound and the silence are valued. The idea of being with the Word seems so strange to us, but works so well if one gives in to it. God also speaks in silence.

As I mentioned, I am reading the 22nd Psalm as my Lenten discipline. I am doing this in addition to fasting. Puzzleannie gave me a boost when she talked about sometimes spending a month or more on a single word. I am still on the first line of the Psalm, and have not come to the end of my meditation on it. Sometimes it frightens me and sometimes it lifts me up. Realizing that I need both means having to put myself into God’s hands. He will guide me and comfort me and He will do it in His time, not mine.

Now, one objection might be that of private interpretation. An Italian text on lectio divina that I have adds a fifth step, collegio. That is getting together with others to discuss and compare experiences. This makes a lot of sense from a Catholic point of view about preventing private heresies. What is important here is that Catholic teachings do not totally rule out private interpretations, but insist that they be recognized as being only a small part of the understanding of the larger meaning of the passage. Puzzleannie can explain that part of it much better than I can.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have never heard of lectio divina until now. I googled it and got some information. What else can you tell me about it?

try the reference threads in the stickies here and in spirituality forum

 

[Oldtimer_7]

I am thinking that my answers have been too involved in where I am with lectio divina and not enough on a how-to for a beginner. None of this is at all complicated or involved. It does not require any great amount of effort or expense. You probably already have all you need to accomplish lectio divina.

First, make a time and space to do this. You want some place where you can have uninterrupted quiet. If you cannot manage it at home, go to any church. Find out when the sanctuary or a chapel is not in use. You do not need to block out a lot of time. In fact, as a beginner, it may be best to limit your time at first. It will grow naturally as you get into it.

Some people like to create their own personal ritual. Starting with prayer is always a good idea. Some find that a candle, an icon, or some other symbol helps them concentrate. A hymn is not out of place either. For a simple start,try the Doxology.

Read the word out loud. Start with something that has intrigued you in some way, or something that is personally meaningful to you. If nothing else, use a lectionary to find a passage to study. One reading may be enough, so if the Spirit so moves you, read it several times, trying different inflections. Just keep it simple at first.

Now pray on what you have read and talk to God about how it has affected you. Pray for new understanding and that what you read may become part of your life. Take your time and talk as to a loving parent.

In meditating on the word, you may think about why this passage appeals to you. If you have read it before, think about what attracted you then, and if that has changed, and why. Again, in the beginning, keep it simple. Later on, you may want to apply the four-fold method. Look at it literally, symbolically, allegorically, and analogically.

Contemplation is letting all this soak in. This is where you clear your mind and listen for the silent voice of God. It is living with the word and being with the word. At its peak, it may put you in touch with the Word.

Finally, you may want to share your experience collegially. Minimally, you might want to discuss it with a trusted friend, particularly one of spiritual background. As I will always recommend, you can talk to your pastor, priest, or chaplain about it. I wish you luck if you try this. God bless.

 

[Joyfulprayz]

What is lectio divina?

Puzzleannie, I have been doing lectio divina on the 22nd Psalm as part of my Lenten discipline. I am still in meditation on the first line. I told some students I talked to that I may not finish the entire psalm over Lent, but that did not matter.
Three were from China and have zero religious background and four were from India, so were able to relate through Hindu practices. It has also been very fruitful to talk to them and get their viewpoints.

Since I teach Bible Study, I do a lot of reading throughout the week, and try to make time each day to do personal reading and devotion in addition to my more scholastic pursuit.