You can read the Bible in any respectful way that you find helpful. For some people, this might mean choosing a Scripture reading and doing Lectio Divina. For others, it might mean sitting and reading a Gospel or a whole book of the Bible. For still others, it might mean reading selected sections of the Bible for discussion with a Bible study group. Or reading the Psalms as part of the Liturgy of the Hours. All of it’s fine.
You get a PLENARY indulgence under the usual conditions (confession within 20 days, communion within a few days, pray for the Holy Father’s Intentions, be in a state of grace when you do the act, and have no attachment to sin) when you reverently read the Bible as spiritual reading from an approved text, for 30 minutes or more. I get this indulgence a couple times a week, usually on days when I cannot get to church to do one of the other “Big Four” plenaries, all of which require me to go to a church. The Scripture reading indulgence I can do at home.
There are two ways I normally read Scripture. I will pick one or the other or I will do 10 minutes of one and 20 minutes of the other, etc.
The first way consists of reviewing the daily readings for the week that I missed or that the priest chose not to use. Many saints’ days have alternate readings, so even if I attended daily Mass and heard one set of readings (either for the saint or for the regular reading cycle), I didn’t hear the other set, so I read the set I didn’t hear. In addition, though I try to go to daily Mass, often I am late either due to work, traffic, or something else beyond my control (example: this morning I arrived for 8 am Mass to find the street I normally use to access the church parking lot was closed and being drilled up by a city crew, so I had to drive around four or five blocks to find another way into the lot that normally we aren’t supposed to use, and this made me come into Mass during the first reading so I missed part of it). And sometimes I go to Spanish language Mass if that’s the only one that fits my schedule, so I don’t totally understand the reading at Mass because my Spanish isn’t that good. Or Italian Masses if I am in Italy, or other languages if I’m someplace else, etc. So I review those readings too.
The second way I read Scripture is to continue with my project of reading the Bible straight through. I did this once in the past and started on a second time a couple years ago. I am now about at the end of Nehemiah.
When I read the Bible, I usually read out loud, with expression, and if I don’t totally get something (like some of the complicated passages of Paul’s letters) I may stop and read it a second or even a third time. Or I may, when I start the next session, go back a chapter or two and start there when I begin to read again.
I personally enjoy reading the Bible straight through. I get a much better sense of where everything is and it feels more complete. Also, the fact that some of the OT books are basically repeating the same stories over and over in a slightly different form really fixes them in my mind.
