Status Updates From Praying the Bible: An Intro...

“In order to pray, we do not need to rack our brains, artificially evoking interior acts, thoughts, or excessively refined affections. All we need to do is react in the presence of the text with free and spontaneous prayer. And when this spontaneous outpouring stops, we return to the text for fresh nourishment.”

“One who is spiritual is one who is hungry and thirsty. Only the Word can satisfy this craving.”

Lectio divina “is not so much a matter of reading a book as of seeking Someone: ‘With all its ardor, the Church seeks in Scripture the One whom she loves.’ Exegesis is not technique; it is mysticism…exegesis becomes an ardent search, a joyful and almost dreamlike discovery, a poem of love.”

“Ignatius of Antioch said that we must go to Scripture as to the flesh of Christ. He is the one center where all the lines of the biblical universe meet. And if it is true that every sentence of Scripture, since it contains an unfathomable mystery, has many senses, it is even more true that every sentence of Scripture always has only one sense.”

“It is in point to notice also the structure and style of Scripture, a structure so unsystematic and various, and a style so figurative and indirect, that no one would presume at first sight to say what is in it and what is not…it must be an unexplored and unsubdued land, with heights and valleys, forests and streams… full of concealed wonders and choice treasures”
Bl. John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church

Can’t wait to witness confusion that we are learning Lectio Divina from a (gasp) Catholic!

Quoting Augustine on every page is a surefire way for me to enjoy your book, fr