5. Chapter Four: Meditation, Praying with the Scriptures

1.Time to grow in prayer

One day, Tom was talking with the Lord about the problem of Boy, his contractual employee; Tom was thinking of firing him for several reasons (financial and efficiency) but something vague was bothering his conscience. When he consulted his spiritual director he was told that time had come for him to grow: he should meditate on some points of the Social Teaching of the Church. In his next prayer time Tom begun by reading and reflecting on the Catechism of the Catholic Church nn. 2426- 36 and then he asked the Lord what to do with Boy. The last point he read ("Unemployment almost always wounds its victim's dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life" CCC,2436) struck him, and his mind was filled with some possible decisions other than to fire Boy.

One day in prayer, Annie was getting tired of herself as she was alwaysfalling in the same thing: losing her temper with some people. When she consulted her prayer adviser she was told to grow: she might read and meditate on the first chapter of the book The Way. Beth was surprised to see her case written there; she resolved with the Lord in prayer to follow the advice in paragraph 10 of that book.

One day, Jun was praying about his repeated faults in purity when being alone with his girlfriend; he was complaining to the Lord for not helping him enough and a bit confused: he did not know whether he should hate himself or just to learn to live with it, with lacking self-control. When he consulted his confessor he was told to grow in prayer by meditating on Mt. 5:27-30. As he did so in prayer he was struck by Jesus' words about cutting off one's hand if needed; then he really listened to God and something came to his mind: he could avoid the faults by simply avoiding to be alone with his girlfriend. He realized that "the hand" to cut off was his habit of watching movies with her and riding a car by themselves.

Through experiences like these, the Maligays were led to practice regular meditation as part of their prayer time. Eventually they follow what the Catechism says in n. 2707: "Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the first three kinds of soil in the parable of the sower (Mk 4:4-7;15-19)" where the seed of the Word of God did not produce any fruit.

2. The practice of meditation

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that "meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking us" (CCC, 2705). That is, in meditation we are supposedto meditate, to study: to read and reflect on Christ and his ways; but meditation is not the same as theology because we reflect in order to put that knowledge into practice: I meditate to see "what the Lord is asking" from me about this doctrine or moral value and resolving to do something about it in my life and choices.

We could say that meditation is a way of enriching our capacity of listening to the Lord in prayer; meditation does not substitute for the basic method of prayer, it is an addition to it: meditating regularly on Christian truths and morals provides us with a background of understanding the Lord and his ways, thus enriching our capacity to guess what He tells us when we tell him about both, the big and small events and circumstances of our life.

To practice meditation, "we are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them:the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts (..) works of spirituality" (CCC, 2705).We have seen how Tom meditated with a text of the Catechism, Annie with a book of spirituality and Jun reflected on some words of Jesus. When we develop the habit we learn where to look for a text that fits the need seen in prayer; in any case, it is good to meditate regularly, systematically and not only when the need arises. The Churchnever ceases to invite us to reflect daily in the Scriptures; in fact, if we follow the readings for the daily Mass, in a year we cover the whole four Gospels and most of the rest of the Bible. There are many good books of spirituality, some of them offer a reflection for each day of the year.

3. Meditating with the Scripture

You can just open the Bible during your prayer time and read attentively, always asking God (usually we invoke the Holy Spirit) to make us see a message from him while we reflect on the meaning of the text and how it applies to our life. Many people might find helpful to have a minimum of structure or method. The one that follows is suggested by Saint Josemaria (see Friends of God no. 253). It can be used for praying with the Gospels.

1. Read a passage from the Gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk or John); you may read from other parts of the Bible but you should master the Gospels first.

2. Imagine that you are there, among those in the scene; you can imagine Jesus telling those words to you or imagine that you are close to the person He is healing, etc.

3. Think on what Jesus says or does. Reflect on what kind of message He is trying to present.

4. Listen in your heart by asking God to teach you how the message applies to you and your life.

5. Respond accordingly: with gratitude, contrition, resolutions, praise, etc.

Of course, the crucial and fascinating thing about praying with the Scriptures is the LISTENING part (more or less methodic or spontaneous); we simply never end discovering their wealth, depth and variety of meanings, applications and insights. Indeed, through prayerful meditation the written Word of God becomes alive: piercing like a two-edge sword, changing us from within us, consoling us, correcting and guiding us.

Some practical questions

What if I get a wrong interpretation of a passage?

This is a good question. We can see in history, and until now, how other Christians separated in the past from the Catholic Church and now keep on dividing themselves in hundreds of different communities, groups and sects even if all of them claim to be based on the Scriptures; and yet they have different and even contradictory interpretations. Definitely, this is a good question, how can I be sure that I do not get an erroneous interpretation myself? The answer lies in the facts of history.

In the XVI century, Luther proclaimed the principle of "sola Scriptura" or private interpretation without any Church authority giving a frame and settling differences; as a consequence, the divisions and redivisions started right then, still during the life of Luther. On the other hand, the Catholic Church has always believed that Jesus promised the assistance of the Holy Spirit to his Church, which He established with a visible authority: the bishops in union with the successor of Peter; as a consequence, the Catholic Church has remained undivided in doctrine. The teaching of the bishops in union with the Pope --called Magisterium-- is always with us, it serves as the guide for interpreting the Scripture according to the Holy Spirit who, after all, is the Author of the Scriptures.

The practical implication from those facts is that we should know the official Teachings of the Church, guaranteed by the authority of the Church. If ever an interpretation contradicts the Teachings of the Church we know it is a wrong interpretation.

But how can we get to know the Teachings of the Church? There are many ways but the surest of all is to read the official "Catechism of the Catholic Church".This book should be the necessary companion of any person wanting to pray with the Scriptures -- it is a sure reference for a lifetime.Moreover, there are books with Catholic Commentaries to different books of the Bible or to the whole. In any case, it is good to use Catholic editions of the Bible (with the "Nihil Obstat" of a bishop in one of the first pages) which have more or less extensive footnotes that guide the reader in some obscure or deep passages.

What books of the Bible are best for prayer?

We should begin with the Gospels and stay there for ever, but gradually you may add prayer time on the rest of the books of the New Testament. As for the Old Testament, the best books for prayer are the so called Sapiential, especially the Psalms, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus or Sirach. To cover the rest of the Old Testament you can trust the excerpts selected asreadings for the Mass.In fact, many people pray with the Scriptures just using the readings for the daily Mass all throughout the year.

Some exercises

1. Before or after you spend your prayer time using the basic method, try to spend another ten minutes meditating with the Scriptures or with an inspirational book.

2. Or you might prefer to have two periods of mental prayer: one for the basic method and another for meditation.

3. Write down in your prayer journal whatever you get or resolve from it. After some time trying, discuss it all in spiritual direction.

4. Ask your spiritual adviser for some inspirational book. For starters I would recommend the well-knowm The Way by Saint Josemaria.

Meditating with the Scriptures

If you think you might need a systematic plan to begin with, here you have one:

1. Read the whole first Chapter of St. Mark. Note carefully which lines strike a cord within you.

2. Read those lines again, more slowly or repeated times.

3. Ask God to speak in your heart by making you see the application of those lines to your life or actual concerns and happenings.

4. Pause quietly until some light comes to your mind.

5. Respond to God accordingly.

6. Jot down the message received and your response.

The following days repeat this detailed method with the successive Chapters of St. Mark. Eventually, discuss the records with your prayer adviser.

Enjoy discovering different messages in one single text. Meditate ona text until you get a personal message from the Lord. For example, read Luke 12: 16-21and see how theMaligays got different things from God in their prayer.Probably if you meditate on it you might get still another meaning.

Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops”. Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time”. But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made of your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God’ (Luke 12: 16-21)

JIMMY

This man was really a fool: so much planning for nothing since he died that day, ha!What about me?...You are right Lord, I think a lot how to have fun but little of how to bebetter…I see you are telling me to become rich in the sight of God.But how?I will ask my mother.

BETH

You see Lord. All my distractions are aboutbuying things and going places... I really feel like the guy of the story. Lord, why is my heart so full of butterflies?...

JUN

Wow! The man died that very night!…Do you mean I could die anytime?... Oops, oh, oh.As in "this very night"?...Oh, oh... I should remember this basic truth when I feel some temptations coming…By the way, Oops….I should schedule my confession ASAP….

ANNIE

You really hit me, Lord! How fool I am in postponing my mental prayer day after day...

TOM

Ok, ok. I got it. You could not be more direct. I shouldbecome rich in the sight of God. In the office, or anywhere, what matters is to be good and to do good rather than to make money. I have to fulfill myself by building my life according to your will.