Week Three: Praying the Word
The Word of God is the bedrock of our experience of God, as it unfolds the story of our salvation in words treasured across the centuries. In the pages of Scripture, we are invited constantly to reorient our lives toward those principles that define who we are – whose we are – and how we are called to live as the Church, and as individual Christians. This week, we invite you to look up from the uncertainty of our world, and enter deeply into God’s eternal truth in prayer.
Try This
Pick one of the Gospels to pray with this week. Feel free to start with familiar passages, passages that have meaning for you already. You might explore lectio divina on passages that foreground Jesus’ teachings (the Sermon on the Mount; the Johannine Discourses). Try reading slowly until a word or phrase captures your attention. What thoughts and feelings does the passsage evoke? What is God revealing to you through this passage? For those passages that are more story based, you might explore “imaginative prayer.” Imagine yourself in the story; what are you feeling as you watch this scene unfold; what do you notice? How are your senses engaged? What do you want to say in reply? Let the passage invite you into dialogue with God.
Select a line from Scripture that has been meaningful to you or commit a fresh line to memory. You could write the line on a slip of paper and, like Br. Lucas, carry it with you throughout the day. You might also use this line as a mantra, a way to pray continuously along with your breath. Open your heart to hear God speaking to you through this line of Scripture.
For Reflection
What stories about Jesus have touched you deeply and made a difference in your life? What verses from the Scriptures do you remember and hold onto in troubled times? Lean on these passages again this week as you hear afresh the promises of God. What new revelation waits here?
Many of us have re-discovered the importance of God’s revelation in nature over this last year. What word of God is the natural world speaking to you? Take a walk with the ears of your heart open.
Join Us
Rosary | This week we invite you to join us in using the words of scripture to pray together. We're sharing a pray-along recording of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Join in as often as you like.
Facebook Live | Join Br. Jim Woodrum each Thursday at 7:15pm EST for a live conversation on the week's topic with a special guest. This week, he'll be joined in conversation by Fr. Sammy Wood, rector of Saint B's in Nashville, TN. They'll be discussing "Praying the Word." We hope to see you there!
Download a one-page summary sheet on praying the Word, which you can place on your fridge, prayer corner, or desk.
Week three… what a great, inspiring discussion with Sammy.
God Bless you all.
I will try the Rosary. I have been wanting to for ages. I did my own variant for a while.
I love Numbers! But then I also love the beginning of 1 Chronicles. I’m weird.