Prayer & Lectio Divina
Very often my prayer begins in Scripture or is nourished by it. As St. Ambrose observed, we speak to the Lord when we pray, and we listen to him when we read his word. Here you’ll find posts about lectio divina (the practice of pondering Scripture until it becomes prayer) and other forms of prayer, both how and why to use them. Explore the posts below (pictured with the most recent first) or start with one of the ones listed here:
- Read the Bible Like a Disciple
- Flourishing in Drought (a 4-part series on lectio divina)
- God Hears Our Prayers
- Why Pray, if it Doesn’t Always “Work”?
“You’re the man!” According to the Urban Dictionary, that’s a cool way of saying “you rock!” You’re comparing the person to someone everyone knows is awesome, like Jesus (or Allah, or Buddah, or even Chuck Norris, according to that source!) Somehow I don’t think that’s what the prophet Nathan meant in 2 Samuel 12 when he called out King David ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
If the stores in our area are anything to go by, Thanksgiving is going the way of the pilgrims. We're too busy, it seems, to linger in gratitude when there's so much out there to get. X-mas trees (I can't call them "Christmas") appeared the afternoon of Halloween, and Thanksgiving's treated as a signpost for Black Friday. How can we ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
This weekend at the National Catholic Bible Conference in Houston, I spoke on "The Word of God in the Life of the Disciple." Scripture plays an important role in helping us ENCOUNTER Jesus and grow in RELATIONSHIP with him, and it fosters the TRANSFORMATION that is the hallmark of true disciples. As Catholics, we have a powerful encounter with the ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
"Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the Lord." (Esther C:12*) Have you ever felt like that? "Seized with mortal anguish"? I've never faced genocide the way Queen Esther did, but I have felt the "mortal anguish" of despair when we faced deep financial trouble ... when our baby's life hung by a thread ... when our son ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
The mural fills an entire wall of the Encounter Chapel, which is built on the first-century stone floor of the marketplace at Magdala by the Sea of Galilee. In it, sandals crowd the floor and linen robes brush against the legs and ankles of the men who throng around Jesus. He is a man on a mission, on his way ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
I always think of what to say after the conversation’s over. For an hour I sat and listened to my friend complain. The world is falling apart, she fears. “And can you believe those people who pray about every little problem — do they think God cares about a parking space?!” She was incensed. “God has way too much on his ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
I remember the day it all got to be too much for me. Our house had finally sold after two years sitting empty, but that hardly made a difference. We sold at a loss, and my husband had been without work for months. There was no money in the bank. We had a toddler and a baby to care for, ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
I hated walking home after Daylight Savings ended. I didn't live far from where I babysat, but the road wasn't lit. Not even houses along the way—houses of people I knew, who were friendly—erased the nagging fear that something could happen, I could be hurt, and no one would come to my aid. I'd clutch my bag, walk tall, then ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
"O God, come to my assistance; O LORD, make haste to help me!" Who hasn't prayed this, or something like it, at some time in their life? It comes from Psalm 70, where it is a strong cry for rescue. But those words are far more than a cry for help. The early desert fathers repeated that verse throughout the ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
