Reading scriptures and other inspirational writing is something that many devout already do regularly. However, it is also a practice that many find easy to drop and then hard to keep up in a helpful way. The monastic tradition has kept alive a tradition of prayerful reading which can greatly enrich one's encounter with scripture. This practice is conveniently called by its Latin name, "Lectio Divina" or lectio for short.
Lectio is approached with the belief that the Word will, when read prayerfully, lead the reader to a deeper knowledge of love and also a deeper awareness of self in realation to a Higher Power. Learning to do lectio means unlearning reading habits that we are taught today. We used to do reading for information, and that is good and necessary for many things. But lectio is reading for insight, not insight in the sense of getting new ideas, but insight in the sense of absorbing the Word in the depths of our being. In doing lectio, one may ask questions of the text, but then one sits back and just lets the Word sink in. In lectio, reading becomes an act of prayer and meditation.
Practices of interior prayer, when one stops asking anything of the Universe, and just listens, with the ear of the heart, have often been taught in monastic and religious orders. Unfortunately, interior prayer has often been regarded as too lofty for most people, even for most monks, nuns, and oblates, and for that reason has often been neglected. This neglect is all the more sad when one reflects that deep prayer is not something we do with our own efforts and can learn to be good at. In reality, deep prayer is ourselves being breated by the universe. It is the work of holiness and a Higher Power praying within us. Techniques for interior prayer and meditation are basically a means we can use to get ourselves out of the way so that we can be entered into more fully. This is true spiritual inimacy with the Holy.
