Toolkit #2 Prayer

Read the following slowly and aloud if possible:

Joan Chittister writes in Praying with the Benedictines, “Prayer is what links the religious and the spiritual, the inner and the outer dimensions of life. Every spiritual tradition on earth forms a person in some kind of regular practice designed to focus the mind and the spirit. Regular prayer reminds us that life is punctuated by God, awash in God, encircled by God. To interrupt the day with prayer-with any centering activity that draws us beyond the present to the consciousness of eternal truth-is to remind ourselves of the timelessness of eternity. Prayer and regular spiritual practices serves as a link between this life and the next. They remind us of what we are doing and why we’re doing it and where our lives are going. They give us the strength of heart to sustain us on the way. When life goes dry, only the memory of God makes life bearable again. Then we remember that whatever is has purpose.”

From the Prologue to The Rule of St. Benedict, “This, then, is the beginning of my advice: make prayer the first step in anything worthwhile that you attempt. Persevere and do not weaken in that prayer. Pray with confidence, because God, in his love and forgiveness, has counted us as his own sons and daughters.”

Benedict gave us the practice of Lectio Divina, Holy Reading. Eugene Peterson has given us contemporary words of Read, Think, Pray and Live as the movements for Lectio. Each element has a purpose, but the elements weave and warp into each other. Lectio is a whole practice, just as a weaving made up of hundreds of individual threads is a whole.

Our 2nd tool is to practice lectio with a bit of scripture. Here are the movements:
Read: thoughtfully, leisurely faithfully, outloud, slowly.
Think: Peterson writes, “ each subtle, significant, powerful word of Scripture is meant for you. One word may speak today and another tomorrow…so listen. (Interestingly “listen” is the very first word that Benedict writes in his Rule!)
Pray: Rest in God. Sit, journal, pray aloud, pray silent, pray with the scripture, dance, listen.
Live: Unless we live in God’s word, we miss the whole point.

The scripture today is Psalm 100. I’d love to hear from you about the ways God is speaking through the scripture today.
Read
Think
Pray
Live



Remember to practice The Examen tonight. Ignatius would instruct his priests when they were overwhelmed with their responsibilities they could take a break from everything, except the examen!

Resources:
Peterson, Eugene; The Message Remix: Solo; Navpress, Colorado Springs, CO, 2007.
DeBona OSB, Guerric; Praying with the Benedictines, A Window on the Cloister; Paulist Press; New York, 2007.
The Benedictine Handbook, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2003.