Spiritual writers have stressed that a spiritual reading of the Bible means that one becomes involved in a special manner in the heart of God's word. It is all about a devoted reading of the Bible. One grows into Scripture.
This implies a daily, repeated and intimate relationship with the text. As one reads and rereads it, these spiritual authors said, one is led deeper into its beauty and meaning. We are always discovering new treasures, new dimensions, new aspects of the Bible and we are continually transformed by them.
They realized that the Bible appeals in many ways to us as we open ourselves to its working.
Many things can make us grow and mature in our relationship with the scriptural message. It is not simply a matter of reading. Our reading is more complicated than we think. We are influenced in several ways in our rumination of Scriptures. Here are two of the most important processes.
We read the Bible together with others:
We are, for example, helped and inspired by other readers of the Bible. How they read the text, not only makes us understand the text better, but their communication of one small nuance or reception of the text can be so special that it can change our lives.
Thus, someone's painting or sculpture of Biblical texts can determine one’s life forever. What the artist saw in the text, can form us decisively.
If one listens to the reading of Scripture together with others in a liturgical context, one sometimes hears and experiences the text in new ways. And the perspective on the Bible which is shared in preaching can also yield new treasures.
Even the simple reading of the Bible in the worship setting can be transformative - not only for those who listen, but even for the one who does the reading. It has happened often to me as I read Scripture loud in church, that I thought to myself that I am discovering new nuances by simply having to emphasize certain words, pause between phrases or change the volume of my voice.
We read the Bible in new ways by ourselves:
The same transforming process is to be seen in the quiet times of withdrawal where one reflects on Scripture. Here, too, as one’s life enters different phases and one experiences joy, grief, disappointment, despair or concerns, Scripture somehow speaks into those situations. The phase in which we find ourselves, makes us aware of nuance of the text which we have not experienced in other times and conditions.
Gregory the Great wrote about the private reading of Scripture: “The soul, conscious of its faults and recognizing the truth of what it has heard, is struck by the dart of grief and pierced by the sword of compunction, so that it wishes to do nothing but weep and wash away its stains with flood of tears. Meanwhile, the soul is sometimes raptured in the contemplation of higher things, and, in its desire for them, tormented by sweet weeping” (cf. K.M. Becker, Treasure House of Scripture, 56).
Finally, the devoted reading is all about being confronted by the presence of God. It is, ultimately, not merely a matter of reading the Bible, but it is all about meeting God in and through the words of Scripture.
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