“You who regularly attend the divine mysteries know with what respect and precaution you take the body of Christ which is distributed to you, for fear that a crumb of it falls to the ground, and a small part of this consecrated treasure may be lost. You would consider yourselves at fault - and quite rightly - if through your negligence a fragment was lost. If therefore you take such precautions with his body, why do you imagine that negligence towards the word of God merits a lesser chastisement that towards his body.”  Origen

“For what is sacred Scripture but a kind of epistle of Almighty God to His creature? And surely, if your Glory were resident in any other place, and were to receive letters from an earthly emperor, you would not loiter, you would not rest, you would not give sleep to your eyes, till you had learned what the earthly emperor had written.

The Emperor of Heaven, the Lord of men and angels, has sent you his epistles for your life's advantage; and yet, glorious son, you neglect to read these epistles ardently. Study then, I beseech you, and daily meditate on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God, that you may sigh more ardently for the things that are eternal, that your soul may be kindled with greater longings for heavenly joys. 

Gregory the Great to Theodorus, Physician to the Emperor. Book 4, Letter 31 

In his Rule, Saint Benedict coined the formula Mens nostra concordet voci nostrae--our mind must be in accord with our voice (Rule, 19,7). 

Normally, thought precedes word; it seeks and formulates the word. But praying the Psalms and liturgical prayer in general is exactly the other way round: The word, the voice, goes ahead of us, and our mind must adapt to it. 

For on our own we human beings do not "know how to pray as we ought" (Rom 8:26)--we are too far removed from God, he is too mysterious and too great for us. 

And so God has come to our aid: He himself provides the words of our prayer and teaches us to pray. 

Through the prayers that come from him, he enables us to set out toward him; by praying together with the brothers and sisters he has given us, we gradually come to know him and draw closer to him.

Blessed Lord, 

which hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; 

grant us that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; 

that by patience, and comfort of thy holy word, 

we may embrace, and ever hold fast 

the blessed hope of everlasting life, 

which thou hast given us 

in our saviour Jesus Christ.

The Collect for the 2nd Sunday of Advent preserves the wisdom of the practice of Lectio Divina

Find a quiet moment to listen to the Gospel being read. St John's Gospel is particularly appropriate to accompany us during Lent, Holy Week and Easter.  Paul Edmondson has recorded it on Soundcloud.

John's Gospel Chapters 1-3

John's Gosepl Chapters 4-6

John's Gospel Chapters 7-9

John's Gospel Chapters 10-12

John's Gospel Chapters 13-17

John's Gospel Chapters 18-19

The Passion and Death

John's Gospel Chapters 20-21

The Resurrection