The Benedictine tradition offers a profound treasure when it comes to reading.
Prayerful reading—lectio divina in Latin—is the primary monastic way of engaging creatively with silence and entering into living prayer.
Most of the time, we read at speed. We race from word to word, barely aware of what we are doing. Prayerful reading asks something different of us: to slow down, to be attentive, to notice how we are reading, so that we can enter into the sacredness of the encounter. When we begin our time of prayerful reading, we want to know we are reading. We bring our whole self to it.
Typically, the text we read will be sacred: historically, this would be Scripture, but it might also be the words of a saint, a wise contemporary teacher, or good poetry that speaks to the soul. Whatever the text, we approach it trustingly, believing that God will speak within the silence of our hearts. We come with a deep quality of attention. We cannot hear God’s word if our minds are somewhere else, still listening to ourselves.
If we wish to savour a meal, we eat slowly and deliberately, allowing each texture and flavour to reveal itself. In prayerful reading, we dwell with each word, allowing it to unfold in us. We return to lines again and again, listening for the deeper movement beneath them.
We are not reading for information. We are seeking wisdom, healing, communion.
If the text describes an extraordinary event, we do not interrogate how or whether it happened. Instead, we allow the story to open us to what God might be saying through it. We do not analyse the text; we allow the text to approach us. In time, something deeper happens. We may begin thinking we are reading the text—but gradually, we realise the text is reading us.
Perhaps this is the most important thing to say about prayerful reading: it is not about mastering words, but about listening. It is about attending with the ear of the heart. Like all prayer, it is about relationship and communion.
God is not something to be acquired, but a Presence to be responded to. As we learn to listen with the ear of the heart, we discover that prayerful reading is not confined to words on a page—it flows out into our daily lives, into the quality of our attention toward others, and into how we behold the sacredness of the world.
The quiet beholding of God in our hearts always blossoms into the quiet beholding of God’s presence in those around us.
Read slowly. Dwell with the words.
Pause whenever a word or phrase catches your attention.
Sit with it. Allow it to open within you. Let it welcome you into its meaning.
Offer a simple “thank you” to God for whatever you have encountered.
After reading, rest silently in God’s presence, leaving all words behind.
Carry a word or short phrase with you into the day.
Let it echo in your heart and shape your actions.
Discover how prayerful reading blossoms into prayerful living.
Through this simple practice, we welcome the Word of God and weave it into the fabric of our lives.
We come to see that prayerful reading is not an isolated activity—it enriches every aspect of life, just as life deepens our prayer.
We discover that God, who is beyond all words and images, lovingly guides us through them into ever deeper communion—with Him, with one another, and with all creation.