But there is an important way which can take us well down the road.



Moreover, it is a particular and integrated part of the Catholic

tradition: meditation.

Not any kind of meditation - and certainly none of the kinds imported

from eastern religions such as Hinduism. It is a Christian and Catholic

traditional way hallowed by time and the efforts of saints co-operating

with God's graces. These include such people as Ignatius of Loyola,

John of the Cross, Therese of Avila and many others.

Meditating On What?

One of the greatest expressions of God's love for us is that he has

provided for us a book which reveals much about himself, the way

to salvation and what he desires of each of us. Most of all, perhaps,

there lies within it knowledge of how great is his personal love for each

of us.

That book is, of course, the Bible. Both the Old and, especially the

New Testament are there entirely for our benefit. Indeed, in recent

times the Catholic Church has drawn attention on several major

ocassion to the importance of Scripture and of the need for us to

avail ourselves of it.

Thus, for example, the Dogmatic Constitution On Divine Revelation

(promulgated by Pope Paul VI, 1965) stresses that ... the

Father who is in heaven meets his children with great love and speaks

to them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that

it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith

for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of

spiritual life.

This latter point is of particular relevance here: the pure and

everlasting source of spiritual life. Moreover, after the Second

Vatican Council Catholics have had made available to them several

translations from the original languages of the Bible. For example, we

have the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible and the New

American Bible. For those who do develop a love of, and interest in

Scripture, these are all available with explanatory footnotes and

introductions to the various books of the Bible which put them in

historical, cultural and spiritual context.

But it is sad that not many more Catholics seem to make use of what

is available to them through Scripture. The saints mentioned above, and

many, many others, spent time meditating on the sacred word of

God because it really did reveal God to them. This is especially

important for Christians when meditating on the New Testament.

Indeed, Ignatius of Loyola especially has highlighted the way in which we

meet Jesus in a new way through the gospels. God can

reach out to us in different ways when we properly reflect on the

word he has given to us.

We do buy the Bible but we seem to make little use of it.. Why?

Why Meditation Is Important

Probably the major reason is that people often find the Bible

to be boring. It is of little use to tell people that it is not boring if that is

their experience. There are many reasons for this impression. However,

the purpose here is not to explore these but to suggest that meditation

on God's word in Scripture is the major way to discover

that it is anything but boring - in fact, to find that it is the most exciting

book every written. And that it is a key to unlocking our

further spiritual growth.

We cannot go into a proper instruction here on how to meditate on

Scripture, but we can make two major points which may encourage

the reader to explore further. (e.g. through the present writer's

The Keys To Christian Meditation

The first is that Scripture really is God's word to us. The Catholic

Church does teach that every word of Scripture is divinely inspired.

Thus theDogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation says

it teaches without error that truth which God wanted put into

sacred writings... If God did this for our benefit, the least we

can do is make the effort to investigate it.

But secondly, we are missing the whole point if we seek to

undertake that for ourselves. This is one, if not the main reason

why people find the Bible boring. When we read the Bible, and most

of all when we meditate on it, we need to ask its Author to guide us.

That is the Holy Spirit, and it is he who will show us that his book is

anything but boring.

Let us understand clearly what this is concerned with. We are not talking

about that kind of divine revelation which properly belongs to the

Church. We are opening ourselves to those personal communications

of the Spirit to which so many of the saints have opened themselves.

God communicates with his people in all kinds of ways, but this is

one of the most important. And so many of us miss it. We

may not have lost the plot but reading the Book certainly

helps us to put it up front. And meditating on it does more

than merely keep it there. Meditation on Scripture has the potential

to bring us into a new experiencial knowledge of God and a much

deeper understanding of our life of faith.