Every week I provide commentary on the readings and then end with one or more questions designed to help you think more deeply about those readings. The process of asking questions of the readings is very valuable and this month we’ll focus on this discipline, particularly with the standard who-what-when-where-why-how questions. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday READ MORE
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Engaging More Deeply With Scripture: “Transpose” the reading
St. Ignatius proposed a way of reading scripture that puts us in the text by imagining the scene and entering into it. This month is a technique somewhat opposite to that. Rather than imagining a world not our own, we instead re-imagine the text in our own world. For example, if we are reading a READ MORE
Engaging More Deeply With Scripture: Summarize the passage
Every week in my commentary, I pick apart verses, phrases, and words. And sometimes I do so at great length! It can be helpful to dig into each individual part in an effort to understand the whole. The study method I suggest this month is to do the opposite of what my commentary does: rather READ MORE
Engaging More Deeply With Scripture: Imaginative prayer / Ignatian Contemplation
Imaginative prayer, often referred to as Ignatian Contemplation, is a way of entering more deeply into a story, particularly the Gospel stories. The goal of all prayer is to come into living contact with God, and imaginative prayer invites us to do this through our imagination. You can learn more about Ignatian Contemplation from this READ MORE
Engaging More Deeply With Scripture: Focusing on a single word
Sometimes studying the scripture passages leads us to a wide view, and we read all the passages over and over again to see what comes up. This next approach will narrow the focus significantly, inviting us to sit with a single word and dig into all it has to say. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday READ MORE
Engaging More Deeply With Scripture: A general approach
One way to engage more deeply with the Sunday readings is to take the following general approach: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sunday
20th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Proverbs 9:1-6 Background of the book In this passage, the figure of Wisdom is laying out a banquet and inviting the simple (those who lack understanding) to come and partake. In this section from Proverbs, both wisdom and folly prepare banquets and READ MORE
19th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. 1 Kings 19:4-8 Background of the book Chapters 17-19 are stories of the greatest prophet Elijah. He began prophesying in the reign of Ahab who you can read about in 1 Kings 16:29-33. Ahab was an evil man and Elijah frequently stood READ MORE
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Background of the book Exodus 1-15 tells the story of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt. The next few chapters cover their journey into the Sinai desert, and then the rest of the book is about their time READ MORE
17th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. 2 Kings 4:42-44 Background of the book Chapters 4-8 contain ten legends about the Prophet Elisha, a miracle worker by all accounts. Today’s reading is a very short account from those legends where Elisha feeds a crowd of one hundred men with READ MORE