As we settle into the routine of the new year, one of the areas that you may look to strengthen is your prayer life. One way that we can grow in our prayer life is an intentional, daily reading of scripture.

St. Paul says that the “Word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible, which has been passed down through generations, is not just dead words. They are a love letter from God to us. Each of us can be touched by scripture in our own unique ways, at different seasons of our life. Reading scripture is a tangible way to “hear” what God has to say to us, in written form.

Here are some ways that we can begin:

Choose a scripture passage

Since the Bible is a huge text, it can be overwhelming to find a scripture to pray with on a given day. Additionally, something like “Bible roulette”—flipping to a random part of the Bible, and trying to apply it hastily to your current life situation—may not be helpful and can lead to more confusion and anxiety. 

Instead, you may opt to pray with a favourite scripture verse that has stuck with you for years, or maybe a passage from mass that struck you in a new way. These can be good places to start, because they may have some familiarity or even pertinence to your life. 

Another way to choose a scripture to pray with is to follow what the universal church is praying. There are different readings proclaimed at masses each day. Right there, you have the opportunity to join the rest of the church in praying with the Word of God. 

For many, the Gospels are a great entryway into praying with scripture. The Gospels provide many different aspects to pray with, like vivid imagery or compelling conversation between Jesus and others. As well, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus provide us with tangible examples of what it means to live as a Christian. In the ways Jesus speaks to others or prays to His Father, He offers us a pattern to follow—something we can integrate into our lives.

Quiet your heart 

In the same way that it’s hard to focus on a conversation in a noisy environment, praying with scripture when it’s noisy can be challenging, too. To minimize distractions, you may choose to find a quiet spot in your home, or perhaps in the Church before mass or a local adoration chapel—whatever helps you to quiet your mind and heart. 

Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance 

St. Paul also reminds us that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. Saying a prayer to the Holy Spirit—something as simple as “Come, Holy Spirit”—can help us to be more receptive to whatever it is that the Lord wants to say. These words can be the invitation that gives God permission to help the word come alive in a profound way in our hearts. Whenever we call upon the Holy Spirit, He is present and desires to breathe new life into us. 

Approach praying with scripture using a framework

So perhaps you’ve chosen a particular Gospel story to pray with. Some days, it may feel like you’ve gotten something out of simply reading the passage and reflecting on it. But how might we engage with God’s Word in a deeper way?

  1. We can put ourselves in the scene. St. Ignatius of Loyola calls this “Ignatian contemplation”: taking notice of different details or putting ourselves in the scene that we’re reading.

    Take for example the story of Jesus feeding a crowd of five thousand with only five loaves and two fish. How might your perspective on this story change if you put yourself in the shoes of the young boy who offered all he had to give to Jesus—the five loaves and two fish? What emotions does it evoke within you to watch Jesus turn the little that you give to Him into super abundance, where all five thousand people are satisfied and there are still leftovers?

  1. We can imagine Jesus speaking directly to us. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus has a lot to say. Take note of what Jesus is saying, and try to imagine Jesus saying those words to you.

    There is a famous line in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus says to the crowds, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Picture Jesus saying these words to you. What might He be inviting you to, based on these words? How does that make you feel? 

  1. We can approach a word or phrase with curiosity. When praying with scripture, we can also be attentive to what words or phrases jump out at us. While this may vary from person to person, it could look like an emotional response to a word or phrase like joy or anger. A particular word or phrase in the text we read could also remind us of a moment in our life from a long time ago, or a theme that tends to keep coming up in life.

Reading the Gospels with these different nuances can help bring these stories to life, providing us with an opportunity to experience God’s word freshly. Embedded within this is an invitation to be attentive to what is stirring within us as we read God’s word. Taking note of these emotions and what stands out to us in our prayer can be good indicators of something deeper that God wants to share with us.

Here’s an example of how it works:

One of my favourite passages to pray with is from the Gospel of John, where Jesus calls Himself the true vine (cf. John 15). Here’s how I’ve done it before:

 “Every branch that bears fruit He prunes to make it bear more fruit.” (John 15:2)

At the time I was reading this, “prunes” struck me as something painful: in the way a farmer would prune dead parts from their plants to help them grow stronger, God wanted to prune parts of my life that were holding me back. 

This is where the invitation to dialogue with God started: I wasn’t ready to be pruned; in fact, I was scared of it! I tried to ask Jesus to illuminate for me why this word was tugging at my heart, and what He wants to prune in my life. I ended up praying with this verse for a few weeks, coming back to it every so often. God showed me different things that He wanted to prune from my life, particularly as it pertained to my vocational path. Ultimately this ‘pruning’ was an invitation to trust in Him: Letting God prune from my life things that I was holding on to—like my unhealthy self-reliance and my ego—and letting Him gently prune these branches so that my vocational discernment that I was doing at that time could yield good fruit.

A few notes on how to get started.

Start small: Remember to start with a small goal for yourself—maybe spending five minutes reading and reflecting on scripture. This could look like committing to waking up a little earlier to start the day with God’s word, reading it with your morning coffee. 

Read with others: If it feels daunting to go at this alone, another small way to incorporate scripture into our prayer lives is to read with someone else.

Give yourself grace: As with any new resolution, give yourself grace as you try to grow in this new habit. God sees the ways you want to try to communicate with Him and get to know Him through His Word. The more time we spend with God in conversation, the easier it will be to hear what His voice sounds like. 

Keep trying: As we grow in praying with scripture more intentionally, maybe we find ourselves venturing into the Psalms or some of St. Paul’s letters. Maybe we find ourselves extending our time from five minutes to ten. Regardless of what scripture we pray with or how long we do it, God simply invites us to keep showing up. He wants a relationship with us, and He wants to dialogue with us. 

This year, let’s try to keep talking to Him, bringing everything we have to Him, and permitting Him to speak to us.