Take and Read

"Take and read", these words, heard by the struggling Augustine, which led him to pick up the Scriptures and read the passage which leapt out at him and led him to his baptism, are a call to us as well to read a verse or chapter of the Scriptures daily. "As you take hold of the book (the Bible)...it will take hold of you. Its words, which are spirit, will penetrate into you like seeds in the earth, like leaven in bread, like trees in the sky. And it you yield yourself up to these words, you yourself will become simply a new expression of them.
"The Gospel has the power to enlighten and transform; it is a permanent and powerful gift from God. And like all of God's gifts, it is poured out only into the hands of faith; it can be received only in the depths of hope." (Madeleine Delbrel d. 1964, a French laywoman, writer and mystic devoted to caring for the poor and to evangelizing culture).
Praying with Scripture is an essential to feeding and growing our spiritual lives, our relationship with Jesus. It's like visiting with him, hearing him speak to us directly or through St. Paul and the other letter writers of the New Testament: Peter, John and Jude. Yesterday, I suggested the second letter of Paul to Timothy...it is rich, it is timely, it is worthy of re-reading and re-reading. For example: "proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship, perform the work of an evangelist; fulfull your ministry." (2 Tim 4: 2-5). Is this not a description of what we are dealing with now? Take and read.
Bro. Rene