Where To Find Scriptures To Use For Contemplation

David,
Good questions on where to look for passages to contemplate.
It has long been the monastic tradition to focus primarily (but not exclusively) on the Psalms and the four Gospels.
It is a good practice to have some sort of regular “diet” of these biblical books anyway. Then you might run across a passage that seems to present itself to you. At the time, you may just want to note it. Then, later, you can go to it with the steps of contemplation in mind.
It has helped me to try to stay current with the prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours. I started praying these as a Protestant, and I have found nothing else that has so helped me in adding the right touch of structure to get my prayer life out of a muttering neutral. The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as Christian Prayer, or the Divine Office, places before you many of the Psalms, other Old Testament and New Testament canticles, and readings from the New Testament letters. I highly recommend this prayer form to any Christian. I have given away or referred Christian Prayer to several Protestant friends, and they have all been deeply grateful for the introduction. It is one of my Top 10 great books for the inner life.
Gil Sanchez, my sponsor when I became Catholic, introduced me to it, and he, in turn, was advised to look into it by his spiritual director, a monk at Holy Trinity Abbey.
Or, you may want to read through the Psalms and underline or take note of four or five lines that you would like to use for the purposes of contemplation.
Liturgical churches also have daily readings, and these can be used to source your contemplative needs.
Let me say this – you won’t need 365 of these per year. It is my experience that some contemplative words or phrases become active in the heart for many days before I feel ready to move on. One doesn’t really move on until one is convinced that God is ready to take you elsewhere.

Monastery Provides Good Advice on Contemplative Reading

I found some very helpful remarks about lectio divina (“sacred reading”) while looking at a website from the New Melleray Abbey located outside of Dubuque, Iowa.
I hope to develop this blog into a good reference point for monastery visits or “retreats,” which have been a significant part of my own interest and development as a praying Christian.
The Cistercian, or Trappist, monks and writings are a great gift to all the faithful (c’mon all you non-Catholics, don’t shy away). Their influence on me will be inescapable as we explore contemplative life together.
Anyway, here is the comment from the New Melleray Abbey website:

LECTIO DIVINA/SACRED READING
The ancient monastic tradition of Lectio Divina or Sacred Reading can be an important element in your personal retreat because it can help you become more aware of the Wisdom contained in a specific Scriptural passages.
Whether you’re skimming through e-mail messages, perusing the newspaper, or trying to keep up with the many magazine articles and books that have caught your eye, chances are you’re used to reading things quickly and often rather superficially. Lectio is something entirely different. Its fruits are to be found by slowing down and concentrating on a specific Scriptural passage that is read slowly and prayerfully in order to be open to what God’s word is saying here and now. A personal retreat is an ideal time for making Lectio part of the day’s agenda–even if you’ve never tried it before or are just beginning. While there are no detailed procedures or methods involved in doing Lectio, it can be helpful for beginners to keep the following general guidelines in mind:
Select a short scriptural text on which to focus.
Take a few moments to quiet yourself. It’s a good idea to begin with a short prayer to the Holy Spirit asking that you be open to God’s word
Slowly read over the text you’ve selected several times until you find yourself drawn to a certain word, phrase or sentence. Let yourself "ponder" those particular words, paying special attention to thoughts or feelings that arise
Explore the significance of that particular passage and it’s connection to the events, circumstances, relationships and choices going on in your life.
Ask yourself what kind of response you need to make to the Word of God as it is being revealed to you through this particular scriptural passage
If you are accustomed to keeping a journal or expressing yourself in other forms of writing, you may find it helpful to jot down the thoughts and feelings that come to you during your Lectio period.

I will set up a link on the right margin in case you want to see more from this abbey. Tim

Taking the First Step

Reading is the first step.
It sounds like a no-brainer, but, our approach to contemplative reading involves some aspects that we are not ordinarily attuned to when we look into Scripture.
This doesn’t make the process extra complicated, but it does add dimension to the experience of encountering God through His Word.
The most important aspect of all is to realize and rely on the Holy Spirit’s crucial involvement in this practice. Through inspiration, the Holy Spirit influenced the biblical writers to the extent that what they wrote was God’s words. As important as inspiration is the Spirit’s work of illumination. God was present in the writing, and is also present and involved in the reading. This means that we have reason to rely on God to bring His truth to bear upon us as we read. The Spirit can and will make a precise impact on the soul that places itself before the Truth in humility.
This doesn’t happen with Shakespeare or Dostoevsky. Authors of the past don’t sit on our shoulder and coach us as we read their literature. We are kind of on our own. Contemplative reading takes us into a prayerful and living experience with God – even when nothing in particular happens – because we engage our faith and anticipate God’s assistance as we place ourselves as listener before Him.
We have to cultivate an attitude of reliance upon God to speak, to show, to point out, to bring to bear what is set before us.
More on this as we go. Let’s start listening:

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.
“How blessed are those who take refuge in him.”
(Psalm 34:7, 8)

It occurs to me, as a rank amateur of contemplative reading, that this passage might be lengthy. As you get used to this kind of reading/prayer, you will find that brevity is powerful.

One three-word question will get you, or a group of you, started:

What struck you?

Richard Peace is careful to advise us to set up boundaries with care here. Just a word or a phrase. You don’t need to prattle out a thesis. Just a word or a phrase. Something may have stood out to you as you read it. If nothing in particular is prominent to you, spend some time enjoying the passage and focus on God.

Hold that thought, literally, until next time. Feel free to comment. Thanks.

Sure, He Speaks. Me? I Listen ... Sometimes

Believers with an orthodox understanding of faith would likely agree that God has spoken through His Word (Scripture) and most especially through His Son our Lord.
If I asked whether you believe God currently and continuously speaks, I should think you would be prone to affirm this as well.
So, the question becomes: How do you go about listening for God’s speaking?
Contemplative speaking is a good avenue for this listening. I say is “a” good avenue, because there are several ways for believers to listen for indications from God, including basic reading of Scripture and religious writings; group Bible studies or prayer meetings; sermons, lectures or special weekends; directed or undirected retreats; or consulting a friend who seems to have a grasp of spiritual things. These are all legitimate ways to listen for God’s presence.
It is important, then, that we get on with the actual listening experience in the next few days, or I will fall prey to the common mistake of talking about contemplative reading but not doing that much of it.
I do want to give one more snippet from Guigo II, to show how he ties the four “rungs” of his ladder together:
“Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one’s powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one’s own reason for knowledge of hidden truth. Prayer is the heart’s devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness.” (Ladder, Page 68)
“Reading is an exercise of the outward senses; meditation is concerned with the inward understanding; prayer is concerned with desire; contemplation outstrips every faculty.” (Pp 79, 80)

The Four Steps In Contemplative Reading

The design of the contemplative approach to Scripture is easy to explain and remember, as it involves just four steps.
They are: Reading, Meditation, Prayer and Contemplation.
The 1996 small group study guide, Contemplative Bible Reading, by Dr. Richard Peace, is a tremendously instructive book, and utilizes these four steps.
I would like to go back a little further, to a 12th-Century monk known to us as Guigo II, who wrote an essay to his fellow spiritual brothers titled Ladder of Monks.
Guigo used the same four steps, and refers to them as rungs on a ladder: “These make a ladder for monks by which they are lifted up from earth to heaven. It has few rungs, yet its length is immense and wonderful, for its lower end rests upon the earth, but its top pierces the clouds and seeks heavenly secrets.” (Page 68, Cistercian Publications)
Again I remind you that spiritual language, such as the phrase “heavenly secrets,” must be kept in its immediate context of Christian thought. Contemplation is not a wild-eyed hunt for secrets. The early Gnostic heresy in the Church revolved around the notion that “special knowledge” was granted to certain extra spiritual people, and this “knowledge” was the centerpiece of Gnostic theology. (The Greek word for knowledge is gnosis.)
Guigo’s “heavenly secrets” are not hidden truths. Rather, he describes the effect of contemplation as the experience wherein the soul “tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness.” (Page 68)
He speaks of encountering God in a way that we see the Lord “hastening to us” to bring us restoration and in-filling.
Those hungry for mystery must recall that all mysteries are revealed in Christ. Those thirsty for secrets in the form of “new truth,” must check this sinister work of the mind set on earthly things (ironically), and recall that all secrets are told in Christ.
One can deeply enjoy contemplative reading, but, one ought not play with it.

Contemplative Approach Is Slow-Going. This Is OK.

The pace of the soul is quite a bit slower than the movement around us.
This slowed pace is one of the most difficult aspects of contemplative life.
On my first visit to Holy Trinity Abbey, in Huntsville, Utah, I noticed a handmade traffic sign on the road that led from the monastery gate to the church: “Slow down.”
At the moment, it seemed very poignant.
For those of us who like to cover a lot of territory in our Bible reading or our prayer time, the contemplative approach is going to seem extremely slow. There is a real push within us to get on with it. You may find yourself thinking this isn’t your style, because it takes too long.
There is not whatsoever wrong with reading large sections of the Bible. This is a good way to “stay fresh” with the Word of God.
In contemplative reading you will find yourself immersed in a single thought – sometimes a single word – that God will be working out through you. It is important that you fight the natural urge to move on and hurry up. Peaceful waters do not rush.
We are all from a culture that has taught us that moving slowly is wasting time. Be patient. Pace yourself. And remember the sign at the monastery – “Slow Down.”

What Is Our Part In Contemplation?

Since contemplation is something that happens to us by the infusing or in-pouring work of God, the question naturally arises about what our part is in this process.
Our part is to develop skills and practices and a way of being that will best form and inform our inner life to receive whatever God is pouring in. To walk as one prepared for this is to walk as a contemplative person.
Michael Casey calls this inner life condition “a patient receptivity.” (Sacred Reading, Page 8)
One of the psalms indicates that God is watched and waited upon so intently by the psalmist that it is like a servant observing the slightest indication from a master – a subtle hand movement, an inflection, a twitch of an eyebrow.
The contemplative is not lost in the mist of his own juices, but is focused on the Lord, waiting for the slightest indication that He would say something, require something of us, or move somehow in a way that involves us.
“We should note that this kind of entering within is just the opposite of introspection, for we are turning away from an egocentrism and turning toward the supreme Other.” (Dubay, Fire Within, Page 58)
This is a very important distinction, which will make more and more sense over time. The abuses of contemplation are many, even within the faith. People get alone in the quiet and dream up their own “take” on Truth. While it is appropriate to associate the practices of contemplative prayer and lectio divina as a mysticism, and the founders such as Teresa and John of the Cross as Christian “mystics,” these terms lend themselves to a great deal of misunderstanding when taken out of their immediate Christian context; their theological housing, as it were. Improperly tethered, contemplation quickly loses all domestication, becomes senseless and wild.
The chief end of a contemplative person is to learn Christ. While God is pouring in, we are to be found doing one thing – turning toward the supreme Other.
Any thoughts? May God help you to hear Him.