Chapter XXIII: How to Read the Bible

HAVING seen what is to be avoided in the reading of the Scripture, let us speak a little more of the advantage of it. It is a mine of gold to the soul. You have heard, perhaps, how the miners in California work for gold — how they dig day after day, in water and deep under the ground, where they are liable to be crushed to death by the falling of the soil. If they chance to find a large lump of gold, they esteem all their hardships as nothing; they are ready to leap and dance for the joy of their hearts.

But a single verse of Holy Scripture is oftentimes of more value to the immortal soul than all the gold of the world for the body. St. Anthony, the hermit, when a young man, entered a church one day when the Holy Scripture was being read. He heard the words, “Go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and come follow me” (St. Luke xviii. 22). They sunk right down into his soul. He obeyed them, sold his possessions, gave the money to the poor, and went into the desert, that he might follow the Lord Jesus Christ more perfectly. There he became one of the greatest of saints.

How many places there are that fill us with hope, with consolation, with strong desire to serve God. Why, we can think over a single sentence for months and months, and even our whole lives, and constantly find matter for thought and prayer. Take that beautiful sermon of our Lord on the mount; who can ever understand the whole perfection of it? or who could fail to find something in it to feed his soul, if he were to read it over every week of his life?

I was much pleased with an expression I found in the lives of some nuns who lived in the time of St. Basil, fourteen hundred years ago. It is said “they nourished their souls with the daily food of the divine Scriptures.” That is, they meditated them over, and set themselves to work at once to carry out their teachings as well as they could. And the good people of those times who could not read listened with all their ears to hear the Holy Scriptures, counting themselves as rich if they could remember one verse to carry away with them, as if a precious pearl had been given them.

If we were as docile and as watchful, what a treasure we should find in the Scriptures! Read them with attention, with the wish always to get good out of them. Do not run over too much at one time; but, when something strikes you, pause over it, think over it, and lift your heart to God, to beg Him to fix it in your soul, to thank Him for the good thoughts and feelings which come to you, or to make other prayers, as you may feel inclined. And afterward try to keep it in your mind, so that you may be able to call it back when you like. It will help you to pray with fervor.

I like this mixing of reading and prayer; and when your reading excites prayer, by all means stop, raise your eyes or close them, and pray as long as you feel inclined to. Then go on with your reading. Maybe in a very short time some other good thought will strike you, and you will want to pray again. Do so; and do not be afraid to interrupt the reading as often as you have something to say to God.

This is the way St. Teresa used to do, and she became, as is well known, the very saint to teach others how to pray. She helped herself with a book, just in the way I have described, until finally she needed no book, for she could hardly help praying all the time, it became so natural to her.