Lent is a good time to try to deepen one’s prayer life. One ancient way of doing that is what monastic tradition called lectio divina (‘divine reading’). We choose a very short passage from the Bible – just a few words of Jesus or a verse or two of a psalm – and slowly recite them aloud, then silently.
By repeating them gently, mulling over them, we ask God to enlighten us as to their meaning. At the end we gather up our thoughts and feelings and address them to God with as much warmth as we can muster. We can end with the words of a Collect as below (a form of prayer called that for that very reason – it gathers things up).
Collect
Merciful Lord,
you know our struggle to serve you:
when sin spoils our lives
and overshadows our hearts,
come to our aid
and turn us back to you again;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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