Spiritual reading is often seen as a desperate last step in a series of pleas to God. Many of us see the contemplation of the sacred word as a last resort or a last worried petition for God’s attention. The reality is that we constantly have God’s attention and need do nothing special for God to “notice” us. We are well-loved and well-attended although there are times when we feel this may not be so.
Contemplative prayer is often seen as something we do when we can find the time. It is seen as the work of the consecrated religious or the spiritually gifted. The truth is that each of us has the capacity to consider and reflect on God’s goodness. We need no special talent and no special tools. We each have a God spot that scientists have identified and in fact there are likely “several areas of the brain that form the biological foundations of religious belief”. (“Independent”) We are well-equipped and well-blessed with this gift from God.
Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, a time when we approach Holy Week and the miracle of Easter. Let us spend some time today with just a bit of scripture if we do not have time for a chapter or a book. Let us spend some time today with the process of lectio divina even if for only twenty minutes or so. Let us spend some time today with the Creator who loves us and tends to us. This Creator longs to commune with us, yearns to touch is in special ways, wants to bless us and grace with all manner of gifts. Let us give a bit of time today to God in a bit of reading, a bit of meditation, and a bit of communication. We will find that the time we spend will come back to us in the form of patience, wisdom, and a newly-found peace.
Image from: http://ymiblogging.org/2010/01/god-spot/
“Belief and the brain’s ‘God spot’ .” Independent. 10 March 2009: n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/belief-and-the-brains-god-spot-1641022.html>.
If you do not know how to begin, go to the Scripture as Prayer page on this blog, of go to:
For more information on God spots, go to: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/belief-and-the-brains-god-spot-1641022.html, or http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=2886, or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/10/brains-god-spot-discovere_n_173705.html, or http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104291534, or http://ymiblogging.org/2010/01/god-spot/
The Noontimes 