Again therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying: I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

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Prayer and Sacred Scripture

Article 1 AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER The Word of God 2653 The Church "forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ' (? Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.... Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man. For 'we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles."'4 2654 The spiritual writers, paraphrasing Matthew 7:7, summarize in this way the dispositions of the heart nourished by the word of God in prayer "Seek in reading and you will find in meditating; knock in mental prayer and it will be opened to you by contemplation."5 4 DV 25; cf. ? Phil 3:8; St. Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum 1, 20,88: PL 16, 50. 5 Guigo the Carthusian, Scala Paradisi: PL 40, 998.