All of life is spiritual. As a person of faith, I make no divisions between sacred and secular, material and spiritual. That’s one of the reasons that I and many others give some kind of prayer of thanks before eating. Norman Wirzba, a writer on sustainable agriculture and good eating has written, “Food is God’s love made edible.” Food is literally the substance of physical life–what I eat becomes part of who I am. For Christians, one of our most profound practices, variously called the Eucharist, the Lord’s supper, or communion, is basically a meal in which we are reminded of Christ as our spiritual food, our life.

Why then do I rarely or never pray before reading? Maybe I think that because I’m “good” at this I don’t need to. Maybe I don’t think it is that important. Yet books nourish my soul, make me laugh, cause me to think, give me perspective. Why then shouldn’t I give thanks for them, ask for understanding as I read (particularly challenging texts), and for discernment and perspective as to how to respond to what I read? It seems to me that if the first sentence I wrote is true, then books and reading are spiritual and just as worthy of God’s attention as my food.

Below is a prayer attributed to one of the greatest scholars of the church, Thomas Aquinas.  While I might not use exactly these words, the thought are ones that might serve as a good guide for a prayer before reading:

Thomas Aquinas Prayer Before Study

Ineffable Creator,
Who, from the treasures of Your wisdom,
has established three hierarchies of angels,
has arrayed them in marvelous order
above the fiery heavens,
and has marshaled the regions
of the universe with such artful skill,

You are proclaimed
the true font of light and wisdom,
and the primal origin
raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness
into the darkened places of our minds;
disperse from our souls
the twofold darkness
into which we were born:
sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants.
Refine our speech
and pour forth upon our lips
the goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to us
keenness of mind,
capacity to remember,
skill in learning,
subtlety to interpret,
and eloquence in speech.

May You
guide the beginning of our work,
direct its progress,
and bring it to completion.
You Who are true God and true Man,
Who live and reign, world without end.

Amen

I’d love to know what you think of this and how you connect your reading to your spirituality.