Ruminating the word

We teach and practise meditation as a way of prayer, a way of contemplative prayer. There are different stages and different ways of describing the journey of prayer. Traditionally, these could be identified as three stages. It is a slight over-simplification, but this is it. The first is lectio where we take a passage of scripture. We read
it in a quiet way. We re-read it, we chew the word, we ruminate the word, and we allow that particular passage of scripture to nourish us, to awaken us, to touch our hearts. That is a vital dimension of all Christian prayer: that we are nourished by the word of God on a regular daily basis.

Meditating as a Christian by Laurence Freeman OSB