Findng the Right Words to Speak

It is easy in the world of campus ministry to get caught up in our own agendas, hopes, and dreams for a student’s life. I have caught myself many times trying to find the right words to say in a one-on-one with a student, a small group meeting, or speaking to a large group. I believe that our Lord wants to use us to speak into the lives of our students and He has given us His very own words to help us in doing so.

Severely years ago I was able to read the Second Vatican Council Document Dei Verbum which is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. I was struck by a sentence in section 21 of the document that says, “The Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body.” I thought about the reverence that I offered our Lord in the Eucharist through genuflecting and adoration and found myself in great need to increase my devotion to the Scriptures. I wrestled through my bag and finally came upon my Bible, opened it up and fell upon my knees to reverence the Presence of our Lord in the Divine Pages. I started to dedicate time to pray with, study, and listen to the Scriptures.

Then I started to realize that by bathing in the Scriptures that the words I use and the conversation I would have were filled with Scriptural reference. It wasn’t that I was quoting the Bible left and right to people and using Chapter and verse notations to those I spoke with but that the words that are inspired by God started to become my own words. Also, I found the words of Scripture applying to every aspect of my life, my relationships, my work, and my recreation. I thought if the Scriptures could do this for me that they would be able to pierce the hearts of many others, as well.

Through my study of Scripture, I came across several verses in the Scriptures that spoke of the powerful affect of the Word of God. When we approach the Scriptures and open our hearts to them, the Lord will enter our hearts in a radical way that opens us up to our deepest desires. . Hebrews 4:12 says, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” This is what we desire to do with the students we work with on campus. We want to bring the words of God to them so they will find real answers and encouragement in the challenges they face daily. There are many ways we can bring these words into our work with college students. I would like to propose three simple ways that anyone could use on any campus.

One of the main ways we can have students enter into the Scriptures is through weekly Bible studies. These small groups give students a chance to dive deep into the Word of God and see how the inspired Word of God is still living and applicable in their daily living. I remember that as a college student there was nothing I look forward to more than the weekly Bible study that I was in and the one that I lead because during these hours I found myself in a front row seat to seeing God work miracles in people’s lives. I remember working with a student at UW-Madison that after being in Bible study for one semester decided to make the heroic decision to stop abusing alcohol. After he made this decision, he found the strength to continue by his daily prayer with the Scriptures, which lead him to participate more deeply in the Sacraments. Less than a year after meeting this student, he was not only drinking deeply from the Word of God, but he was sharing it with his roommates and fellow classmates. The Scriptures can truly have a powerful effect on people!

As students progress in their knowledge on the Scriptures, they find themselves called to dive deeper into them through prayer. One of the ancient ways of praying with the Scriptures is called lectio divina, which is Latin for “sacred reading.” This is when we take a paragraph from the Scriptures and enter deeply into the text. The Lord will give us a word or a phrase to pray over and speak to us in our hearts about what this word or phrase means in our lives. Pope Benedict XVI is known for promoting this way of praying. He said during an address on September 26, 2005, “If lectio divina is promoted with efficacy, I am convinced that it will produce a new springtime in the Church.” This is because the art of praying with the Scriptures enters us into a heart to heart conversation with our Lord Jesus and when we begin to speak to Jesus from our heart, our hearts our transformed and when our hearts our transformed, we become saints. And saints transform the world! For more reading on the subject of Lectio Divina, I would recommend Tim Gray’s book, Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina.

Finally, I would suggest that we work with our students in the art of Scripture Memory. The ancient world was known for their knack of memorization, but in our own advanced time we hear the complaint that people don’t have very good memories. I think we are wrong in saying that we don’t have very good memories. Most people that tell me they don’t have good memories have hundreds of songs memorized that they hear on the radio and just as many movie and television quotations. This is not bad in itself, but it does point to the fact that we do have good memories; we are just memorizing different things than Scripture. Once I was speaking to a group about the need to minister to our college students and I was able to speak from the heart about many Scripture that I have memorized from my own personal study of the Word of God. Afterwards, the group commented on my ability to memorize the Scriptures and how it seemed I really believed what I spoke. Then one woman commented, “We are what we speak!” This is why we should memorize the Scriptures. The Word of God will become part of who we are and our entire beings will be transformed by the inspired words of Scripture. I have found Rich Cleveland’s Catholic Topical Memory System to be an extremely helpful tool in the memorization of the Scriptures. It can be done in both a one-on-one setting and a Bible study format.

The Word of God can transform our lives. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” This is the goal of the Christian walk and what we are attempting, by the grace of God, to do on college campuses. I sense a hunger on the college campus, a hunger that cannot be satisfied by power, greed, sex, or money. It is a hunger that can only be fed by the everlasting Word of God. Let us turn to the Scriptures and find the words inspired by God Himself, so when we work with students we will not use our own words but the words of He who has sent us.