I discovered this near the end of a lengthy article by Fr. John Whiteford:
In On Christian Doctrine, St. Augustine spends a lot of time describing how one should read, study, and interpret Scripture. In fact, he “spends much more time talking about the kind of person the study of the Scripture requires than about the intellectual knowledge he should possess”. Fr. Whiteford paraphrased the following six attitudes from St. Augustine:
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One who loves God with his whole heart, and is empty of pride,
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Is motivated to seek the Knowledge of God’s will by faith and reverence, rather than pride or greed,
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Has a heart subdued by piety, a purified mind, dead to the world; and who neither fears, nor seeks to please men,
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Who seeks nothing but knowledge of and union with Christ,
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Who hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
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And is diligently engaged in works of mercy and love.
Wow! That is a mighty tall order. I know that I am not perfect and fall short in several areas. But it begs this question to ask yourself, “How well do I get into the right ‘attitude’?”
(Would it be presumptuous of me to add that this is the same attitude we should have in our daily lives, let alone in reading Scripture or attending church?)