Dr. John Cavadini gave the second lecture Monday night for Saint Mary's endowed spirituality series.

Cavadini's lecture, entitled "A Layman asks ... Lord Teach Me to Pray," focused on how people read scripture and how to share the reading with family.

"We should to scripture if we want to pray. The reading itself, seeking, is already a pray in itself," said Cavadini, an associate professor of theology and director of the Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame.

Cavadini explained that there is a restlessness in everyone concerning prayer and through the reading of scripture one can begin seeking and praying to God.

"The study of scripture, and the attempt to understand it and read it, is when ones heart is enlarger," Cavadini said.

Cavadini explained that reading scripture becomes a prayer as it expands one's imagination by the love of God. The reading of scripture allows one to enlarge his or her vision and to see beyond what narrows that vision, namely money, prestige and influence.

Cavadini quoted St. Augustine, the Book of Origin and Dorothy Day's biography to support his theory on prayer.

According to Cavadini, the best way to pray is together, especially with one's family. He suggested that families have nightly prayer together, even if it is only for 10 minutes. As the father of seven children, Cavadini practices what he preaches and spends time praying with his family. While sometimes they do miss a night of prayer , he believes it is the desire and sense to pray that is important.

The last lecture to be presented in this series is "Does Prayer Make Sense?" which will be given by Kathleen Dolphin tonight, in Stapleton lounge of LeMans Hall at 7 p.m.

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