How to Read the Bible

All the actual biblical texts should be read slowly and reflectively since they have a power of their own. The ancient method for reading the Bible is to involve yourself so deeply that you feel yourself as part of the story. This means that you are actually there. This is not a piece of pious fiction, but based on the way the text was written. It was designed as a living drama in which the audience is there as part of the action.

--J. A. Grassi, The Five Wounds of Jesus and Personal Transformation (Alba House, 2000), ix; emphasis original (HT: Peter Bolt)

Not the only thing to be said; but a neglected one.