"You will do well to be attentive to the prophetic message as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

How does one treat a lamp shining in a dark place?  First it is set in the most prominent and highest place in the room so that it may shine into all the necessary places.  Next, it is used to illuminate everything; all things in the room are viewed by its light.  Finally, as to the lamp itself, the greatest care and attention is given to it.  Indeed it is guarded and tended as though it were life itself, since if it becomes extinguished all falls into darkness.

This is how St. Peter exhorts us to treat the Word.  First we must retrieve the sacred Scriptures from the dustbin to which we have relegated it.  We must give the sacred Word the most important part of the day, perhaps the first hour of the day when we are most alert.  This way the Word can shine on the entire day.  Next, we must use the Word to illuminate everything in our lives each and every day.  Our manner of acting, our behavior, our interactions with coworkers and family, our important and our minor decisions, our prayer life and our relationship with Christ, the hopes, dreams and desires of our life, - in short everything in life must be illuminated by Christ the Incarnate Word.  Finally, as to the Word itself the greatest care must be given to it.  This begins with treating the book of sacred Scripture itself with the utmost care.  It must never be kept on the floor or underneath other objects as though it were any regular book.  One must study it regularly to know the literal interpretation.  One must never believe it is a static book which one can learn or read once in a move away from.  The Word is living and active and always has something different to teach us, even with the same passage.  Finally one must submit oneself humbly to the teaching authority of the apostolic tradition as manifested by the Church.  St. Peter himself (and so the Word) exhorts us to this so we may not go astray, each their own way, interpreting the Word as we see fit.  Nevertheless, in no way does this diminish or restrict the over arching power which the Word has to inform, enlighten, instruct and guide us each day.