Judi Gaitens serves Triangle Contemplative Outreach in several ways, including trying this blog for the first time! As a participant in Mike Potter's Lectio Divina workshop I hope to make his enthusiasm for scripture a part of my daily life. Hope you can too!
We begin by stilling the body and mind, reflecting in our action our inner resolve to be only with God and his word for the four "moments" of lectio divina: reading, meditating, praying, contemplating.
from Michael Casey in Sacred Reading:
We begin to defer to another time the tasks remaining undone. This is the negative phase of moving into prayer or lectio: we place a temporary block on activities and concerns that belong to another part of the day. This is easier said than done, but it is not impossible. As the evacuation of thoughts proceeds, we gradually turn our minds and hearts to things of God.
Reading (lectio): Immersing ourselves in the word. Scripture passage: Cure of a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath--Luke 13, 10 - 17
Again, Michael Casey:
Lectio divina is like reading poetry: we need to slow down, savor what we read, and allow the text to trigger memories and associations that reside below the threshold of consciousness. . . .One useful technique is to revert to the ancient practice of verbalizing as we read. This means that as we read we vocalize the words saying them quietly to ourselves or even aloud. . . .By adding sound to sight, reading aloud increases its power to both capture our attention and to evoke latent memories.
Meditating (meditatio): Finding the word or phrase that seems to call to us, to well up from the Spirit within.
From Lectio Divina by Painter and Wynkoop.
Meditation is like a key that unlocks something in our hearts and minds. Another image for meditation is the kaleidoscope that opens up new associations and patterns. . . .Meditation allows us to withdraw, to listen deeply and to be attuned to the Holy Spirit so that we can see our problems in a fresh new way.
Practical hint: If having difficulty with either Meditating or the next step Praying, you might try journaling. Simply write the word that has seemed to call out to you and any other words that seem to come to you. Then look at what you have written and listen to any connections the Spirit may be making in you. Surrender to the repetition of the word and any connections you might feel.
Praying ( oratio): Responding to God in prayer
Michael Casey in Sacred Reading:
Sometimes prayer wells up naturally during our lectio divina; in such cases we do no need much external guidance. At other times our reading may seem dry; then we have to prime the pump. If no prayer rises spontaneously from the text, we have to make a positive ewffort to add prayer. If prayer is slow in coming, it makes sense for us to go out and meet it halfway.
Again, a practical hint at this stage might be to journal a prayer. Just writing "Dear Lord" might get you started. Or the prayer might flow naturally out of the journaling done in meditating.
Contemplating (contemplatio): Responding to God in silence
Painter & Wynkoop, Lectio Divina
We move from reading the Word, to savoring individual words and allowing them to unfold within us. God touches our hearts and we respond with a yes to an invitation toward transofrmation. This leads to contemplatio, which is a prayer of soaking, of simply basking in the experience of love, of allowing that love to work its transforming renewal within.
Transformation & comment We take the word, backed up by the insights and prayer we experienced, into our day. We say it whenever we have a lull in activity, when we are impatient, when we become aware of a special grace in our day. In this way, we become the word and the word shapes our life.
We share our insights or our difficulties by clicking on comment and entering our thoughts there. If you share, please remember to click publish so your comments will be posted. Peace!
Just a reminder--the upcoming posts, with new Lectio passages will emerge on the following dates:
Nov. 18
Dec. 2
Dec. 16
Jan 6, 2009
Meanwhile, feel free to comment on any of the past or current (Lesson 2) posts. Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome.
Thoughts about Lectio From Fr. Thomas Keating:
The ripe fruit of the regular practice of Lectio Divina is assimilating the Word of God and being assimilated by it. It is a movement from conversation to communion. It also enables us to express our deep spiritual experience of union with God in words or symbols that are appropriate. There is thus a movement, not only iinto silence, but from silence into expression.
Father Thomas's complete article can be found on the Contemplative Outreach web site:
www.contemplativeoutreach.org (under "articles and resources" Lectio Divina)
From M. Robert Mulholland's Shaped by the Word (see your bibliography):
Keep asking yourself, "What is God seeking to say to me in all of this?" By adopting this posture toward the text, you will begin the process of reversing the learning mode that establishes you as the controlling power that seeks to master a body of information. Instead, you will begin to allow the text to become an instrument of God's grace in your life. You will begin to open yourself to the possibility of God setting the agenda for your life through the text.
To Begin The extension of our Lectio Divina learning is Chapter 4, "Lectio Divina" in Thelma Hall's book, Too Deep For Words. This chapter covers the four moments of lectio (see Session 1 Blog) but in great depth, especially oratio (prayer) and contemplatio (resting in God).
It is suggested that you read the highlights of the chapter reproduced below, then move into the practice of lectio.
After lectio, when you have space for spiritual reading, go back to Chapter 4 and read each section slowly, meditatively. There are many riches in those sections; they take time to digest.
Highlights of Chapter Four Lectio: I prepare for this sacred reading by taking time to quiet my body and mind, in order to bring my whole person into a single focus. . . .This is already the beginning of my response to a person, who calls me to open my mind and heart to him. . . .In all, my goal is to personalize the words, to real-ize them as God speaking to me, now.
Meditatio: Each person's prayer relationship with the Lord is unique. . . .In some the imaginative faculty is more developed and active, and for such people the use of imagery may be very helpful to bring their meditation alive. . . . In this approach one enters by means of imagination a Gospel scene, seeing and hearing the person, imagining the touch and smells of the environment, etc. I might identify myself with some person in the scene, or be present there as myself, watching, listening, experiencing what is going on. . . . .What do I see? How shall I respond. . . .
One whose imagination is not so active or well developed but who is perhaps more intuitive might gain more by savoring the truth or insight inherent in the passage, deeply interiorizing what Jesus is saying by allowing his words to repeat themselves slowly again and again, in the depths of the heart, until it is deeply penetrated with Jesus' assuring love, and spontaneously responds in kind.
Oratio: This [moment] is the real beginning of prayer. . . . For the goal of prayer is not thoughts or concepts or knowledge about God, however sublime, but God himself as he is, mysteriously hidden in my deepest, true self. . . .[An] increase of "holy desire" is one of the effects of Oratio. By it God creates in us a greater capacity for himself, not only by our longing but sometimes through the very frustration and powerlessness we experience as we reach out blindly toward him. It is as though we are being drawn by a magnetic force in our own depths, toward God as our center of gravity, where that center coincides with our true self.
Contemplatio: All that is asked of us is that we "stay quiet before Yahweh, wait longingly for him" (Ps 37:7a).
Opening Prayer and Scripture: Lord, let me be open to your spirit in the words of scripture. Let me hear you as I listen. Let me rest in you as I respond. Let me carry your words into my day. Amen.
Pray the moments of lectio using the following scripture passage: Lk 9:46-50 (p. 97 in Hall's book)
After Lectio Divina: You are invited to share insights, problems, prayer, questions, and comments that have emerged as a result of your time with the Word. Simply click on "comments" below this posting, remembering to publish your comment as you sign out.
Suggestion for taking the Word into your day: Write the word or phrase that caught you today on a post-it note, or on two or three. Place the note(s) on your bedroom/bath mirror, inside your wallet or purse and perhaps on your computer or dashboard. You will be reminded of the moments of resting in God and carry His love with you on your way.
