Why practice Lectio Divina? (also known as holy reading)
This way of "being " with the Scriptures, of taking a passage, perhaps only of a few lines or a few words, seems to many in our modern and post-modern culture (16th-21st centuries) to be a waste of time. The mind can range freely over paragraphs and pages at a short sitting. We turn to lengthy and learned commentaries to understand the meaning of the Scriptures, instead of spending time with the sacred Word of God itself. But what the ancients discovered was that the Scriptures often hide their message from the grasping mind, hungry for mere information, and only reveal it to the heart thirsting for meaning, salvation, and God's holy consolation. . . .The Scriptures, after all, come from the love of God and can only be understood by those who read them with faith and love.by the late Abbot, Francis Kline OCSO, in Chapter & Verse, the Mepkin Abbey newsletter, Spring and Summer 2006.
by Thelma Hall in Too Deep for Words, p. 7.
Lectio, as I shall refer to it hereafter, is a holistic way of prayer which disposes, opens and "in-forms" us for the gift of contemplation God waits to give, by leading us to a meeting place with him in our deepest center, his life-giving dwelling place. It begins this movement by introducing us to the power of the word of God in scripture to speak to the most intimate depths of our hearts to gift and challenge and change us, and to promote genuine spiritual growth and maturity."
How to Select Readings
- Thelma Hall's book, Too Deep for Words, has a large section of passages, arranged by topic.
- Christine Painter and Lucy Wynkoop's book, Lectio Divina, has a similar section titled "Shortened Lectio for Busy Days."
- The late Abbot Kline from Mepkin Abbey recommends that we begin by doing the Sunday or daily readings of the Church, being in tune with the liturgical season. Or, he suggests that one might want to read a book, or an epistle,or a gospel, in other words, a whole section of the Bible, a little at a time, even if it takes several weeks to complete.
Scripture for Session 3
Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed she has received from the hand of the lord double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with poser the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
The Moments of Lectio Divina
Reading
Sows the Word in your heart
Reflecting
Waters the Word in your heart
Responding
Roots the Word in your heart
Resting
The Word flowers and bears fruit in your heart
in the Contemplative Life Program booklet, Lectio Divina, excerpted from Fr. Carl Arico in Taste of Silence
The fruit is that we become the word of God--
That perfect love of God, by which we were loved first,
will pass into our heart’s disposition…
John Cassian (reprinted from the Contemplative Outreach Lectio Divina workshop slides)
Sows the Word in your heart
Reflecting
Waters the Word in your heart
Responding
Roots the Word in your heart
Resting
The Word flowers and bears fruit in your heart
in the Contemplative Life Program booklet, Lectio Divina, excerpted from Fr. Carl Arico in Taste of Silence
The fruit is that we become the word of God--
That perfect love of God, by which we were loved first,
will pass into our heart’s disposition…
and then every love,
every desire,
every effort,
every undertaking,
every thought of ours,
everything that we live,
that we speak,
that we breathe
will be God…
whatever we understand
will be God…
every desire,
every effort,
every undertaking,
every thought of ours,
everything that we live,
that we speak,
that we breathe
will be God…
whatever we understand
will be God…
John Cassian (reprinted from the Contemplative Outreach Lectio Divina workshop slides)
5 comments:
"GLAD tidings.....Cry out at the top of your voice...Here is your God!" I hear urgency and enthusiasm because what we have been given is of critical importance in our own journey and in our witness to the world.
I reflect on my own often lukewarm response in the face of countless blessings. Not guilt, but encouragement to stand up, and cry out some more!
"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem"--these words impressed themselves on me as I read. I love this passage from Isaiah because of the rough ways being made smooth and my realization of how much I seek my own comfort!
To my surprise, this time I couldn't get past the words "speak tenderly to Jerusalem." And I noted how they fit in with the concluding image of the shepherd holding the lambs in his arms.
There are some lambs in my life, metaphorically, in the people around me--husband, children and grandchildren, friends, members of the Centering network I am in service to. Lately, with the bustle of the holidays, I've noticed and edge to my voice, an impatience in my heart, an expectation of ease in my soul. But Isaiah had his ear tuned to God's way, to the acceptance of all that comes as gift, to utmost charity.
Please God, let me speak tenderly to all my Jerusalems.
John, I really like your comment--the Glad Tidings part of Isaiah is so important. I often forget that I have heard the Good News. Maybe we just need to be more aware, minute by minute, that God is with us. Then act like it.
In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! This whole section of the reading speaks to me of the Contemplative Journey.
As we sit in silence opening our hearts to God it seems that God turns our interior wasteland into a pathway to the true self. The jagged interior terrain becomes smooth rolling hills and fertile valleys making it easier for 'the Glory of the Lord' to be revealed - like a beautiful sunrise.
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