For this session I'll again insert some wisdom from books on our bibliography, give the moments, reproduce the scripture, then close with a prayer, and hope you will comment.
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, let me be open to your Word, to your Spirit as you seek me and transform me through this reading. Amen.
from Sacred Reading by Michael Casey
What we sometimes forget is that this gift of salvation often runs counter to our own perceptions and expectations. The disposition that makes us capable of receiving salvation includes a willingness to be guided and to be changed.
Of our own free choice we entrust ourselves to the book we are reading. We come to it defenseless and ready to be influenced. . . .God's saving of us takes place by dragging us beyond our own comfort zone into new territory and new adventures. . . .This means that we have to stop trying to control the process. We have to take the risk of reading what is before us, allowing it to speak to our hearts and consciences and to cause us to look in a direction we had previously ignored. (p. 6)
The moments of Lectio Divina as presented by Mariano Magrassi in Praying the Bible
Lectio--Reading
The starting point is reading. With it I get ready to listen: God speaks to me. It is the moment when, as Jerome would say, "I unfurl my sails to the Holy Spirit" in whom I have the joy of hearing the Lord's true voice.Read the Scripture, slowly, letting the words sink in.
Full hearing requires attentive reading. . . .contemplative calm.
Meditatio--Meditation, Reflection
First, we must create within our heart a flexible space of resonance, so that the Word can penetrate its deepest parts and touch its innermost fibers. This demands the kind of recollection we feel the need for when something great and beautiful appears in our life.The quiet at the end of a piece of music, or the space that opens up when we see a painting that draws us in, or the gasp of awe when we have read a poem that speaks to where we are in our lives. This kind of reflection, of questioning--what am I attracted by? What is it saying to me? What is it pointing to or illuminating in my life?
Read the Scripture again, listening for the call of a word or phrase. Sit with the word or phrase for a few moments, unfurl your defenses and go where the Spirit leads you.
Oratio--Prayer
Meditative reading as we have described it leads spontaneously to prayer. In fact, it is prayer: "Reading too is Prayer." (St. Irenaeus of Marseilles) In any case, the two activities complement each other. They are two moments in the mystical dialogue, harmoniously alternating. The soul leaves it reading to run to God.Read the Scripture yet again and let yourself run to God--with thanksgiving, with questions, with fear, with awe, in short with all the humanity that needs healing, needs to connect with God's life in us.
Contemplatio--Contemplation, Resting in God
Contemplation is certainly the peak of this entire activity. It is not something superimposed from without but is like a delicious fruit that ripens on the tree of Bible reading. And it is a normal fruit--provided we do not understand the term to mean extraordinary mystical graces. There is, in fact, a form of contemplation available to us all. It is a normal complement of the Christian life taken seriously.Read, Rest in God.
To contemplate means to enter into a relationship of faith and love with the God of truth and life, who has revealed his face to us in Christ. That face is revealed to us on every page of the Bible. All we need to do is look: open ourselves to the light, and desire that it shine in us.
Scripture-- Matthew 4: 12-17, 23-25
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galiliee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Napthali
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galillee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
On those in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galillee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
On those in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every diesease and illness among the people. His famer spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds from Galillee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
Read, Meditate, Pray, Rest/Contemplate
Then take the fruits of this time into the rest of your life. Perhaps take a word or phrase with you to be an active prayer sentence and recall you to the presence of God as you move through your day. Perhaps take a resolution to reread this passage before bed at night, that you may expand what you've learned from God today. Perhaps share with a spiritual friend what you have found in todays reading.
Of course your comments on the blog are most welcome!
Concluding Prayer
Good and Gracious God, may the reading of this blog and the Suggested Scripture passages bring to those who participated the grace of renewed love of your Word. May the graces I have felt with me as I put into practice what the workshop taught be experienced too, by those who continue in Lectio. With thanks for the blessings of this project, in Jesus name I pray,
Amen
Resources
Overview and Bibliography
From Contemplative Outreach Ltd.; found in your folder from Oct. 18 and online at
http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_practices_lectio
Online Course
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/ecourses.php?id=45&key=co
6 comments:
Reading: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. . . .
Meditation: "at hand" means to me here and now. That implies my piece of the kingdom will be found in my ordinary life. In the graces and challenges of each day (and the challenges are graces too) I will find God. My life is so "daily," so common, so usual--nothing grand here. But I am often overshadowed by the misery in the world, by the suffering of friends, by my own selfishness in the face of God's love. If there is any cure it will be in finding the light of love, and finding it in the now, moment by moment.
Oratio: God of love, help me put your will at the center of my life. Let me find you "at hand" in my daily activities. Let my heart be filled with your light.
...,the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light. This is very hopeful to me as the New Year begins. The Light always comes. Sometimes on a stormy day after the rain stops and the sun comes out the light seems especially radiant and there is a sweet fresh scent in the air that lights my spirit.
Lord, it is nearly dawn and I sit in the stillness awaiting Your Light!
Judi,
This online Lectio practice has been a most positive experience. Progressing through the sessions I am beginning to have a really friendly relationship with "The Word". A secondary benefit is that posting a comment is also helping me to become more comfortable with journaling. It has definitely been a "two thumbs up" experience!
"repent"
I don't see that word that I don't think of Fr Thomas' wisdom - turn away from looking for happiness in all the wrong places
I pray for a growing awareness of the multitude of wrong places I keep looking, and the grace to persevere despite the apparent futility!
Judi, these exercises have been marvelous - Many Thanks!
Judi, I want to commend you on your excellent work in creating this blog. It looks like it serves well the needs of those who participated in ways that could not have been met otherwise. The way you've laid it out, anyone could easily use it as a guide as they begin a regular practice of Lectio. Many thanks for your contribution of time, talent and faithfulness!
Thank you Judi for your faithfulness to our continued learning about Lectio Divina. I did not take part in a regular way but have appreciated reading all the quotations and posts. Our Centering Prayer group includes a time of Lectio reading and I'm grateful for that.
I'm thinking a 6-week format would help to establish this practice as a habit.
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