LECTIO DIVINA[1]

            Pronounced “lek-tsee-oh di-vee-nuh”, often shortened to “lectio”, the term means “divine reading”. This way of reading is divine in two senses. The first is that you are reading God’s Word. The second is that you are reading, listening for God’s voice speaking to you personally. It is thus a doorway to contemplation.

            At this point, we do well to correct a common misconception about contemplation. Many believe that you achieve a contemplative state by doing everything in your power to attain such a degree of holiness that you become fit to sit in the presence of God. Actually, the truth is that it isn’t our holiness or wholeness at all that affects how well we do in contemplation, but rather how well we receive the love of God. Contemplation is a resting in God, opening ourselves to Him as He is so as to receive whatever it is He has to give, taking our place in God’s presence knowing that we have that place as a gift of His grace and not because of anything we have done or any special state we have achieved. So, whereas lectio is a means for entering a state of contemplation, it is such a means only because it helps us to open up to God and is in no way an exercise in earning a spiritual blessing.

            Lectio has four steps, which can be remembered by four “R”s: read, reflect, respond, rest. While that makes the whole experience sound like an impersonal formula, remember that lectio is a very personal experience. It is coming together with God so that you both can share some special time alone with each other.

            First, take some time to settle into God’s presence. Choose a time and a place when you can draw apart and be alert. Focus on your breathing if that helps you to centre. Some may want to light a candle or say a prayer of invitation to God. Think in terms of preparing to sit down with a valued guest. You are preparing yourself to spend time without distraction, in a comfortable setting, where you both have what you need in order to talk and spend time focused just on one another. 

(1)        Read: Normally people read the Bible to understand it. They want to know what it’s saying. In lectio, you read a little differently. You are reading not to understand, but to hear God speaking to you through the Scripture. So you read your chosen passage slowly and with full attention, paying attention to your heart and noticing when a word, a phrase, a verse, or a couple of verses stand out to you above all the others. You may not know why they stand out or why your heart is stirred by them. All you are concerned about right now is that they do stand out or your heart is stirred by them. It may happen that you do hear something specific in the words but that this something is more than what the words actually say. Don’t be concerned about that. You are really listening for the voice of the Spirit and, just as a lover can say more in a few words than the words actually say, so can the Spirit. On the other hand, if nothing stands out, don’t be concerned that God isn’t there or isn’t speaking. Peacefully pick out a few words and proceed. Love and trust that, although the passage you chose doesn’t appear fruitful for the Lord to speak, yet He is there and He is there for you.

(2)        Reflect: Reflection is about drawing God and what He has for you today deeper into your heart. You do this by reflecting or meditating on the words that God has shown you or that you have chosen. People differ as to how they do this. If you have a story from the Bible as your passage, you may imagine yourself into it, sensing the weather, hearing the people speak, smelling the smells, and so on. Or you might identify yourself with a certain person in the story and imagine what the whole story would look like through their eyes, paying particular attention to your chosen words. Or you might simply allow the words from the Scripture to repeat themselves over and over in your mind and heart, allowing those words to take root and perhaps to speak even further to you. At some point in meditating, you will find your heart responding.

(3)        Response: In meditation, you tend to stay primarily with your mind. If you stay there, you will have meditated, but you will not have contemplated. The goal of contemplation is not thoughts about God, however wonderful those thoughts may be. The goal is God Himself, as He is, residing in your deepest self. This is the realm of contemplation. As you move toward this place, there is less and less thinking and fewer and fewer words as the heart takes over in love and desire. What happens at this point is entirely up to God. Your job is to hold your attention to what He may be saying or doing. As part of your response, you may find you want to verbalize in short prayers something of what your heart is experiencing, and that is fine so long as you don’t leave your focus by drifting off into long verbalized prayers.

(4)        Rest: This is the state of contemplation. Steps one to three are more readily attainable than this one, so don’t worry if your time ends at number (3). That is a blessed place to end. Or you may enter something of a contemplative state, where you are at rest, peaceful, deeply satisfied just to be with God, not sensing a need to have or to do anything else. However, there is another level of contemplation that the mystics pursue. That is the experience of your union with God. In this level of contemplation, as you are drawn by God into an experience of your union with Him, those things that foster a sense of your separateness begin to fade away: your thoughts, your feelings, your responses, your need for words, your need to reason and understand, your need to do and to measure up.[2] You realize that there is nothing about you that is equal to this experience or that deserves or could ever earn this intimacy with God. All you can do is yield to it. This is the place of your true self united with God. It is the place of pure love. It is also a state of contemplation that takes time to achieve.  

            Many doing these lessons will have found that meditation did not come naturally or easily. Some will have got stuck just in taking the time each day, as simple to do as that may sound. There is nothing different in contemplation. It does not come naturally or easily either. And there isn’t even a guided audio to help with holding you to your focus. There is you and God encountering one another - that’s all. So, of all the key attitudes you learned in meditation, remember patience and non-judging. Resist getting frustrated with yourself if you can’t seem to “get it” right away. Even though contemplation is about resting, the Scripture does acknowledge that resting can be a struggle for us, and so it says: “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). A big part of that effort is persisting, continuing to practise, and having compassion and mercy on yourself when progress seems to be slow. 

exercises 

Days 63-69: 

Each day, to a 20-minute lectio and a 10-minute prayer of examen.

 Following are Scripture passages to use each day in lectio:

   Day 63

 Matthew 9
10  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.
11  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12  On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
13  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Day 64

 James 5
7  Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.
8  You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

 Day 65 

Matthew 11
25  At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
26  Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
27  “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 Day 66

 Matthew 5
38  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
39  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40  And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
41  If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
42  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44  But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45  that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

 Day 67

 Matthew 18
18:1  At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2  He called a little child and had him stand among them.
3  And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5  “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

Day 68

 John 14
14:1  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me.
2  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Day 69 

Philippians 4
4  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
5  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.