Lectio Divina is an ancient spiritual art that is being rediscovered in our day. It allows the Scriptures to become a means of uniting us with God. In lectio divina we discover our own underlying spiritual rhythm. We experience God between spiritual activity and receptivity, in the movement from practice into contemplation and back again into spiritual practice.
Lectio Divina teaches us about the God who truly loves us. In it we believe that our loving Father continues to extend His embrace to us. In His word we experience ourselves as personally loved by God; as the recipients of a word that He gives uniquely to each of us whenever we turn to Him in the Scriptures.
FINALLY, Lectio Divina teaches us about ourselves. In it we discover that there is no place in ourselves that cannot be opened and offered to God. God teaches us what it means to be members of His royal priesthood - a people called to consecrate all of our memories, our hopes and our dreams to Christ.
In September 2005, Pope Benedict XVI stated:
‘I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of Lectio divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart (cf. Dei Verbum, n. 25). If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church - I am convinced of it - a new spiritual springtime. next post... Exercise:The Practice of LECTIO DIVINA.
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Thank you for these posts on lectio divina. I am using them in a small group on prayer in our Baptist church. They are accessible and appropriate length for people who are not likely to spend a lot of time in study. In any case, I prefer that they spend time praying over scripture.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal level, though, I wonder if the lectio divina process could lead to uncritical thinking and exclusionary religious practices. It seems to me that prayer also has to be grounded in the real stuff of life such as relieving hunger, abating violence and serving the needy.