“Holy Loafing”

Lectio divina is more about experiencing God than thinking about him, and about being washed by the word of God rather than reflecting on it.  Its literature is not new writings to generate thinking, but the old and familiar that favor mulling, which is why the Bible (a “sacred reading” in itself) is the favored text.  In contemporary usage, lectio often integrates old and new methods of “reading” in a practice of “holy loafing” with the Bible, using the textual apparatus and technical assistance now available.  Lectio divina is not complete until it ends in prayer, and at its highest level is contemplative silence in the presence of God.

by Jerome Kodell, OSB

From Life Lessons from the Monastery

Lectio Helps - Faithfulness

One more essential ingredient for the true experience of lectio is a disposition of faithfulness to the practice...  To attain a total open listening for the Divine we need to dip again and again into the divine reading of lectio divina. 

For our lectio to reach its full receptivity is a thing of love.  It is the sensitivity of lovers that enables us to intuit more fully what he Divine Lover is seeking to convey to us through his Words of Love.  Again, so obviously, we are here in a wondrous spiral.  The more our love receives the intuitions of love, the more we get to know the Lover through our lectio, the more we love.  This is why fidelity to lectio makes it ever more delightful -- a lover exploring ever more intimately the Beloved.  And we not only get to know the love and the Lover more, we get to know ourselves more as we come to see ourselves, as it were, in the eyes of the Beloved.

As powerful as all this is, there is still another whole dimension that takes us far beyond this place, infinitely so.  This is the action of the Holy Spirit through the gifts.  As our spirit enters into a unity of spirit with the Divine Spirit of Love, we are brought into that experience of God that no eye has seen, no ear has heard -- an experience that has not even entered into the loftiest concept of the human mind.  Ultimately this word lectio describes a communication of love -- a contemplative experience.

This is certainly much more than "reading."  It is lectio divina -- divine reading:  reading the way the Father "reads" the Word within the embrace that is Holy Spirit.

From Lectio Divina, Renewing the Ancient Practice of Praying the Scriptures

by M. Basis Pennington

Lectio Helps - Openness

While an insensitivity to this need will make it difficult for us to be faithful in our regular practice of lectio, one of the things that can most undermine our actual practice of lectio is a subtle or not-so-subtle boredom that seems to say:  "I've heard all this before."  It is precisely the alert listening for a Real Presence -- our openness to all that is possible in this moment -- that forestalls this.  I am not simply reading a book I have read so often before.  I am meeting a Person, a Divine Person, the God who loves me and who has a wondrous plan for me.

Our familiarity does tend to take away the shock that the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible, should be for Christians.  Coming to know the God and Father of infinite love and compassion, patience, and mercy, the Prodigal Father revealed by Jesus Christ, the revelation of God that we find in the early unfolding of salvation history is certainly not what we would expect.  At least not at first thought.  It takes a bit of insight to see the God of Love lovingly adapting himself to a very primitive people, meeting them where they are and leading them to take the next small step in faith and trust that can lead to the high moments of friendship and love that do constantly break through.  One of the lessons for us to learn here is this way of Divine Love.  God made us.  We know the greatest thing he has given us is our freedom, because herein lies our power to love, the source of our merit and our potential to enter into the communion of Divine Life.  He does not want to overwhelm or impair this freedom.  So he gently leads us, bit by bit, into the intuitions of Divine Love.  No matter what the words are that we read as communications of his love, or how many times we have encountered them before, there is an opportunity for the love to expand and at the same time fill our listening for the Divine each and every time we meet our God of love in our lectio.

From Lectio Divina, Renewing the Ancient Practice of Praying the Scriptures

by M. Basil Pennington

Lectio Helps - Humility

An important disposition for the operation of living faith within us is humility, the full acceptance of reality.  And the reality is that we very much need and want the divine communication.  Humility is the acceptance of our profound ignorance with regard to God as well as to so many other things.  We know what we know, and it is not very much.  We know what we do not know, and that is a lot more.  And we accept the fact that beyond this there is an infinity that we do not even know we do not know.  We know that our mind and our heart, our feeling and emotions, our body and our soul are all a listening, given to us by God, and that this listening can only be filled by the Giver.  We come to our listening hungry and thirsty, filled with longing and need.  And God who is mighty does great things for us.  He fills the hungry with good things.

From Lectio Divina, Renewing the Ancient Practice of Praying the Scriptures

by M. Basil Pennington

Lectio Helps - Faith

First and foremost is the disposition of faith, a firm belief that the Word of God is the Word of God.  For the full and effective reception of the communication, we believe not only that the Word who is God speaks to us through this inspired Word, but that the Word is truly present in his inspired Word and present to us as he communicates with us through the Word.

Faith enables us to find and hear the Word, one with the Father and the Spirit, in his Word.  But as St. Paul told us, faith comes through hearing.  Even as we faithfully hear the Word, the Word renews and strengthens our fiath.  This is brought about not just by hearing again of the words and deeds of God in salvation history and in the Person of Jesus and in the witness of those who saw and believed.  At the deeper level, this actual experience of the Word brings us to that point where we can say with Paul:  "I know in whom I believe."

From Lectio Divina, Renewing the Ancient Practice of Praying the Scriptures

by M. Basil Pennington

Lectio Divina

Lectio divina or sacred reading is an ancient form of praying with sacred scripture.  Although many believe it to be a practice reserved for monks and nuns in monasteries, lectio divina is in fact a treasure for all seeking a deeper relationship with God.  

In September, 2005 our current Holy Father, 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."

When beginning lectio divina, it is important to find a place that is somewhat quiet and allow yourself time, at least 20 minutes.  Place yourself in a comfortable position – but not one that will lend to restful slumber – and take a few moments to quiet you mind and enter into silence. 

The first step is called lectio or slowly and prayerfully reading a small section of Scripture, savoring the text and turning the words over in your mind, attentive for a word or phrase that may speak powerfully to you. 

This is followed by meditatio or ruminating on the word or phrase that had spoken powerfully to you.  Allow this inner pondering to invite you into dialog with God.

Then speak to God (oratio) using words or ideas or images.  Interact with Him as one who loves, cherishes and accepts you.  Share with Him what you have discovered in your heart.

Finally, simply rest in God’s embrace (contemplatio).  As your conversation with God dies away, simply rest in His loving presence. 

To read more about the practice of lectio divina, refer to Father Luke Dysinger, OSB’s article, Accepting the Embrace of God:  The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina.