• Group lectio divina
I find myself in line with your requirements
more joy than in all riches.
I find pleasure in your demands:
They are the ones who advise me.
My happiness is governed by the dictates of your words.
more than a heap of gold or silver.
How sweet to my taste is your promise:
Honey has less flavor in my mouth!
Your demands will remain my legacy.
the joy of my heart.
With my mouth wide open, I inhale,
thirsting for your will.
Psalm 118
Note: The texts on this page are taken from the website of Father Christophe de DREUILLE: http://lectiodivina.catholique.fr
The Spirit of Lectio Divina in Tradition
Lectio divina (“holy reading”) is a Latin expression that refers to a method of prayer developed by the Church Fathers, inspired by the Jewish model. It is an exercise in spiritual reading.
The relationship with the Bible, as with the living Word of God given to humankind, is rooted in the most ancient Jewish tradition, as evidenced by the very writing of the Old Testament: the Word of God is given within the history of the people of Israel. Transmitted by the prophets and committed to writing to endure through the ages, it allows the people to reread their history in the light of revelation.
The most traditional interpretation of Scripture involves perceiving how the given Word is made present in the life of the believer today. With the Gospels, the relationship with Scripture deepens. From the actualization of the Word, the Christian can move to the fulfillment of this Word in the person of Christ. The risen Jesus, having accomplished our salvation through his Paschal Mystery, now constitutes the key to understanding the entirety of Scripture.
“Lectio divina constitutes a true spiritual journey in stages. From lectio, which consists of reading and rereading a passage of Sacred Scripture, gathering its main elements, we move to meditatio, which is like a moment of inner pause, where the soul turns to God, seeking to understand what his word says today for concrete life. Then comes oratio, which allows us to converse with God in direct dialogue, and which finally leads us to contemplatio; this helps us to keep our hearts attentive to the presence of Christ, whose word is a ‘lamp shining in the darkness, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts’ (2 Peter 1:19).”
Benedict XVI, June 22, 2006
1. The “Lectio”
This simple yet attentive, slow, and profound reading is already a divine presence, a truth revealed in Jesus Christ. This reading is not, in reality, so easy. It requires silence, openness, spontaneity, and attentiveness if it is not to be superficial and if it is to lead us to contemplation. We must learn not to rush through this first step in the divine pedagogy of lectio divina.
This is why every reading must be done calmly, peacefully, without haste, without that desire to know which denotes critical inquiry, a human endeavor that seeks to penetrate a reality that presents itself and that one wants to understand, to possess. "Lectio" is an opening, not a conquest. Therefore, it can only be done well if one reads, from the very beginning, allowing the Spirit of God the freedom to enlighten us as He wills, to show us what He wants us to contemplate, to make us desire, in this light, what will become prayer, a call, an offering, and a surrender to love; this love that reveals itself by communicating itself and that transforms by illuminating.
In reading these texts, and rereading them a second or third time, in "ruminating" on them, perhaps even in writing them down, certain passages capture the reader's inner attention; a kind of attraction is already established, a dialogue between the Word that is revealed and the one who wishes to understand and follow it. This implies, in reading, an ever-greater openness to the Spirit who guides us and illuminates the text. One simply has to accept being enlightened and guided.
2. The “meditatio”
It is through reading (lectio) that meditation (meditatio) arises. It is wise to avoid reasoning based solely on the texts and not to seek applications too quickly from the texts being meditated upon.
This meditation must be cautious. It must not fix us on ourselves; it can only fix us on God. It cannot be a human endeavor, a study, an analysis; it must remain welcoming and open. It is a desire for understanding and vision. It leads to a prayerful adherence and fosters an ever more unified and complete contemplation of the mystery of God, according to His own vision. It is a delicate stage.
Indeed, "meditatio" could easily become introspective, seeking immediate, personal, and even apostolic concrete applications, which greatly narrows the field of vision and prevents one from seeing the grandeur and scope of the mystery contemplated, the reading done, the Word heard and listened to. Not every Word of Scripture can have a concrete point of application at all times.
Meditation can profitably draw sustenance from the "symphony of Scripture," a biblical text that can be illuminated by others; it also draws sustenance from the treasure of the Christian tradition that has already fruitfully received this Word of God.
One can also rely on the information found in the notes of a well-annotated Bible, when these clarify the meaning of the text. This information should be read after the lectio divina, not during the time of prayer for the Word. The exegetical study of the sacred text will all the more effectively support the lectio divina by highlighting its importance in the history of salvation, informing us about its intended audience, outlining the structure of the text, and explaining its significance.
Such a study can be prayerful; it will be all the more so if a well-conducted lectio divina has preceded the study. The latter is all the richer if a text has frequently been the object of lectio divina.
Finally, let us note that a meditation can be all the more fruitful when the results of one's reflection have been recorded. A particular text will be noted because it is better understood, another will be remembered and noted because it offered an opportunity for prayer. When prayer becomes simple, it becomes "litany," in which case it can very well be written down; it will be repeated afterward.
3. The “oratio”
Prayer is formulated in relation to the texts that inspire it. Gradually, one becomes accustomed to transforming the texts into short prayers, simple invocations, brief words repeated inwardly; these support a deeper prayer. One can devote considerable time to it; one can also return to it during free time, in a time of Eucharistic adoration, or in a more prolonged, peaceful, and relaxed prayer. It leads to contemplation.
Faced with the grandeur of God and the infinite goodness of his love, this prayer transcends faith in revealed truth to become adherence to divine love, surrender to his mercy, and trust in the infinite goodness of the Father who sends his Son and gives us the Spirit. This movement transforms reflection into adoration where the whole person is forgotten, focusing solely on the Source of all goodness, the most holy, mighty, and immortal God, the God who is infinite and eternal love.
The believer simplifies his adherence to God by a filial Amen which the Holy Spirit forms in him, uniting his heart to the Heart of Christ; adjusting his own attitude to the inner disposition of Christ (cf. Phil 2), arousing the desire to follow Christ on the paths of love, placing himself with him as a co-worker with God, a savior with Christ the Savior, accepting burial with Christ in order to rise again with his Lord.
The prayer of the heart is a surge of the soul, a movement of admiration before the grandeur and beauty of the revealed mystery. God is great! God is beautiful! God is good! Prayer is expressed by living this mystery of divine grandeur and beauty in which every person finds themselves in the light of God, in the light of revelation.
This prayer, nourished by the Word of God, can take on all the accents of biblical prayer expressed in the Psalms and hymns of the Old and New Testaments: adoration, praise, trust, thanksgiving, request for conversion and forgiveness, supplication.
4. The “contemplation”
In the silence of God, man measures the fullness of life reserved for him. He finds peace and tranquility; his gaze is illuminated by the eternal light, and his heart clings to the blessings that never fade: here, oratio, filial prayer, becomes divine contemplation. Man adheres with all his heart to the One who created him, he gives himself entirely to the One who gave Himself up to save him, he consecrates himself to the One who, in an eternal calling, called him by His name and consecrated him to be His forever.
Contemplation transcends all effort through an act of adherence to God in faith in His Love; it becomes hope in His mercy, it extends into charity to love all that God loves and to refer everything back to Him. We love for God, because of Him, like Him, out of love for God and love for humankind. Contemplation fixes one's entire being in God from this moment on; it allows one, by one's very presence, to be a witness to God, an instrument of His goodness, a sign of His charity.
Experience shows us that contemplation possesses this fervor, a free gift, an intervention of God, often unexpected, which takes on a spontaneous form within us, not the result of effort, of our own activity, nor the outcome of generosity; it is a free gift from God that unites us to Him, dwells within us, and makes us dwell in Him. This gift makes us feel a presence of love that is life, strength, fervor, warmth, a consuming, purifying fire, a flame of love. This is the effect of the action of the Spirit. The "Veni Creator," from which these words are taken, forms a small link to God and to spiritual experience, which contemplation continually experiences and attests to anew.
What matters most is placing contemplatio at the very heart of what it is. Contemplation is rest in God. It is "rest" because it brings inner unity; it focuses all our attention on God's presence and action within us, it centers us on God who dwells in us and, therefore, allows us to dwell in Him. Father and Son make their home in us. They will come into us if we follow and observe their commandments, that is, their inspiration, their Spirit.
This rest in God is an inner transformation; it allows us to be entirely God's.
It is in this state of repose that adoration takes place. To adore is to acknowledge God's greatness, his beauty, his love. It is to praise his majesty, the immensity of his gifts; it is to profess that we are of him, in him, through him; it is to bear witness to him and pay him homage, surrendering to him all that we are, all that we have received, the world which is united to us as we are united to him by divine will; adoration is offering and thanksgiving; it lives love, a gift from God that allows us to love him alone, him ever more.
Adoration is the highest prayer, the perfect prayer, the prayer of angels and the elect, the prayer of those who see God. And we already see this in faith, an enlightened faith that shines brighter when it is a vision of love, an exchange of love. Perfect adoration because it is filial, the prayer of Jesus who, poor, received everything and gave everything back in a single love, who, obedient, did nothing but the will of the Father, to be his Word, to do his works, to manifest his love, to give his glory.
From lectio divina to action and testimony
Let us not forget, first of all, that the fruit of all prayer is not meant to be given in the prayer itself but in our commitments which the prayer thus illuminates.
Contemplation transfigures the apostle, it deepens his word to make it a Word of God; it transforms his gestures to manifest the traits of the incarnate Word.
Contemplation transfigures the apostle, it deepens his word to make it a Word of God; it transforms his gestures to manifest the traits of the incarnate Word.
Regular and generous practice of lectio divina, prolonged in a movement of surrender and wonder, gradually grants us a vision of divine things that allows us not only to discern God's ways and to know the mystery of salvation, but also to enter into the divine light. This divine light unites by illuminating, enlightens by leading all back to the source of all life, simplifies by uniting all in Him who is the eternal Word of the Father, and draws all into Him who is Love, who alone is worthy of being loved above all and forever.
Inspired by the biblical image of the "holy ladder" (cf. Gen 28:12 and Jn 1:51), Guigues the Carthusian collected the patristic and monastic heritage on lectio divina and synthesized this divine pedagogy by proposing four rungs which allow, from the reception of the Word, to arrive at contemplation and nourish action.
Action is less an additional rung, a fifth rung, on the holy ladder than another way of putting this same divine pedagogy into practice. Its progression, to which we become accustomed by regularly practicing lectio divina, corresponds closely with how we can, as Saint Peter recommends, “bear witness to the hope that is in us.” Lectio divina thus nourishes our way of being witnesses to the Good News.
• The first step, “lectio divina,” finds its counterpart in the importance, during our encounters, of welcoming the other with the same openness we learn to cultivate in receiving the Word of God. Entering into genuine listening liberates the other's words and often, as we experience, allows them to articulate what they themselves were not even aware of. Enabling access to speech is sometimes the most decisive step in pastoral encounters, in witnessing. We find a superb expression of this in the emblematic encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman in John 4.
• At the second level, "meditatio," corresponds, in the order of witnessing, to the link we can make between what the person we meet expresses and what the Word of God reveals. This helps the other person to embark on a journey.
