The Prayerful Reading of the Bible: Lectio Divina

Vatican II brought the Word of God in the Bible to the center of all Christian spirituality. This revival has led to a growing practice of prayer that has had a long tradition in the Church. This is called Lectio Divina. Literally means divine reading. A more accurate description would be the Prayerful reading of the Bible.

This Prayerful reading seeks to listen to what God has to say to us. It will
lead us to know and embrace God’s will. It is all about the transforming encounter with God’s special means of revelation, the Hebrew and christian Scriptures. When approaching the mystery unveiled in the Scriptures we need the attitude of Samuel: “speak Lord, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10)
   
 There are four steps to this prayerful reading of the Bible:

• 1. Slow meditative reading of a selected text of the Scriptures.
• 2. A reflection on the text that connects it with our life experience.
• 3. We are led to a response in prayer.
• 4.  Finally a quiet, listening process to the mystery of this encounter.

It is essential to prepare for this serious time of prayer. The first step is creating an ambience of silence, with minimal outward distractions. Next we select the text. We then invoke the Holy Spirit.

In the initial step we have to seek out the meaning, what does the text say? Silence is important for listening and avoiding the trap of making the text say what we want. We need to bring the heart into the process as well as the mind. A particular phrase or sentence may burst out as a light sometimes gently, sometimes with great forcé. Hold on to it.

In the second step  we want to ask, what the text says to us. We enter into a dialogue with the text. Here we want to make the connection to our life. The reflection leads to building a bridge between God’s Word and our life situation at this moment.
  
In this process the distractions will never be far away. To cast out this barrel of monkeys in the mind always return to the text. This discipline is the first step of maintaining a recollected and focused approach to the task of reflection in the second step.
  
In the third step, we try to discover what the text leads us to say to God. We are moved to prayer. We speak to God of our need for conversion. We seek help in healing a  flawed relationship or getting rid of a bad habit. We ask help and guidance. We make resolutions to be  more generous in walking with Jesus. This is always a slow journey from the head to the heart.

The fourth step, quiet listening, is a contemplative mood. This is the goal of the prayerful reading of the Bible, opening ourselves up to the transforming love of God. Silence is the language of God. We slowly grow in the wonder that God loves us. While we do not always have this deep encounter of loving silence it remains the goal because is most helpful in transforming us in the image of Christ.

When we approach the prayerful reading of the Bible in Lectio Divina we should see ourselves as the one to whom the Bible is directed. It was formulated to address us here and now. However, it is always us as a member of a community.

We need to keep the concrete reality of our life, our family, our community and the larger circumstances of the political, economic and social reality front and center. The Bible is at all times the book of the community, not a personal prayer book.

In reading the Bible we constantly need to remember it is more than a fact. It is a symbol. It opens the window to the past but also is a mirror to the present.

The first three steps are an encounter with Christ-for-us. He is our Savior calling us to new life. In the final and most important step we meet Christ-in-us. This presence grows in the gradual transformation of our being when we are faithful and generous to our prayerful reading of the Bible.

This faithful practice of Lectio Divina helps us move out of our false self and steadily seeking the gift of our true self. We slowly grow out of illusions of self-importance. We recognize the destructive power of self-absorption. This often painful growth in self-knowledge leads to getting real which surprinsingly is a growth in humility. This draws us toward the goal of the human journey, oneness with God.

The time of silence is often difficult to attain as beginners. However, it is essential in this contemplative dimensión of the prayerful reading of the Bible. We often need to grow to a more specific form of contemplative prayer such as Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer. In the meanwhile an immediate help in this area is the slow, repetitve saying of the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. This traditional prayer is not used to encourage thinking and reflection but to draw us to a quiet presence to God within us.