Lectio Divina

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joshrp

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Hi,

I really need to start practicing Lectio Divina. I couldn’t get into it before. I would just plow through chapters and chapters of the Bible. I don’t know how to slow down and pick apart something.

Any suggestions?

Joshua
 
joshrp said:
Hi,

I really need to start practicing Lectio Divina. I couldn’t get into it before. I would just plow through chapters and chapters of the Bible. I don’t know how to slow down and pick apart something.

Any suggestions?

Joshua
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I assume you’ve read instructions on it. If not here’s a site.
valyermo.com/ld-art.html

If your problem is that you can’t see to stop reading after just a verse or few verses, how about choosing a couple verses first (from daily Mass readings, or from the Psalms). Limit it to no more than say 4 verses. Write/type out those verses on a sheet of paper. Then use the typed sheet, rather than the Bible, as your source for that day’s Scripture passage. That way you won’t be able to keep on reading - “plowing through chapters and chapters of the Bible”.
 
Nita said:
I assume you’ve read instructions on it. If not here’s a site.
valyermo.com/ld-art.html

If your problem is that you can’t see to stop reading after just a verse or few verses, how about choosing a couple verses first (from daily Mass readings, or from the Psalms). Limit it to no more than say 4 verses. Write/type out those verses on a sheet of paper. Then use the typed sheet, rather than the Bible, as your source for that day’s Scripture passage. That way you won’t be able to keep on reading - “plowing through chapters and chapters of the Bible”.
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What do I focus on? How do I choose what to read? I’m going to check out that link you posted in a bit.
 
+Pray:gopray2:er is essentially the heart of one’s soul “talking” to its God . . . on the other hand . . . meditation is taught in Sacred :bible1: Scripture and by Holy Mother Church as essentially being the heart of one’s soul “listening” to its God . . . the ultimate goal of these actions of the soul being that at the center . . . of the deep interior quiet within the heart of the soul . . . the soul enters into . . . *constant holy conversation and communion with its God *. . .

Lectio Divina (divine reading) is perhaps the clearest most well lit holy pathway for the soul to “listen” to its God . . . essentially it is encountering God in the reading of a literary level of holy writings in Christendom believed to be especially blessed and anointed of God . . . first order and always primary of which is God’s **Holy Word **. . . Sacred :bible1: Scripture . . . and which group of writings can also include The Holy Rule of St. Benedict . . . The Catechism of the Catholic Church . . . writings of the Fathers of the Church, etc., . . . and as such . . . when prayer:gopray2:fully read the . . . **Holy Spirit **. . . Wonderful Counselor of Our God . . . is abundantly available to help regarding the reading and understanding of same . . .

The holy monk Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki , O.S.B. of the Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania here in the United States . . . recommends that we . . . *slow down radically *. . . when reflecting on inspired material . . . so as to . . . ***open up freely ***. . . to the treasury of insights contained therein . . . he goes on further to share with beautiful simplicity:

Lectio Divina (divine reading)
Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki , O.S.B. (Order of St. Benedict)

“It is the **monastic insight **that reading, if it be authentic, cannot be undertaken simply with the eyes and the mind. Rather it must involve the whole person: mind, **heart **, body and spirit. It is reading not so much **for information **as for formation, that is, for encounter with the living God in this moment in such a way that one’s heart ❤️ catches fire and one’s life is transformed … In St. Benedict’s day reading a sacred or spiritual text was practiced not so much for the sake of ‘information,’ but rather in order to be ‘formed’: that is, to be inwardly changed or shaped. …

Thus the aim of lectio divina (divine reading), i.e., pondering the material in a slow, prayer:gopray2:ful way, is to dispose ourselves to welcome God’s ever-present grace and His efforts to conquer our hearts and transform us more and more into a holy people . . . ”
​
. . . :coffeeread: . . .
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCHPart One: The Profession of Faith
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Article 2 - THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
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81 Sacred Scripture is **the speech of God **as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.
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Article 3 - SACRED SCRIPTURE
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104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it ** not** as human word, "but as what it really is, the Word of God."

In the sacred books,
the Father who is in heaven
comes lovingly ❤️ to meet his children,
and talks with them.
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joshrp said:
What do I focus on? How do I choose what to read? I’m going to check out that link you posted in a bit.
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You can read anything you want in the Bible. There are plenty of lessons to be learned through all of Sacred Scripture. You can really focus on anything, but you should let what you focus on sort of choose itself. What I mean is don’t go in and say I’m going to focus on and try to push the other thoughts out of your head.

One method I’ve used before and I learned from the Passionists is to read a few verses, say no more than 4 or 5. Stop and slow down and think about what you read what speaks to you at that moment? Re-read the verses again. Re-think about it. What speaks to you again, is it something different what insights have you gotten?

This isn’t something to do in 2 minutes on the fly. They recommended that this should take about 15 minutes and should be free of all distractions and extraneous noises.

I’ve used this method in both a retreat setting and on my own and it does work.

Chads
 
My spiritual advisor had me start with Romans. If a single verse did not catch my attention, I would read a few more. He had me use the verse as the first line in my journal. Do not judge your thoughts, but simply write whatever comes to mind.
 
joshrp said:
What do I focus on? How do I choose what to read? I’m going to check out that link you posted in a bit.
Click to expand...
usccb.org/bible/index.cfm gives the readings for the month.
There’s a little calendar page on the right side. If you click on the particular day it is, it will bring up the text of that day’s 3 readings (First reading, Psalmody, Gospel).

In choosing which verses from those readings, it might help to read quickly through all 3 readings - unless you find something right away. If any verse/s stand out more than the others for some reason, choose that part for your lectio divina.
For example, in today’s readings the opening verses from the first reading immediately interested me. So, I wouldn’t have had to read any farther than that to find some verses to use.
The angel spoke to me, saying,
“Come here.
I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain
and showed me the holy city Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven from God.
It gleamed with the splendor of God.

Start by just reading the verse/s silently and slowly; do it several times, perhaps even out loud once if you like. Then start to think about the meaning of particular words or phrases.
(From here, I’ll let you go to the website I gave which gives the 4 steps. They are given right at the beginning and just take a minute or so to read.)

If there are several sections from one day’s reading that you would like to use, save the others for the subsequent days lectio divina.
Also, if you’re just reading thru the Bible, keep a little notepad handy. If something really strikes you but you don’t want to stop reading at that time, write down the book, chapter, and verses (eg. Matthew 5:1-3). Next time you wish to pray, pull out that little notepad and use those as your verses.
 
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