Lectio in Catholic Tradition.
Duet 6: 4-7
Let these words be in your heart not just in your head..let them touch into, engage with, your whole inner world of emotions, feelings, imagination and memory.
Integrating the word into every aspect of our lives – going out and about our daily activities, coming in doing house chores, resting and relaxing giving it a central place in our lives and in our relations with one another.
Ezek. 3:1-3
Word of God as food for our lives.
Substantial food. Nourishing food. Sweet as honey – life-giving.
Come to the Banquet.
Is 43:16-19
Jews are in exile in Babylon. Not clear whether Is was himself an exile. Or whether he has come to them with a message. He reminds them of God’s might deeds in the past. Then he goes on to say ..no need to remember the past merely as past, no need to stay with the memories of the past ..open your eyes and see that God is doing the same thing today, the same liberating work is going on in new circumstance…he recalls the story of the past as a symbol, model or paradigm of what God is doing today. He celebrates that new activity of God by describing it with the words of what God did long ago.
What god id in the past, he is doing today, he is always doing..
When we recall events in the life of the people of God, in the life of Jesu, in the life of the early Christian community, we recall them not to stay in the past but so that our eyes might be opened to what God ids doing today. As old Mr Brennan says, he is serving us “Today’s bread, today.”
Nehemiah
The return of the people of Israel to their homeland after the Babylonian exile was marked by the public reading of the book of the Law. In the book of Nehemiah, the Bible gives us a moving description of that moment. The people assembled in Jerusalem, in the square before the Water Gate, to listen to the Law. They had been scattered in exile, but now they found themselves gathered “as one” around the sacred Scripture (Neh 8:1). The people lent “attentive ears” (Neh 8:3) to the reading of the sacred book, realizing that in its words they would discover the meaning of their lived experience. The reaction to the proclamation of was one of great emotion and tears: “[The Levites] read from the book, from the law of God, clearly; and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep’. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength’” (Neh 8:8-10).
Lk 4:17-21. A liturgical celebration in the synagogue. Every rubric is carried out with great reverence and respect – handing him the scroll, opening the scroll, finding the place..
Jesus reads from Isaiah with great attentiveness and appreciation of every word as God given. Jesus sits down, he takes these words to heart and recognizes that these words of God, these saving actions of God are coming to pass, are happening, are being realized in him, in his disciples and in all who are entering into the work of God..today.
The word of God is the standard, it’s the criterion, it’s the touchstone by which we are invited to discover that word of God being fulfilled today and where it has yet to be fulfilled.
Luke 24:25-27.
Jesus walking beside them listens to their life experience, listens deeply to what they have lived through these past few days .. the tragic crucifixion and death of Jesus..of loss of their friend, loss of their hopes for themselves, for their future, their world has collapsed…their confusion as they hear rumours of resurrection..It has all been so sudden, intense overwhelming and now they are trying to process it. And taking the relevant passages of scripture ..he brings the scripture inot dialogue with their life experience ..it throws light on what they have just lived though..they begin to see it with new eyes, new perception, with new appreciation of the meaning of it all. As later they will confess, “Were not our hearts burning within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scripture to us.”
Jesus is the classic teacher of the scriptures: explaining the passages in a way that helps his listeners to make sense of their lives, gives meaning to it all.
Acts 8:30-31
A reminder to us of the importance of the place of biblical exegesis in the Lectio journey. The situation of the passage in its biblical, cultural, historical context is key to a faithful recognition of the word of God today.
Biblical exegesis establishing the foundations of where, when, who, and what ensures that the lectio building is on a solid ground.
I like the image of the scripture scholar getting in and sitting by his side …working side by side..in the opening of the treasures of the word of God for people today.
1Cor 10:1-4
Paul is reminding the community at Corinth of their ancestral story as recorded in the book of exodus: the crossing of the red sea, God accompanying his people in the pillar of cloud, God feeding his children on the manna from heaven, and God quenching their thirst with water from the rock. And Paul sees the old story living again in the story of Jesus – he is now the cloud, the baptism, the manna, and the rock, ! What God did in the past in the liberation of his people, he is now doing again in the person and the work of Jesus.
Gal 2:20
Where is the risen Jesus?
Paul has experienced the words of Jesus “Make your home in me as I make mine in you,” on that day, Jesus said, you will understand that I am in the father and you are in me and I am in you” I have made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and so that I may be in them;” with me in them and you in me may they be so completely one that the world may know it was you who sent me.” Jesus has made his home in his disciples. An experience of Jesus that I believe has been neglected in our catholic faith. He has made his home, pitched his tent, chosen to dwell and to work in and through us.
As a man of faith in the risen Jesus Paul experiences the events of the life of Jesus living again in him. The crucifixion lives again in him. The work of Jesus continues in him.
In lectio we read the scripture to discover where and how God is at work in us today and how he is calling us to grow.
Hebrews. The interactive power of the word. The word has the power to engage with the person, with the whole person – body, mind, memory, emotions, feelings, the very depths of our humanity. It has the power to put us in touch with the truth of who we ae and who we are meant to be. ( I will say a little bit more about that when we come to look at the wisdom moment in lectio Divina.)
Rev. Behold I stand at the door, knocking..
Holman’s Hunts painting – the handle is on the inside.
Homely relationship that every disciple is called to. Christ Jesus is knocking at our door in the words of sacred Scripture. If we hear his voice and open the doors of our minds and hearts, then he will enter our lives and remain ever with us
Lectio Divina is the latch by which we can open that door.
Origen of Alexandria – lived in the second and third centuries CE – an early Christian theologian. He has been described as the greatest genius the early church ever produced. His main interest was in bible study and interpretation.
Again we see the centrality of the scriptures, guided by the Holy spirit with Jesus Christ as the touchstone of all we read entering inot relationship with the word, the experience of prayer flowing from the scriptures, growing spiritually and ultimately the goal of embodying the word, to become the word, to give flesh to it.
Ambrose of Milan. Again the imagery of eating and drinking the word – the sap of the word flowing through our veins, the lif-giving nourishment and energy of the word enteringing into the cells of our blood stream. And eating and drinking from the old and the new. In the old we encounter that presence and activity of God in limited and partial ways but non-the less real, and in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and his project we encounter the fullness of that presence, the most complete embodiment of God’s presence. Jesus is the benchmark, the touchstone, the criterion by which we can by which we can identify, measure and evaluate the activities of God in old testament history.
I find in reading the old testament text in the light of the gospel, particularly in Ordinary Time because the old testament text is chosen because of its complementarity, it adds something to the experience of the gospel, it deepens and enriches the experiences of the word becoming flesh..opens up for us experiences of grace and sin that prefigure what we find in the gospel.
Ceasarius of Arles.
He invites us to deep reverence and respect for the word, for the scriptures, A repository of God’s presence. A storehouse of his activities. A powerhouse of his spirit. We are called to venerate that book..ideallly the book of the gospels is raised aloft and carried in procession at the beginning of mass. The gospel reading is welcomed by the congregation standing up out of respect, the altar servers carrying lighted candles adorning the ambo, the touching of the book and the triple blessing of mind, lips and heart, the incensing of the word heralding and venerating the presence of God.
St John Damascene. Arab Christian monk and priest. Highlighting the power of the word to transform: to heal, to strengthen, to inspire and to mould us and shape us into the image and likeness of Jesus today. Why else should we read the word except in the words of St John “so that we may believe that Jesu is the Christ the, son of God , and that believing this we might find life in his name. John 20:30.
In the early centuries of Monasticism, monasteries were not in remote and isolated places of prayer. They were more like parishes. Villages and towns grew up around them – providing as they did education, workshops and skills, counselling and support, as well as prayer and liturgy. Lectio divina was not only the prerogative of the monks but they would have been shared it with the wider community as well.
Guigo 11, a 12th century Carthusian monk established a four step process that we know as Lectio Divina today.
The component practices of lectio divina: reading, meditating and praying the word have a long history going back to the very bible times ..and from what I understand these practices were the dominant way of reading the scriptures for the first 1000 years of the church. It became more structured as a process with the growth of monasticism in the 5th 6th and centuries . What we see in Guigo is the organization of into a more formalised pattern or process. The image of the ladder suggests we are moving in one direction, and in an important sense we are, each stage requires a different mode or mental activity: observing what is given, entering into it and recognizing it in life experience, responding in prayers of thanksgiving, repentance and petition and resting in the presence of God encountered in the passage. Each step informs or lays the foundation for the next step, but each also requires a change away from the mental state of the prior step. I think it is important to name the formalised process as it emerged in history but also be aware that this process has been modified and the components given different emphasis in accordance with the needs of the time.
In the subsequent centuries due to numerous developments – the rise of scholasticism with its focus on philosophy and dialogue with aristotelian world, the emergence of schools and universities, compartmentalizing of different disciplines: doctrines, dogmas, sacraments, laws, spirituality, Bible, demographic changes – withdrawal of the monasteries to more remote locations and what seems to have happened is that the practice of lectio divina went with them and became less and less the wellspring of the Christian life, spirituality and theology as it had once been.
Just to mention the enlightenment and its stress on the primacy of reason, rational thinking, rational analysis and rational study found expression in the growth of biblical studies and exegesis, biblical history, culture, anthropology, archaelogy, language and hermeneutics. The bible became more and more a book to be studied rather than a place of encounter with the presence of God.
Vat II. This represents a hugely significant moment in the history of lectio divina and the place of lectio in the life of the church and in especially in the life of the faithful. The church put the scriptures back o on the table and into the hands of the people of God ..of course guided by the magisterium and church tradition…and the desire for the scriptures to become again what they had been in the first millennium of the church – essential nourishment of body, mind and heart for the Christian life of faith and praxis. Vatican 11 sought to resuscitate this vital organ of the life of god’s people.
Andre Louf. The fundamental activity of the monk is prayer – union with God . That prayer is nourished by the word of god, meditation on the word of God, which is generously provided for in the monastic life. lectio dvina does not begin and end with the Divine Office but continues in the silence of the cell, the recollection of the cloister and as background music to their work. Sometimes they work, sometimes they pray but all the time is for union with God.
Mesters. I find what Mesters is saying very helpful.. The primary concern of the biblical writer is not to narrate history or provide a journalistic account fo what actually happened back the. It is not a phographic account – what was seen by the naked eye, or heard by the naked ear, or touched by the naked hand but rather it seeks to reveal the divine dimension of what took place , the divine presence and the divine activity as perceived with the eyes fo faith.
And these were not recorded so that those who read them might escape from their present realities and take refuge in the wonderful things God did for his people in the past. No! In seeing the divine dimension of events in tnhe past the writer hopes that the readers might perceive the divine dimension in the events going on in their own day, in what is going on around them and be moved to enter more fully inot it. Mesters uses the example of the X-ray. It is not what is seen by the naked eye but it is an interpretation fo the divine dimension of what actually took place. While photos and x-rays are fo the same reality they are different but they do not contradict the other. The bible writers do not see themselves as historians – they rewrite their history in the light of their faith with a view to challenging and inspiring people in their own day to enter into the saving work of God. As the circumstances of their own day continued to evolve, the authors gave different emphasis to different aspects of the x-rays. And the x-rays could be of different quality and intensity. The x-rays are broadly speaking based on historical events, but the details of the events are secondary and subservient to the importance of the divine dimension. So the writers exercised a certain freedom in adding or subtracting details so very often you have apparent contradictions and inconsistencies.
Martini. For many years Cardinal Martini taught young people in Milan to read the scriptures for themselves and to meditate and pray with them. By all accounts his Lectio sessions drew great crowds and were very well received as a powerful experience of faith formation. Martin helps the young people to hear Jesus addressing His words directly to them. He invites the young people to ponder this word, to pray this word and to find encouragement and inspiration for their lives. He included a fifth stage in the process: Lectio, Meditatio. Oratio, Contemplation, Actio.
Pope Benedict XV1
“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 the intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying responds to him with trusting openness of heart. If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the church – I am convinced of it – a new spiritual springtime.”
As a strong point of biblical history, Lectio Divina should therefore be increasingly encouraged, also through the use of new methods, carefully thought through and in step with the times. It should never be forgotten that the Word of God is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.” Ps 118:115
Pope Francis.
“One of the most beautiful ways for entering into prayer is through the Word of God.
Lectio Divina brings you into direct conversation with the Lord
and it opens for you wisdom’s treasure.
The intimate friendship with the One who loves us,
enables us to see with the eyes of God,
to speak with his Word in our hearts,
to treasure the beauty of that experience and
to share it with those who are hungry for eternity.”