Ten Commandments of Lectio Divina
1. Not Apologetic but Spiritual reading
The purpose is not to prove anything to yourself or to anybody but to meet God.
2. Not Fundamentalist but Creative reading.
You are not passive; you enter into dialogue with the passage through the imagination bringing your own memories of life experience to it.
3. Not Manipulative but Respectful reading.
You resist the temptation to add things that are not in the text but stay with it as it is.
4. Not Textbook but Story reading.
It is not a rational exercise: you let yourself identify with the characters and movement of the passage.
5. Not Surface but Deep reading.
You discover and recognize the gospel story alive today.
6. Not Alienating but Liberating reading.
You discover your own story in the passage, experiencing yourself as part of God’s people. You feel to celebrate.
7. Not only Particular but Universal reading.
You discover that it is not merely your personal story but that the story what always happens when God’s grace is at work.
8. Not Self-righteous but Humble Reading.
As you read and meditate you experience yourself called to repentance.
9. Not Moralizing but Evangelizing Reading.
Do not draw moral conclusions but allow the passage to form and shape your heart and mind.
10. Not Utilitarian but Contemplative Reading.
The goal of the Reading is to let the word take root and grow in you and produce its fruit in God’s own time and God’s own way