Contemplative Practice: Lectio Divina
Gregg’s Recollection
It was years after my baptism, a decade or longer before I began to read Scripture regularly. And then, I focused on the New Testament. I attended Bible Studies, Sunday Adult Classes, and Small Group Bible studies. But, I did not practice reading at home.
Now, I have read through the New Testament a half a dozen times or more, and I’ve been through the Old Testament three times. I have found that over time, Scripture lodges in my soul, and Spirit can bring an appropriate verse when I am in deep conversation or coaching.
And yet, in my four decades attending church regularly, I never heard a teaching on Lectio Divina from a pulpit or in a class or small group. I discovered it in my travels in circles of pastors. In the Living School, we studied and practiced Lectio. I do a weekly Zoom called Sacred Space where we do Lectio on a poem someone brings. Wade into the experience. Here is my layman’s description:
Lectio: a slow meditative reading of a short passage of scripture or other spiritual writing. Read it three times. It may help to read it aloud. Pay attention to any word or phrase that catches your attention.
Meditatio: now take that word or phrase into meditation, looking for deeper meaning. Let Spirit illuminate why that word or phrase resonates.
Oratio: now pray and seek to discern what God is leading you to do with what you have learned from reading and meditating.
Contemplatio: now simply rest in the presence of God. Each earlier step on this ‘Ladder of Monks’ takes you closer to your depths and the depths of God. Rest in that space, letting go of thoughts and seeking the face of God.
Journaling Prompts
Have you noticed that Spirit brings something different to you when you read Scripture today than when you read it a year ago? How might you wade into deeper waters in your reading? Are you ready to move beyond literal reading of the text to the moral, mystical and unitive interpretations?
Scripture
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
Exodus 24:7
When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.
Deuteronomy 17:18-19
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night.
Joshua 1:8
Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
Joshua 8:34-35
Josiah Renews the Covenant. Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord.
2 Kings 23:1-2
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
Nehemiah 8:8
Their delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night.
Psalm 1:2
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read.
Luke 4:16
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15.
The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Acts 8:29-31
For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.
Acts 15;21
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26.
Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:15
In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
Ephesians 3:4-5
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
1 Timothy 4:13
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Revelation 1:3
Ancient Writing
When we pray, we speak to God; when we read Scripture, God speaks to us.
St. Augustine
Diligently practice prayer and lectio divina.
When you pray, you speak with God,
when you read, God speaks to you.
St. Cyprian
Intent on the food of lectio divina…
St. Ambrose
The soul is fed each day with lectio divina…
St. Jerome
Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.
St. Benedict of Nursia
Learn to know the Heart of God in the Words of God.
Gregory the Great
One day when I was busy working with my hands I began to think about our spiritual work, and all at once four stages in spiritual exercise came into my mind: reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. These make a ladder for monks by which they are lifted up from earth to heaven. It has few rungs, yet its length is immense and wonderful, for its lower end rests upon the earth, but its top pierces the clouds and touches heavenly secrets.
Guigo the Carthusian
Lectio Divina: Encourage the text to open to you at deeper and deeper levels. Four steps or stages you apply to reading sacred text.
Listen to what’s being said. Learning to clearly restate another’s argument without interjecting your reaction and response. Moratorium on the phrase, “Oh, this is just like this.” No, it isn’t, you are trying to bring it back to your known reference point. You are reducing it, rather than stretching yourself to walk into the unknown. Let it be there in its own strangeness and unknowing. Then you can see how it is continuous with what you know, and how it is discontinuous to what you know. Hold a soft gaze as you look around the room. If you can learn to look at objects and not name them, you can see things in all new ways. Once you learn to do that with visual images, then you can also use that with textual images. What strikes you in a text
Lectio: slow careful listening reading of the text, out loud is recommended. Slow down, if you skim, you just get the surface
Meditatio: Short focused engagement with the text using all your faculties: mind, emotions, meditating on the phrase or word God brings to your attention
Oratio: Invite the dimension of prayer. May arise spontaneously, you are in relationship, and prayer is a way to honor a relationship. Opening to the deep, the living life that may be there
Contemplatio: Allowing the text to work you. Coexist with it in the unknowing, allowing it into your heart. Lead you into a stillness that is deeper than your heart. Deep calls to deep. Trust your own depths, at the deepest place in you is God.
Explicatio de Text: The other skillset is the art of close unpacking of a text. We tend to get overwhelmed with the new and threatening, we tend to shut down. Take things line by line, like trying to undo a difficult knot. Don’t let your resistance to something shut down your ability to learn from it.
General guidelines: Take time, don’t get rushed, bring to it sacred leisure. Eliminate all self-limiting self talk, be found at a place deeper than your self talk. Don’t neglect your spiritual practice, it creates the capacity to open these texts.
Wisdom knowing is not knowing more, but knowing deeper, honor the sacred vessel you are. Don’t skip over passages that give us negative feelings. If you find yourself skipping over, force yourself to go back, guarantee there is something there to be examined. Try to read several translations, amazing how differently a passage sounds in different translations, each one changes the meaning of the original text. If you keep hitting the same knot, seek another translation. When you finish a section. See if you can write in a few sentences what the author was saying. Then, write your response to what is said.
He will lighten the load that weighs us down so that we cannot look up to him in contemplation, leading us through these degrees from strength to strength, until we come to look on God, where his chosen enjoy the sweetness of divine contemplation, not drop by drop, not now and then, but in an unceasing flow of delight which no one shall take away, an unchanging peace, the peace of God.
Giugo, The Ladder of Monks, trans. Colledge, p. 86
Do you suppose that because we cannot hear Him,
He is silent? He speaks clearly to the heart
when we beg Him from our heart to do so.
St. Teresa of Ávila
Modern Writing
Spiritual reading is not only reading about spiritual people or spiritual things. It is also reading spiritually, that is, in a spiritual way. Reading in a spiritual way is reading with the desire to let God come closer to us. The purpose of spiritual reading is not to knowledge or information but to let God‘s Spirit touch us. Strange as it may sound, spiritual reading means to let ourselves be read by God. Spiritual reading is reading with an inner attentiveness to the movement of God spirit in our outer and inner lives. With that attentiveness we will allow God to read us and to explain to us what we are truly about.
Henri Nouwen, You are Beloved, Introduction p. v
For the ancients, to meditate is to read a text and to learn it "by heart" in the fullest sense of this expression, that is, with one's whole being: with the body, since the mouth pronounced it, with the memory which fixes it, with the intelligence which understands its meaning, and with the will which desires to put it into practice.”
Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture
This is almighty God speaking.What is more wonderful, more precious than a true friend, who is there for us? Our communication with our Divine Friend needs to be a two way street. And, if we are smart, we let God get the first word in. Lectio Divina is letting our Divine Friend speak to us, through his inspired and inspiring word.
Basil Pennington, Lectio Divina, p.xi
The Christian knows that we do not know how to pray was we ought. It is the Holy Spirit who prays in us. We use Lectio to open the space for the Spirit to act in us freely and powerfully, to be one with us in prayer.
Basil Pennington, Lectio Divina, p. xii
The tradition of Lectio is one of the most ancient in the church. Lectio means, quite simply, ‘reading.’ During the first centuries of the church, most Christians could not read. Even those who could rarely owned a book. For centuries, Lectio was much more a matter of hearing the Word of God.
Basil Pennington, Lectio Divina, p 1-2
In true Lectio, by the power of the Word of God and of the Spirit, we do see, we do hear. The Word and the Spirit expand our listening. Their grace heals us of the binding prejudices, the fears, the selfishness and self-centeredness that would have us cling to our present parameters with the illusionary comfort of their controlled limitations.
Basil Pennington, Lectio Divina, p. 18
Lectio Divina is a contemplative way of reading the Bible. It dates back to the early centuries of the Christian Church and was established as a monastic practice by Benedict in the 6th century. Lectio is not Bible study or even an alternative to Bible study but something radically different. The practice understands Scripture as a meeting place for a personal encounter with the Living God.
Lectio Divina: When does it become mystical? My peace I give to you. My own peace I’m giving to you. Rungs of Lectio are a ladder to heaven. Lectio is the first rung. It is sustained receptivity. We refrain from a commentary, and learn to listen. When I learn to take in your peace, that’s when I will not be afraid, my heart won’t be troubled. Absorption is a semi-voluntary state, pausing to let yourself become quietly absorbed by the beauty and the truth. Return to the primal simplicity of you giving your life to me in this prayer. God speaks and we listen in Lectio. Now, we respond.
Meditatio we speak with childlike sincerity and God is hanging on every word. Your response to the word just heard. The mind reflects on what was received in silence illumined by faith. The subtle love awareness becomes habituated in your heart. In reflective consciousness, we deepen the mind and heart. Tame the superficial mind to enter into a reflective state of pondering. See where that meets the depth of my heart. When we surrender ourselves over to love, love takes care of us.
James Finley, Living School Teaching
Spiritual Senses, four ways of interpreting Scripture
Literal: the least helpful interpretation. Even the pope had to apologize for the inhumane activity some of his predecessors took in the defense of an unenlightened literal interpretation of the sacred text when faced with the facts being presented by science. Many condemn God because the Scriptures are not a literal history that they’re listening is so narrowly geared to hear.
Moral: Here the text tells us what we are called to. They tell us something about how we personally should act in relationship with God. Every story is about me.
Allegorical or Mystical: Here the divine text is open to many deeper meanings.
Unitive: as Contemplation brings us to union with our Beloved, we begin to understand something of the Unitive sense
Cynthia Bourgeault, Living School Symposium July 2020
Lenses for Interpreting Scripture:
In the early church there was a method of interpreting scripture which looked at what they called the different levels of interpretation. They talked about three levels and they associated them with the three aspects of the human being: body, mind, and spirit.
The body of the scripture is the literal interpretation, it is what the text says at face value. The mind of the scripture is the moral interpretation, insights about how we can live our life which the story doesn’t directly say but are implied. And the spirit of the scripture is the mystical interpretation where we learn hidden truths about the soul’s journey into God.
I am going to briefly look at how story of Jesus turning water into wine (John 2:1-11) can be interpreted according to each. In our gospel reading today the literal interpretation is simply that Jesus was at a party and ran out of wine so he used his God-powers to make more. The text tells us that the purpose of this miracle was to reveal the glory of Jesus and so that his disciples would believe in him. And so that is the first level of interpreting the story. Jesus turned water into wine so that we would believe he was the Son of God. But there is obviously more to it than that.
Before I go on to explore the other two levels of this scripture, I would like to point out that they don’t cancel each other out. The literal interpretation remains true even as we look at the moral and mystical levels. So, as we discuss the moral meaning of the story, don’t lose sight of the fact that the literal meaning is still true, Jesus performed a miracle and did so to reveal his own glory so that his disciples might believe in him. The literal meaning is usually the easiest to find and it just sort of is what it is.
The moral interpretation will have more nuance and variation, and the mystical will have as many interpretations as there are interpreters. Over and over again in the gospels Jesus creates abundance out of scarcity. When the crowd of 5000 people were hungry, he fed them with a basket full of bread and a few fish. The story of turning water into wine seems to be of a similar nature.
One of the things we can discern from this is that when we follow Jesus, and have that belief in his ability to perform miracles we just talked about, there is always enough for everybody. It seems to me that one of the moral lessons we can learn from this story is that if you “do whatever he tells you,” as his mother Mary said, then even when it feels like there is only water in our cups, we will find that there is actually wine, in fact the best wine of all.
If we have faith in God, then we share what we have even when it feels like it’s not enough. If the servers at the wedding had been using their skeptical minds they never would have served the water to the guests, because they would have looked like fools serving water at a wedding. Often our skepticism tells us to keep what we have and not trust in God’s abundance, but when we have faith then we can take 5 loaves and feed five thousand people with them. So the moral of the story, or at least one moral of the story, is that we should have a stance of generosity in life, trusting that God will take care of the details if we are willing to share with the people around us. So this is a moral interpretation of the story.
Let’s turn our attention to the level of interpretation which I feel is best suited to this story in particular. With a story like this, there is no end to mystical interpretations. In fact, a story like this seems to be written with a mystical interpretation in mind.
The first piece of information we are given in the story is that Jesus’ mother is at a wedding feast. This tells us that the circumstances in which spiritual growth happens are celebration and union. The spiritual journey is often also described in terms of marriage. John the Baptist, in the chapter immediately after this one, refers to Jesus as a bridegroom and says that he will be a good best man and give the groom the spotlight. And so, the spiritual journey is a wedding where two become one, we become one with God, and this is a cause for celebration!
Next, Jesus and his disciples are invited to the wedding and this tells us that in order for the water to be turned into wine we must first invite Jesus to the party. Not only Jesus, but his disciples too. The first stage in the journey is to open our hearts to God and to spiritual community. If we try to make the spiritual journey all on our own we won’t make it very far.
Mary says to Jesus, “they have no wine.” Which is to say that we are lacking something. We have no more wine, and wine is the symbol for goodness and love. Jesus seems to already be aware that we are lacking in wine when he says, “what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”
This response from Jesus is the first hint that this story is meant to be read on the mystical level. It’s a non sequitur. What hour is he referring to? What does that have to do with wine? If you were hearing this story for the first time you would have no idea what he is talking about.
You wouldn’t know that wine is a Christian symbol for blood. You wouldn’t know that it’s the primary image behind our most sacred ritual. If the wine is the blood of Christ, then it makes perfect sense that Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come” when his mother tells him that the people have no wine.
He is saying that soon enough he will pour out his wine for them and they will have more than their cups can hold. His mother understands his enigmatic statement and then turns around to give her final instruction before passing the mic over to Jesus. She tells us to “do whatever he tells you.” And that is the best advice anyone can be given.
Mary has realized that the soul has no wine, she has invited the one who can transform the water, and now she wisely tells us to do whatever he tells us. What Jesus told them to do was to fill the jars of purification with water, fill up a cup from them, and serve it to the chief steward.
Jesus doesn’t make the wine appear out of thin air. Rather he uses the material which he has at hand and transforms it. The water represents who we are before this encounter with God. It is good in and of itself, it’s just not as good as wine. First, we have to pour ourselves into the jars of purification.
Jesus doesn’t actually pour the water for them, but rather instructs them how to do it themselves. This means that if we wish to go any further on the spiritual journey we must first purify (or heal) those things inside us which are unhealthy. Jesus is the great healer, his miracles are ones of healing more than anything else. When the water is poured into the jars of purification it is made good for drinking. Like drinking tap water instead of water from the lake, it has been purified and made clean.
We become clean water when we stop the arguments going on in our minds. When we let go of old hurts and resentments. When we set aside our sadness and seek after joy. Each person has their own journey to go through and that is represented by the fact that there are many jars of purification.
If you are a person who struggles with pride, then you may need a good dose of humility. But if you are a person who struggles with shame, then you may need a good dose of encouragement. After the water is purified it is ready to be transformed. But, there is still one more step.
The water is taken out and served and then it becomes wine. Water does not become wine if we keep it hidden away in jars. While we must, at some point in our lives, come to terms with the impurities we’ve picked up along the way, that alone will not transform us.
We become wine when we leave the jar of purification behind and serve the people. The jars are a step on the journey, but they are not the destination. It is truly in service, joy, and hospitality that we are finally transformed into wine, into the blood of Christ.
When we become one with the blood of Christ, then we partake in his death and resurrection, which is also a transformation into something new and miraculous. Jesus turns water into wine and death into life. This is the miracle which is promised to all who change their hearts of stone into living hearts of flesh. This is the good news. If you throw a party and invite Jesus then you’ll always have a good time.
Justin, In Search for a New Eden, 1/16/22