Christian Meditation: Lectio Divina

I have been reading about Christian meditation in Benedict's Way - a book that takes a contemporary look at the 1500-year-old monastic practices of St. Benedict. It has been interesting (perhaps even exciting!) to discover that, without realizing it, I have for years been practicing a form of Christian meditation called Lectio Divina ("Sacred Reading" in Latin).

I say exciting, because - for years now - I have been searching for threads that connect my contemporary faith with the faith of Christians over the past 2000 years.

Whereas some forms of meditation are exercises in emptying the mind, Lectio Divina is the opposite - it is a filling of the mind with thoughts from God.

Lonni Collins Pratt, author of Benedict's Way, explains that...

• Lectio begins with the assumption that human beings are equipped with the ability to hear God. Not just... saints and mystics. You and me... Lectio teaches us to listen through direct encounter with God's Word.

• In the monastic tradition, a "monk or nun would sit with the text of Scripture and begin to read attentively and reflectively until a word or phrase or scene struck the imagination or the heart... At that moment the reader paused, put the text aside, and gave himself to prayer... When I spend time in sacred reading I invite God's word to penetrate my heart and to evoke from that deepest center of my being a response of surrender, wonder, praise, regret, petition, love. In the words I read God speaks to me; in my prayerful pauses I respond to God verbally or wordlessly... the process is a gentle one..." (Quoted from Monastic Practices by Charles Cummings, O.C.S.O.)

Lectio Divina, a prayerful reflective connection with God...

What a radical idea that was (and still is!)... that God would care about us enough to speak to us individually.