The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, 2

The second of the three-part article from our church bulletin inserts about Lectio Divina. (The first part is here.)

-------------------------------------------------------

Accepting the Embrace of God
The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina
by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.*

2. THE UNDERLYING RHYTHM of LECTIO DIVINA
IF WE are to practice lectio divina effectively, we must travel back in time to an understanding that today is in danger of being almost completely lost. In the Christian past the words action (or practice, from the Greek praktikos) and contemplation did not describe different kinds of Christians engaging (or not engaging) in different forms of prayer and apostolates. Practice and contemplation were understood as the two poles of our underlying, ongoing spiritual rhythm: a gentle oscillation back and forth between spiritual “activity” with regard to God and “receptivity.”

PRACTICE - spiritual “activity” - referred in ancient times to our active cooperation with God’s grace in rooting out vices and allowing the virtues to flourish. The direction of spiritual activity was not outward in the sense of an apostolate, but inward - down into the depths of the soul where the Spirit of God is constantly transforming us, refashioning us in God’s image. The active life is thus coming to see who we truly are and allowing ourselves to be remade into what God intends us to become.

IN THE early monastic tradition contemplation was understood in two ways. First was theoria physike, the contemplation of God in creation - God in “the many.” Second was theologia, the contemplation of God in Himself without images or words - God as “The One.” From this perspective lectio divina serves as a training-ground for the contemplation of God in His creation.

IN CONTEMPLATION we cease from interior spiritual doing and learn simply to be, that is to rest in the presence of our loving Father. Just as we constantly move back and forth in our exterior lives between speaking and listening, between questioning and reflecting, so in our spiritual lives we must learn to enjoy the refreshment of simply being in God’s presence, an experience that naturally alternates (if we let it!) with our spiritual practice.

IN ANCIENT times contemplation was not regarded as a goal to be achieved through some method of prayer, but was simply accepted with gratitude as God’s recurring gift. At intervals the Lord invites us to cease from speaking so that we can simply rest in his embrace. This is the pole of our inner spiritual rhythm called contemplation.

HOW DIFFERENT this ancient understanding is from our modern approach! Instead of recognizing that we all gently oscillate back and forth between spiritual activity and receptivity, between practice and contemplation, we today tend to set contemplation before ourselves as a goal - something we imagine we can achieve through some spiritual technique. We must be willing to sacrifice our “goal-oriented” approach if we are to practice lectio divina, because lectio divina has no other goal than spending time with God through the medium of His word. The amount of time we spend in any aspect of lectio divina, whether it be rumination, consecration or contemplation depends on God’s Spirit, not on us. Lectio divina teaches us to savor and delight in all the different flavors of God’s presence, whether they be active or receptive modes of experiencing Him.

IN lectio divina we offer ourselves to God; and we are people in motion. In ancient times this inner spiritual motion was described as a helix - an ascending spiral. Viewed in only two dimensions it appears as a circular motion back and forth; seen with the added dimension of time it becomes a helix, an ascending spiral by means of which we are drawn ever closer to God. The whole of our spiritual lives were viewed in this way, as a gentle oscillation between spiritual activity and receptivity by means of which God unites us ever closer to Himself. In just the same way the steps or stages of lectio divina represent an oscillation back and forth between these spiritual poles. In lectio divina we recognize our underlying spiritual rhythm and discover many different ways of experiencing God’s presence - many different ways of praying.

-------------------------------------------------------
Coming next week:
Part 3. The Practice of Lectio Divina
-------------------------------------------------------

* The author considers this article to be in the Public Domain. This article may therefore be downloaded, reproduced and distributed without special permission from the author. You may find the original article here.

Part Three is here.

Who Would You Sit Next To?

Fly With Me podcast (done by an airline pilot) posed this question.

I've always kind of played a little game in my mind -- you know like those little parlor games you play where you ask people what books they would want on a deserted island, or where you ask "If you could invite five famous people to dinner living or dead, who would it be"? Well I always though it would be more telling to ask "If you could sit in first class next to anyone -- currently living -- who would that be? And what would you say to them?" This question has the advantage that it could really happen. You might realistically, in your lifetime, have that happen.

He chose Kurt Vonnegut, by which you may surmise that I'm a bit behind in my listening as this was a tribute to Vonnegut's writing.

I've been turning that question over in my mind ... who would I choose? Someone sprang to mind quickly, perhaps prompted by the pilot's choice and something a commenter recently said. So I also thought about actors, statesmen, great thinkers. No one satisfied like that first choice.

I choose Ray Bradbury.

Who would you choose?

A Noble Chore

The table has been cleared, and the last of your dinner guests has been ushered out into the night. The previous days' tumult of planning, shopping, and cooking has yielded another evening to remember--and a sink full of sauce-smeared plates and grease-smudged stemware. In the prostprandial hush, you calmly take stock of the task at hand and begin your labor. Working unhurriedly from the top of the pile, your hands gripping the soapy sponge, you work rhythmically as your body warms to the task and your mind, stoked by food and conversation, quiets itself. Call us old-fashioned, ascetic, or even slightly masochistic, but there's something about hand-washing dishes that we find, well, cleansing

#36 of Saveur's 10th Annual Top 100 list
--David Sax, January Saveur

This struck a chord with me. Our dishwasher broke a couple of weeks ago and the cheapest way to go was to start washing everything by hand.

I have a fondness for washing dishes by hand. Some of this may be linked to my uncanny ability to stack an incredible number of things in the dish drainer ... how often do I get to exercise this skill to the acclaim and amazement of my family? Not that often.

It also provides the equally intangible enjoyment of chatting with anyone who happens to stop off and dry a few glasses (this happens much more often than you'd think), let one's mind idly wander on any number of subjects which one might perhaps interlace with a prayer here and there, listen to music or a story ... or whatever.

Perhaps it is the regularity of this enforced task. Dishes, after all must be washed frequently or there is nothing to put our dinner upon. It provides at least twice a day (more on weekends!) during which conversation, pondering, or listening are the only options. Despite the work, which is admittedly light, in its own way dishwashing is restful.

Worth a Thousand Words

Featuring Stacy, a contestant in Miss Mustang 2008
from Confessions of a Pioneer Woman.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Stacey, Miss Arizona! Stacey’s favorite color is turquoise and she enjoys eating native grasses from her host family’s flower beds. If she wins the crown tonight, she hopes to use her exposure to further the cause of women’s rights, both in the equine kingdom and beyond. Welcome, Stacey!

Do go see all the candidates. A lovelier group of ladies you will not encounter elsewhere.

The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, 1

I promised a while back to share some of the things that had helped me to develop a regular prayer time and to reflect more. This is the first of three bulletin inserts that ran recently about Lectio Divina.

You can go to the link at the end to get the entire article, or read it broken up into three parts as it will be presented via the bulletins as I post them.

I have read these several times and keep them by my Bible for quick glances if I get off track.

-------------------------------------------------------

Accepting the Embrace of God
The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina
by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.*

1. THE PROCESS of LECTIO DIVINA
A VERY ANCIENT art, practiced at one time by all Christians, is the technique known as lectio divina - a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the Bible, the Word of God, to become a means of union with God. This ancient practice has been kept alive in the Christian monastic tradition, and is one of the precious treasures of Benedictine monastics and oblates. Together with the Liturgy and daily manual labor, time set aside in a special way for lectio divina enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm. Within this rhythm we discover an increasing ability to offer more of ourselves and our relationships to the Father, and to accept the embrace that God is continuously extending to us in the person of his Son Jesus Christ.

Lectio - reading/listening
THE ART of lectio divina begins with cultivating the ability to listen deeply, to hear “with the ear of our hearts” as St. Benedict encourages us in the Prologue to the Rule. When we read the Scriptures we should try to imitate the prophet Elijah. We should allow ourselves to become women and men who are able to listen for the still, small voice of God (I Kings 19:12); the “faint murmuring sound” which is God’s word for us, God’s voice touching our hearts. This gentle listening is an “atunement” to the presence of God in that special part of God’s creation which is the Scriptures.

THE CRY of the prophets to ancient Israel was the joy-filled command to “Listen!” “Sh’ma Israel: Hear, O Israel!” In lectio divina we, too, heed that command and turn to the Scriptures, knowing that we must “hear” - listen - to the voice of God, which often speaks very softly. In order to hear someone speaking softly we must learn to be silent. We must learn to love silence. If we are constantly speaking or if we are surrounded with noise, we cannot hear gentle sounds. The practice of lectio divina, therefore, requires that we first quiet down in order to hear God’s word to us. This is the first step of lectio divina, appropriately called lectio - reading.

THE READING or listening which is the first step in lectio divina is very different from the speed reading which modern Christians apply to newspapers, books and even to the Bible. Lectio is reverential listening; listening both in a spirit of silence and of awe. We are listening for the still, small voice of God that will speak to us personally - not loudly, but intimately. In lectio we read slowly, attentively, gently listening to hear a word or phrase that is God’s word for us this day.

Meditatio - meditation
ONCE WE have found a word or a passage in the Scriptures that speaks to us in a personal way, we must take it in and “ruminate” on it. The image of the ruminant animal quietly chewing its cud was used in antiquity as a symbol of the Christian pondering the Word of God. Christians have always seen a scriptural invitation to lectio divina in the example of the Virgin Mary “pondering in her heart” what she saw and heard of Christ (Luke 2:19). For us today these images are a reminder that we must take in the word - that is, memorize it - and while gently repeating it to ourselves, allow it to interact with our thoughts, our hopes, our memories, our desires. This is the second step or stage in lectio divina - meditatio. Through meditatio we allow God’s word to become His word for us, a word that touches us and affects us at our deepest levels.

Oratio - prayer
THE THIRD step in lectio divina is oratio - prayer: prayer understood both as dialogue with God, that is, as loving conversation with the One who has invited us into His embrace; and as consecration, prayer as the priestly offering to God of parts of ourselves that we have not previously believed God wants. In this consecration-prayer we allow the word that we have taken in and on which we are pondering to touch and change our deepest selves. Just as a priest consecrates the elements of bread and wine at the Eucharist, God invites us in lectio divina to hold up our most difficult and pain-filled experiences to Him, and to gently recite over them the healing word or phrase He has given us in our lectio and meditatio. In this oratio, this consecration-prayer, we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the word of God.

Contemplatio - contemplation
FINALLY, WE simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary. It is the same in our relationship with God. Wordless, quiet rest in the presence of the One Who loves us has a name in the Christian tradition - contemplatio, contemplation. Once again we practice silence, letting go of our own words; this time simply enjoying the experience of being in the presence of God.

-------------------------------------------------------

Coming next week:
Part 2. The Underlying Rhythm of Lectio Divina
-------------------------------------------------------

* The author considers this article to be in the Public Domain. This article may therefore be downloaded, reproduced and distributed without special permission from the author. You may find the original article here.

Part two is here.

What's Wrong With Porn?

Marcel LeJeune at Mary's Aggies has a very good post with both positives about sexuality and then discussion about how pornography makes us less human. Check it out.

Worth a Thousand Words

Street Musicians at the Doorway of a House
1665, OCHTERVELT, Jacob

Dutch painter (b. 1634, Rotterdam, d. 1682, Amsterdam)

Why are the wicked joyous?

St. Ambrose had a very good answer to this question.

Perhaps you say, Why are the wicked joyous? why do they live in luxury? why do they not toil with me? It is because they who have not put down their names to strive for the crown are not bound to undergo the labors of the contest. They who have not gone down into the race-course do not anoint themselves with oil nor get covered with dust. For those whom glory awaits trouble is at hand. The perfumed spectators are wont to look on, not to join in the struggle, nor to endure the sun, the heat, the dust, and the showers. ...

As Tom points out, this turns the whole "gospel of prosperity" on its head. We are working for the bigger reward than ease in this life. Its nice if it comes along, but that's not the point at all. It is about our immortal souls.

Worth a Thousand Words

Starfish on Pebbles found at Flickr's Cream of the Crop

The Arkangel Complete Shakespeare

I don't remember where I saw the Arkangel recordings of Shakespeare mentioned. It sent me to our library, which luckily has quite a few of the plays. I listened only to the beginning of Gentlemen from Verona, before deciding that I needed to begin with something a bit more familiar to get my "ear" accustomed again to the cadence of Shakespearean speech. However, even that brief encounter made me eager for more. Both the acting and the sound production were wonderful. It was sheer genius to have the opening scene over cocktails in a piano bar (or so it sounded). It clearly took me into the scene in an unexpected way.

I am now waiting impatiently for the library to get Macbeth to me. That story is much more familiar and I will have a better chance at absorbing it all.

Imagine my delight then when Thomas McDonald, the guest blogger who gave us yesterday's review of Bioshock, presented me with this thoughtful and complete review of the entire Arkangel series for Catholic Media Review.

Sit back, read, and enjoy. Then take thee to a library (or store) and begin enjoying Shakespeare in a whole new way! Thank you Thomas!

Worth a Thousand Words

Grange painted by Belinda Del Pesco

Fr. James Martin's Response to Joyce Behar's Anti-Catholicism

Foolish as it would be to look for deep theological insight from "The View," Joy Behar's recent statements on Catholic saints (a) not existing any longer and (b) needing medication, was about as close as you could come to a nice Youtubable, public display of anti-Catholicism, for any who doubt it still exists.

Martin, editor of America magazine, has a good article responding to Joy Behar of The View who recently went on a public anti-Catholic screed. Do go read his responses to each of Behar's embarrassing examples of ignorance of the faith she is attacking. I also like his points about why he's not worried and the implied charity of Mother Teresa probably already praying for Behar.

In addition to pointing out the problems with such impromptu examples of anti-Catholicism being the last acceptable prejudice, we should also remember to extend charity to such offenders by forgiving them and praying for them. Mother Teresa, pray with us and for us, as we pray for Joy Behar.

Bioshock Review

Rapture’s collapse is an object lesson in what happens when bioethics break down. The city is undone by genetic tampering, as people attempt to turn themselves into Gods with gene modifying drugs. God’s work is imperfect, people are told, so science must step in to improve it. At the top of the crumbling pyramid is Ryan, with his Godlike delusions and warped philosophy. He sees Rapture as a New Eden. Indeed, two of the gameplay elements are “ADAM”, a mutagen which allows people to modify their genetic structure to enhance certain powers, and “EVE,” the fuel for these genetic mutations. In order to get through Rapture, your character needs to become one of these mutants without sinking too far into madness. It’s a dangerous balance, and in the end only love is able to bring you back, if you choose the path of love.

Guest blogger Thomas L. McDonald, Editor-at-Large of Games Magazine, delivers a fascinating review of Bioshock over at Catholic Media Review. It takes into account societal standards and concerns as reflected in this game ... really good stuff, y'all!

If you have a child wanting to play this game (or already playing it) and want to know more about the content, this review is invaluable. Or if you just are in interested in playing it yourself check it out. It sounds darned good!

Long Handled Spoons

This puts me in mind of Dante. I am very slowly wending my way through Purgatorio now. The lessons learned by those in hell and purgatory are reflected in this simple moral fable. Thanks to Cyndie for sending it to me!

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, 'I don't understand.'

It is simple,' said the Lord. 'It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

By Sun and By Candlelight

Life before modern technology was full of hard stops: the work day ended at sunset -- if you didn't finish laundry during the day there was no going back outside to the washboard at 9:00 at night; the work day began at dawn -- if you got breakfast on the table an hour late that was precious time cut out of you and your family's very finite workday; even finances had hard stops -- when you spent your last dollar there were no tempting "0% interest for six months!" credit card offers waiting in your mailbox. And with a life full of hard stops, even the most disorganized, scattered people must have been forced to have some kind of routine, and to limit their to-do lists. Even people as inept at time management as I am must have been gently reminded to get to a stopping point and wind down their projects each day as the sunlight began its slow retreat from the sky.

Jen at Et Tu has a thoughful, insightful post about borrowing hours and merely making ourselves more frantic. Well worth a read whether you have resolved to change your time management for the New Year or not.

"Among the nations, I will praise you ..."

(from Psalm 57)

This is a theme that has resonated with me lately. Of course, since we just had the Feast of the Epiphany (the three wise men) the liturgical emphasis naturally is about Jesus being here for all people, everywhere.

However, I felt this even more strongly having recently read books about the faithful in China and Africa. Granted, both are vastly different books but both also bring forth clearly the struggle and suffering these people go through both in their lives and to practice their faith. Compounding that emphasis is the fact that I recently received and have almost finished Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ which added the Middle East in a real and haunting way to my vision of the struggling church.

When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Mark 6:34

How privileged we are to live here where the worst we usually have to complain about in practicing our faith is that a church isn't playing the sort of music we prefer. Yes, I know there can be worse abuses but let's be honest here. They occur on a very small scale compared to the struggles of those in other countries where they often do not know if anyone else knows of their plight.

While pondering this in prayer yesterday, I read the line that is the headline for this post. It stuck with me. Then I read that bit of Mark above. I have always had a fellow feeling for Chinese Christians because of my great general interest in China but this was rapidly becoming a greater concern.

I thought about a meeting the night before where my friend Monette had happily been reporting that a couple on the verge of divorce was back together again, working through their problems. This is the second couple she had brought to us for prayer who had been able to see a way toward saving their marriage. We were teasing and saying that she would become the saint of troubled marriages. She said, "It was that novena I said. I'm telling you, it worked both times!"

I remembered that statement and thought about the fact that I used to say novenas and had fallen out of the habit. Maybe it was time for a novena to kick start me into remembering these far away brothers and sisters in Christ. I looked over to my table where I had stacks of books, thinking that I should dig out that rosary book, look for something to say. "No, later," I told myself. "After prayer."

But I would find myself compulsively looking over at that table, find myself wondering what it was that I felt I should look for right now and then remember ... that book of novenas. Time for that later. It was the strangest thing y'all.

Not as strange as a bit later, when I am not kidding, I found myself standing in front of that table reaching toward those books. I didn't remember getting up or even thinking about it. I just was suddenly standing there.

Ok, this wasn't going to go away. I would find the book and then do it later.

I sat down, book in hand, and thought that I might as well go ahead and see what novena would be a good one. If this wasn't going to go away, I would take care of it and then talk more personally to God. (Yes, because I'm dense, I know!)

I flipped the novena book open at random ... to St. Francis Xavier. Patron of foreign missions. I began laughing. Message received. This is the novena that I began yesterday.

The Miraculous Novena of Grace

Most amiable and most loving Saint Francis Xavier, in union with you I reverently adore the Divine Majesty. I rejoice exceedingly on account of the marvelous gifts which God bestowed upon you. I thank God for the special graces he gave you during your life on earth and for the great glory that came to you after your death. I implore you to obtain for me, through your powerful intercession, the greatest of all blessings, that of living and dying inthe state of grace. I also beg of you to secure for me the special favor I ask in this novena. In asking this favor, I am fully resigned to the Divine Will. I pray and desire only to obtain that which is most conducive to the greater glory of God and the greater good of my soul. amen

(here you may mention the grace, spiritual or temporal, that you wish to obtain.)
For joy, peace, and support of oppressed Christians
in China, the Middle East, and Africa.
Also for their oppressors--forgiveness and opened eyes to the truth.

(Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be.)

I didn't post this yesterday. I felt that surely everyone had had enough of my personal prayer life. Certainly I felt embarrassed about the mystical tinge I'd be exhibiting if I told it. I'd already let that particular bit of my life hang out there for all to see. No need to dwell on it again. I could just post the novena. We didn't need all that explanation.

Did we?

No, no we didn't.

Except, knowing that I felt I should post this experience but that embarrassment was bugging me to death ... of course, this is just a sample of what was laid on me this morning:

The Lord is my light and my help;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before whom shall I shrink? (Psalm 26:1)

Go upon to a high mountain,/ Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice,/ Jerusalem, the herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! (Isaiah 40:9-10)

Fear not, I am with you. (Is 41:10)

Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid! (Mk 6:50).

Now, granted, we all know that anyone with something on their mind will take special notice of those readings all together. However, I thought that I'd go ahead and heed what I was feeling here.

However, just in case I felt I was reading into things, our Deacon sent out a copy of a letter he'd received yesterday. It was from the priest at the parish that our church had taken the Christ Renews His Parish retreats to in the Fall. I read it this morning. In part, he said:

The spirit is burning within us only because the parishioners of St. Tomas Aquinas Catholic Church were willing to carry this flame of love and knowledge to our parish.

Right between the eyes with the holy 2x4!

OK! I get it!

And so do you ... the whole story.

Like a nursing child in the arms of the one who nourishes him...

Bishop Schneider said that just as a baby opens his mouth to receive nourishment from his mother, so should Catholics open their mouths to receive nourishment from Jesus.

"Christ truly nourishes us with his body and blood in holy Communion and, in the patristic era, it was compared to maternal breastfeeding," he said.

"The awareness of the greatness of the eucharistic mystery is demonstrated in a special way by the manner in which the body of the Lord is distributed and received," the bishop wrote.

Deacon Greg points to an article by a bishop in the Vatican newspaper who says, "The reverence and awe of Catholics who truly believe they are receiving Jesus in the Eucharist should lead them to kneel and receive Communion on their tongues."

Our parish still has and uses the altar rail. Although our priest has made it very clear that anyone may stand if they prefer, practically everyone kneels. Most people do receive in the hand which doesn't bother me since I know that was a very old style. For instance, St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) counsels the Faithful to “make a throne of your hands in which to receive the King [in Holy Communion]."

I'm terrified of dropping the host so receive on the tongue and have gotten quite used to sticking my tongue out to give the deacon a good shot at sticking it on. I really hadn't stopped to consider the sort of imagery the bishop puts forth in the article. It does give one pause.

Anyway, its an interesting article and Deacon Greg's musings are also interesting. Go read it all.

Worth a Thousand Words

Mr. Serdar Somuncu by Edward B. Gordon

"I want a tricycle and a dog who won't chew my Hot Wheels, and a brighter future for America"

It might be time for us to start watching The Simpsons again. It looks as if they've got their edge back and I've always liked the way that they spare no political party with their satire (hey, they're even handed, you've gotta admit). Check out Ralph Wiggum's launch for president.

Worth a Thousand Pictures

Green Door via Flickr's Door Pool.