For most of the school year, I’ve been leading Religious Education for our middle school (6th-8th grades) kids. We went through Mark Hart’s T3 Bible Timeline (which is admittedly a bit mature for this age group, but they still seemed to learn from it), finishing it last week. In the last lesson, Mark briefly touched on Lectio Divina, and there was a section in the student workbook on how to do Lectio.
Last night, I led the kids in the steps of Lectio, trying to explain how to do it, and they seemed to pick it up. They were even quiet! It was a good reminder for me about this beautiful and powerful prayer form, which I had learned at Mount Angel Seminary thanks to the Benedictine monks there.
For those not familiar, Lectio Divina is a 4-step immersion into hearing God speak to us through the Scriptures:
- Lectio – Reading: Slowly reading the Scripture passage, not skimming or rushing, but speaking the words out loud and intentionally listening to them.
- Meditatio – Meditation: Choosing a word or phrase that stands out in the reading, and chewing on it in your mind and heart.
- Oratio – Prayer: Speaking with God about the passages that stood out and your meditation on those passages
- Contemplatio – Contemplation: Entering deeply into God’s love and simply being in His presence
Lectio Divina is fairly simple to get the pattern, but difficult to master. Contemplatio is really something that develops over the course of a lifetime, and is a grace given by God Himself to those who seek Him. This doesn’t mean that the other 3 steps can’t bring His grace, however. Much fruit can be gained through the process of Lectio, Meditatio, and Oratio, especially for those called to the ministries of teaching and preaching.
I highly recommend all Christians explore and use Lectio Divina as a way to better understand the Scriptures and what God is saying to us each individually through them. It is an ancient, venerable form of prayer that is just as necessary today, if not more so due to the lack of silence, as it was over a thousand years ago. Much richness can be mined from the Scriptures, and deeper relationships with God the Father and His Son, the Word of God, can develop through the working of the Holy Spirit.
