“Let the world be silent in your presence, Lord, so that I may hear what the Lord God may say in my heart. Your words are so softly spoken that no one can hear them except in a deep silence. But to hear them lifts him who sits alone and in silence completely above his natural powers, because he who humbles himself will be lifted up. He who sits alone and listens will be raised above himself.” 
-Guigo II

Lectio Divina is a Latin term that means “Divine Reading” or “Sacred Reading.”

It is an ancient monastic practice that employs a particular method of reading. It is a unique, listening approach to reading that enables you to open up the time you spend with the written word so that your reading becomes a doorway to meditation, prayer, and contemplation.

Historically, it to go back to Origen in the third century, Benedict and his order in the sixth, and Guigo II’s formal instructions in the twelfth.

It is a powerful tool for opening up to the presence of God in your life, in your interaction with sacred Scripture. It opens you up to allow God to lead you where He chooses. You do not choose. You do not seek to control but rather to yield. In a sense, you could say that the text reads you.

Lectio Divina is not mere intellectual exploration, but about actually becoming intimate with God. You’re not studying God. You’re getting to know God.

Before the printing press and modern ideas of scholarship, research, and academic pursuit of knowledge, those who wrestled with the words of Scripture did so to acquire a spiritual, rather than intellectual understanding of the text. It was not an exercise in “figuring out” Christianity, but rather a practice for encountering God through the medium of the written word. The goal of Lectio Divina is simply to create space where God may encounter you via the sacred word.

The ancient spiritual practice of Lectio Divina suggests that, in terms of fostering intimacy with God there are approaches far more valuable than mere study and analysis. That may stimulate the brain, but not transform the heart. Knowing about God more than knowing God.

To be continued…

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In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria