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This Latin phrase
means 'holy reading'. It refers, in the first instance,
to the prayerful reading of the Bible, in which
we believe God speaks personally to each one of
us. St Benedict wanted monks to devote several
hours a day to this work. In order to hear this
word, it is not enough to read it off the page.
God speaks through the human authors of the Bible,
as well as through the people and events recorded
there. |
So
monks devoted a lot of time to the study of the
Bible as well as of other fields of knowledge in
order to listen to God's word as carefully as possible.
The time for lectio divina therefore came
to include study in a more general sense. But always
the intention was to teach monks to listen more
attentively to God in their lives. The world of
the Bible teaches us to see our own world, our
work and relationships, as the place where God
continues to call us and all things to find their
fulfilment in him. This kind of wisdom is more
important than knowledge, and it is learnt by deepening
our understanding of God’s love and realizing
that he is the light which illuminates our search
for him in all things.
The Bible is the word of life for a monk. We listen
to it in the Divine Office, and we use it as the
source of our own prayer and praise of God. When
a monk does lectio divina on his own, usually
it involves reading a passage slowly, always listening
out for the way it 'echoes' in his own heart. That
is where meditation turns into prayer. It may be
prayer for himself, or for others, a prayer of praise
and thanksgiving to God. The word may draw him more
deeply into himself in the worship of God and the
search for his will.
Traditionally this pattern of prayerful reading came
to be considered as having four elements: lectio
- meditatio - oratio - contemplatio. These could
be translated as reading (or listening), taking (or
receiving) the word in our hearts, praying with the
word and wondering at it.
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