Lectio Divina: Praying the Scriptures - Part 1

Lectio divina is a form of prayer that has a long history in the Church, and is especially associated with the monastic and religious life. It is a way of prayerful reading, where our hearts and minds are open to God. The main text for lectio divina is the Bible.

So why should we read the Bible?
We believe that the Bible is much more than a book of nice stories. We believe that the Bible contains religious truths, truths about God. So these are not just stories, but a very important way in which God speaks to us. It is the word of God. But the word of God is not just some text on a page. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

What the passage is saying is that the word of God has the power to change us and speaks to us now, here, today.

Reading the Bible is an important part of our growth in the Christian life. Reading it in a prayerful way will change us. But if we want this to happen, we must learn some particular skills, ways of reading and listening. We need to be able to listen for the still, small voice of God. Through gentle listening we become aware of the presence of God in the Scriptures.

How do we do lectio divina?
Traditionally, lectio divina was seen simply as a very slow, deliberate reading of the Bible so that the words could be learned off by heart. The idea was that if a monk knew texts of the Scripture off by heart, he could take these words with him in his mind and heart wherever he went. Particular passages would also come into his mind in particular situations, and so the words would be his constant companion. Thus the words were an important part of the monk’s relationship with God.

These days, people tend to think of 4 stages of lectio divina:

Lectio: We read the text. But not as we would read a newspaper or normal book. We read slowly.

Meditiatio: When we are reading a passage, slowly and attentively, we may find a part that is particularly attractive, some words or a word that grabs us. We should stop and think about it for while. We can repeat it a few times in our mind for a few minutes.

Oratio: This is when we speak to God, responding to that part of the passage that has attracted us. In other words, we make our own response to God’s invitation.

Contemplatio: I think the best way of describing this is that we just remain quiet and still for a few moments after having spoken to God in prayer.

Some thoughts:
1) Remember that prayer is God’s gift. We cannot just use methods and think that God will do things for us. God works in our lives through his grace. We are not in control. Lectio divina is simply a way for helping us be attentive, and to create space and time in which God can speak to us through the Bible. Sometimes lectio divina may make us ‘feel’ good, but more often we won’t notice any difference. Prayer is not just about feeling good, but about allowing God to transform us, and helping us to love him and others. God works on us in ways that we cannot know.

2) Always start by making the sign of the cross, then say a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to help you, and end with a prayer of thanksgiving.

In our second post, we will have a look at some of the resources available to help us with lectio divina. Some passages will also be provided as examples.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Some years ago John Paul II suggested that St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) could rightly be called ‘doctor of humanity’. He is clearly a doctor of divinity the Pope said, but his greatness consists as much in what he says about the human as in what he says about God.

Aquinas - whose liturgical feast is celebrated today - is one of the foremost representatives of a Christian humanism that has always flourished in the Church. In his understanding of creation and of grace, he draws on the resources of philosophy as well as theology to re-think the terms in which biblical, Christian doctrine may be presented. He was able to develop a mysticism of creation itself, in which God is understood to be present not only in particular people, places, or experiences, but everywhere and always. As creator, God is mightily active ‘deep down things’, for if God were not constantly willing the world’s being, and empowering its activities, there would be nothing.

Creation itself then – the nature of things as we come to understand and appreciate them – is another book in which the mystery of God is intelligible to us, however dimly.

All creatures bear a trace of their Maker but humans are created in God’s ‘image and likeness’. This is seen, St Thomas says, in our intelligence, in our moral responsibility, and in our creativity. As ‘participants in providence’ we are God’s partners in the unfolding of the world’s history. No longer merely servants, we are brought into friendship with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.

St Thomas is very much a saint for our times. Secular humanism fears that God is a threat to humanity, that men and women cannot be truly free until they shake off God. Christian humanism knows that the truth is directly contrary to this: Christ, who is the head of humanity, leads it towards its flourishing, not towards its destruction. Christ is our way to maturity, St Thomas says, the love-breathing Word from God who finally introduces us to ourselves.

St Thomas Aquinas was an intellectual. His business was texts and translations, arguments and ideas. He shows us that holiness is also about the mind. He shows us that ‘mystery’, far from bringing thinking to an end, invites it to continue forever. He teaches us that it is in the light of God’s wisdom, as it is in the warmth of God’s love, that human beings come to their full flourishing.

Remembering fr Gordian Marshall OP

John Francis Marshall was born in Portobello, near Edinburgh, in 1938. He attended Holy Cross Academy in Edinburgh at the same time as Keith Patrick O’Brien, now Cardinal O’Brien. In Edinburgh he met the Scottish Dominican Fr Anthony Ross, and decided to enter the Order, taking the religious name of Gordian. After his studies in philosophy and theology he taught briefly at the Dominican preparatory school at Llanarth, in Monmouthshire. From there he went to Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds where he graduated B.Ed. He was assigned to the Dominican Conference Centre at Hawkesyard, in Staffordshire where he taught classes in scripture, Hebrew and religious studies, and organised conferences of the Council of Jews and Christians. He then worked in Leicester, as chaplain to the university. In 1990 he was assigned, as superior, to the Dominican house in Glasgow.

There he taught religious studies at St Andrew’s College, Bearsden, and later at the department of Religious Education at the University of Glasgow, from which he retired recently. In Scotland he served on the Churches’ Agency for Interfaith Relations, the Scottish Interfaith Council, Action of Churches Together in Scotland, and the Council of Religious Superiors in Scotland. He was in constant demand as a lecturer, preacher and retreat-giver.

For much of his life Father Gordian was involved with inter-faith dialogue, initially with the Council of Jews and Christians, and then with the Council of Christians, Jews and Muslims. Until recently he attended and lectured at the annual conference of Christians, Jews and Muslims at Benendorf in Germany; his knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Koran enabled him to make important contributions to discussion and debate.

In 2005 the Dominican community moved to St Columba’s Parish, Woodside, Glasgow, and it was there that Father Gordian died suddenly on 14 December 2007. His funeral was on 21 December in St Columba's and both Cardinal O'Brien and Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow were present.

Aquinas Seminar, Hilary 2008

All are welcome to this term's series of seminars on aspects of the thought of St Thomas Aquinas. It takes place on Thursdays from 4.30pm - 6.00pm in the Aula at Blackfriars (64 St Giles', Oxford).

The list of speakers and topics is as follows:

24 January - Ralph McInerny on 'Ordinary Knowledge of God'

31 January - Aidan Nichols OP on 'St Thomas and the Sacramental Liturgy'

7 February - Joshua Hochschild on 'Analogy in Logic, Metaphysics & Theology: Did St Thomas change his mind about Proportionality?'

14 February - Hector Delbosco on 'The Convergence between Aristotelianism and Platonism in Aquinas' Metaphysics'

21 February - Lawrence Dewan OP on 'First Known Being and the Birth of Metaphysics'

28 February - Fran O'Rourke on 'Joyce and Aquinas'

The Dominican Seminar

The annual Dominican Seminar this year was held at Hinsley Hall, Leeds, from the 3rd to the 5th of January. The seminar is a chance for Dominican Friars, Sisters and Laity to meet, and have talks and discussions. This year's theme was 'Living the Good Life'. Proceedings were opened with a talk on virtue ethics by the Student Master, Fr. Vivian Boland. Other talks given were on the Transfiguration, on teaching ethics and the moral life, on being good in a world of 'spin', and on the representation of judgement and eternity in art.

The students of the English province were represented by Brs. Lawrence Lew, Romero Radix and Robert Gay. Br. Robert gave a talk entitled 'Creation, Ecology and Redemption: Seeing God in a blade of grass'. In his presentation he outlined something of the complex and intricate nature of interactions that exist in the natural world, and the dependence of human life on these interactions. He suggested how the findings of ecological study and the accounts of creation and redemption in Scripture help us to develop a sense of our stewardship of creation. He then offered some thoughts on how we might develop a more 'Catholic' understanding of environmental concerns that places them in the context of wider issues such as the sanctity of human life.

The seminar was not all work and no play. Much time was spent in informal discussion of the topics raised, and sharing time with fellow Dominicans, catching up on the latest news from around the country.

Quodlibet 8 - Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us

"How, exactly, do we forgive others? We can say the words, but what if we simply cannot? How is forcing yourself to forgive any more possible than forcing yourself to like spinach? Are there techniques that work?"

Forgiving others can often be a very difficult thing to do. It is so often the case that the people that we find it hardest to forgive are the people closest to us – parents, siblings, a wife or husband, children, a girlfriend or boyfriend, our best friend and so on. When such people do things that hurt us, things that seem to us unprovoked or unjust we feel it deeply. After all, this is someone who we thought loved and cared for us. There are, unfortunately no techniques. But there are a few things that we might wish to meditate on as a starting point.

When we find it hard to forgive, we must ask ourselves questions about our levels of expectations of others. Sometimes we find it hard to forgive people because we expect them to be superhuman. Those we love can become God-like, and then we hurt when they do not live up to our impossibly high expectations. When this is the case, we need to be honest and accept that others cannot be God for us. Only God can. Realisation of this can help free us a little and prepare the ground for forgiveness, and help us to see our relationships in the right light.

We must also acknowledge that sometimes we are rather too keen to hold on to grievances against others, and to develop a story surrounding an event that becomes more elaborate and distorted as time goes on. This can make us unhappy, but goes some way to helping us to define who and what we are. The problem is that this means defining ourselves as victims, and allowing our past to shackle us, preventing us from living in the present. We must remember that it is not easy to walk forwards when we are looking back over our shoulder! In all these things it helps if we can pluck up the courage to talk to someone whom we trust, who can help us to see the wood from the trees.

Another thing that is perhaps important to note is that difficulties in forgiving others are often linked to an inability to receive forgiveness offered to us by God. The Gospel leaves us with little doubt that receiving forgiveness for our sins and forgiving others are inextricably linked (see Mat 6:12-15). If I cannot believe in God’s power to forgive my sins through Jesus Christ, how can I hope to forgive others? When it is hard to believe that God forgives our sins, it might help to reflect for a while on the formula for absolution said by the Priest in the Sacrament of Penance (see CCC 1449).

So after we have reflected, what next? I think the fact that there are not techniques for forgiveness is good news. Why? Because forgiveness is not something we can achieve for ourselves. Forgiveness is a gift freely given by God to those who ask for it. What we have to do in order to forgive others is to pray to have the courage to look with honesty at what has wounded us so much, and to pray to truly want to forgive the person who has wronged us. We pray for a change of heart. It is then that Christ’s grace can enter in, so that we can live with the freedom and lightness of spirit that is characteristic of the children of God. This is not easy, and often takes some time and much patience, because the things that have hurt us are often so complicated. But with God, and only with God, it is possible…..