Lectio Divina is a prayerful practice of reading a meditation on scripture. It’s been used many centuries and continues to be a nourishing discipline for spiritual seekers from all traditions. The Latin name, Lectio Divina, essentially means: “sacred reading”.
So often we can get into the habit of monopolising prayer with our words. Lectio reminds us: God always has the first word. We come first to listen. When it comes to reading scripture, we may be used to learning, studying, and teaching. Lectio however is a particular sort of spiritual discipline — it is prayerful and mediative. “Oh how I love your law, I meditate on it all day long”, writes the Psalmist; and: “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.” In lectio we seek to do the same.
For this reason we tend not to choose long passages of scripture, rather we engage with just a a few verses at a time. And we listen through repeated reading of those verses. The intention is to go deep not wide. We are ‘sipping on scripture’ as one writer put it — savouring the flavour — like a fine wine.
Practicing this prayer
This way of prayer has 4 distinct stages:
Read / Reflect / Respond / Rest.
Read: First, read the text listen to the text — listen as if hearing it fresh, hearing the sounds.
Reflect: Read a the test second time and allow yourself to focus on the one word or phrase which draws your attention today. Give time in silence to reflect & meditate that word or phrase — ponderer it, mull it over.
Respond: Read the passage a third time — and consider how you would like to respond to God in silent prayer.
Finally Rest. This is a contemplative time in the prayer. We don’t rush on to ‘the next thing’, we simply give ourselves time to ‘be’ — and rest with what has been given.
The Lord is my shepherd,
Psalm 23.1–3
I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down
in green pastures,
he leads me beside
quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me
along the right paths
for his name’s sake.