Lectio Divina

People have rediscovered a new way of praying! It is called Lectio Divina. It simply means beginning our prayer by reading.

We choose a simple text. Why not pick any line from the psalm in your Missalette today? How about verse 3: “eternal His merciful love; He is faithful from age to age.” 

Before we begin we have to be in peace: Be yourself, be still, be nothing as Fr.Ambrose Tinsley, a Benedictine of Glenstal Abbey counsels.

Be yourself: Pray as you can, not as you cannot. Pray as God made you.

Be still: Let the distractions go, leave them with God. While you are here you cannot do anything about that which is distracting you!

Be nothing: Just say a simple mantra: Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. Keep repeating it until your soul is still.

Now read the text over and over, staying with a line which speaks to your heart today.

So, we read (Lectio), under the eye of God (Meditatio) until the heart is touched and leaps into prayer (Contemplatio)

Why not read all the readings today and pick a line which speaks to you.

Fr. Michael McCullagh, C.M.