Lectio Divina and Ignatian Meditation

Lectio Divina and Ignatian Meditation
Praying with Scripture

Using the Imagination
1. Select a single story before the prayer time itself - don't confuse yourself by rifling through
the Bible in the prayer time, hoping to hit on one that will do. Reading through the passage
the night before will often allow your intuition to work on it in readiness.
2. Spend some moments settling down. Use whatever ways you have found useful to centre
yourself such as the very slow recitation of a prayer which you let tension go from your body.
Adopt the posture you find comfortable.
3. Ask God to touch you through the passage of Scripture you have chosen. Tell God that you
desire to be open to the word, the healing, the probing, the consolation, whatever God knows
you need at this time.
4. Pick up your Bible and read the passage slowly and carefully several times. Pause
between each reading for half a minute or so to allow yourself to notice details. Let questions
and insights occur as you notice more with each reading.
5. Place the Bible aside. Now give your power of imagination free rein to bring the scene to
life with yourself as a participant. Don't look as if it were a film projected onto a screen. It is
happening all around you. Feel absolutely free to smell the scents of seashore and
marketplace. Hear the noises, sense the movements. Allow yourself to become whoever you
want in the scene. Are you one of the disciples? A bystander able to see everything happen
right there on the spot? Are you the sick person? If so, how are you feeling at the beginning of
the story?
6. Let the drama slowly unfold. Let whatever happens, happen. Don't control the story. Let
yourself feel what happens. Don't step back out by trying to glean lessons from the story.
Don't start thinking about applications to your life. Allow yourself to be affected by the words
and actions of the story.
7. As your feelings are affected by the event let yourself respond. Often you need to respond
by articulating these feelings to Jesus. Tell him how you have been touched. Ask him what the
feelings mean. what kind of gift are they? What are you thankful for? What do you want to ask
for? Who is God for you just now? How is God inviting you? At other times the best response
is to stay with the impression the story has had on you, savouring it and soaking yourself in it,
aware of the presence of the Lord.
8. When the awareness dies down of itself, or you feel you have replied and responded to
God's way of touching you in this particular prayer, bring the prayer time to a simple
conclusion by reciting a prayer such as the Lord's Prayer or by singing a verse of a hymn. It is
better to round off the prayer time positively so you can resume your activity, rather than just
let prayer peter out into distraction and restlessness.
Praying with Scripture

Lectio Divina - 'holy reading'
This is not intended to introduce you to something new - it is meant to allow you to
experience and feed on what you know. Regular reading of the Bible extends the breadth of
our familiarity with Scripture In 'holy reading' we absorb the Scriptures in depth.
1 Spend a few minutes settling down and pray that your heart may be opened and
receptive to the gift God knows you need today. Only the Breath, the Spirit of God, can bring
the word to life. Let your own more deep-seated, gentler, from lower down, as you invite the
Spirit to pray in you afresh.
2
Begin reading in a place you have previously chosen, and read on very slowly indeed
with an open mind. Don't study the text, just read it slowly, aloud if you find that helpful. This is
the "lectio", or reading.
3
When a particular sentence or phrase or single word "lights up" or "rings a bell", seems
striking or inviting put the Bible down. Resist the temptation to go on, and do not start
thinking up reasons why the phrase claimed your attention. Here the reading stops and the
"meditatio" begins, the absorption through repetition. So for example, you might be reading
where Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10). As you come to verse 14
these words seem to have a special allure: "I know my own, and my own know me." This is
the verse you now meditate with.
4 Gently repeat this phrase or word again and again with in the heart. Don't project them
outward. Let the repetition be gentle and not mechanical There is no need to conjure up any
mental picture to accompany the words or to try to make yourself feel any particular emotion
as you speak them. Resist the temptation to force a particular lesson or meanings from the
words. You know what the words mean well enough; the repetition is to allow you to savour
and relish at an intuitive level. After some time you may find that a longer sentence has
shortened itself to a single word. Gradually allow yourself to be absorbed in the word. So,
"Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you" might become distilled "peace"
(John 20.21). In time you will become aware of an impression that the words have made on
you. They evoke a particular feeling or attitude. When you have become aware of this there is
no need to prolong the repetition. Now is the time for "oratio", the praying of your response.
5 Express to God in the simplest way the impression the words have made on you. You
may want to thank God for the gift they convey, ask the questions they have stirred in you, put
into words the longings or needs they have brought up. Keep it simple, praying
spontaneously. Or you may want to respond by remaining in loving silence in the presence of
God, appreciating the grace or attitude the word of Scripture has instilled. Your prayer may
move into contemplation, a simple being in Christ with God in which all you are aware of is
that you are being attracted towards God like the needle of a compass finding north.
6 After some time you will not be able to sustain your spontaneous praying or state of
loving awareness. Distractions set in. You may bring the prayer time to a close with
thanksgiving or by reciting the Lord's Prayer. If you have time and opportunity, you may feel
drawn to begin the process again by returning to the Scripture. Begin at the point where you
left off and continue with the reading expecting to be touched again by another word.
From Martin L. Smith 'The Word is very near you - a guide to praying with scripture'
Cowley Publications 1989

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Praying with Scripture

Praying with Scripture

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