From the Vicar
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” – Ps 34:8
There is a very ancient form of mediation on Scripture for which tasting and eating and digesting is the most obvious metaphor. Its old title in Latin is ‘lectio divina,” which means holy reading. This way of prayer consists in reading very slowly through a passage until a particular word of phrase ‘lights up’ and attracts the reader. The text is then laid aside and the phrase is repeated in the heart. The one praying simply repeats the phrase allowing it to unfold without any analysis. When the phrase has been deeply absorbed, it is time for responding to God by expressing the feelings the words have evoked, the needs, desires, the appreciation or praise, in the simplest possible way. If words seem to sink away, the prayer consists in staying still in the awareness the meditation has fostered, being in and with God. Then when distractions bring this state of awareness to an end the meditation is brought to a conclusion or, if more time is available, the reading can be gently resumed.
Some instructions:
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.
2. Begin reading. Don’t study the text, just read it slowly, aloud if you find that helpful. This is the ‘lectio’.
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 has claimed your attention. Here the reading stops and the ‘meditatio’ begins.
4. Gently repeat the phrase or word again and again within the heart. Don’t project them outward. Resist the temptation to force particular lessons or meanings from the words. In time you will become aware of an impression that the words have made on you. They have evoked a particular feeling or attitude. 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. 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 the north. This is ‘contemplatio’
6. After some time you will not be able to sustain your spontaneous praying or state of loving awareness. Distractions set in. Bring the prayer time to a close with thanksgiving or by reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Adapted from Martin L Smith, The Word is Very Near to You (Cambridge, Mass,; Cowley, 1989) quoted in Leonard Allen, The Contemporaries Meet the Classics on Prayer (West Monroe, Lou.; Howard Publishing, 2003).
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