An ancient and much revered practice for praying with the Scriptures is Lectio Divina, literally “divine reading.”   A simple practice that can seem more complicted in its desctiption than in its actual doing.  Lectio involves four different movements: reading, meditating, contemplating, and praying.  Although distinct in the naming, they are often combined in the actual practice.  As is true for all “quiet prayer” we need to do some preparation:

    With Lectio you need to select a passage from Scripture with which you would like to pray.  Psalm 139 or Psalm 23 are good starters.  Or perhaps, you might want to choose one of the Sunday readings.  Whatever, it is your choice. Lectio looks like this:

• Slowly read the selection you have chosen.  There is no need to cover all the text, if something touches you.  Perhaps a word or an image grabs your attention.  You feel drawn to stay with it.  At this time, you might want to
• Probe the meaning of the word or image.  That is, to think about (meditate) what it means, what it means for you and your relationship with or understanding of God.
• Return to the text.  This time allow whatever comes to mind, come.  Stay with it, savor it (contemplate).
• If you haven’t already spoken to Jesus (God, the Spirit), speak from your heart as to what has touched you (prayer).
• If you have finished and there is still time left in your prayer period, begin the process again by a slow reading.

    Too often our approach to Sacred Scripture is one that just looks for “how to act,” losing sight of the fact that the Scriptures are books of revelation.  They, in a variety of genres, tell us of who God is, who God is for us and how we humans have responded to God’s overtures of love and commitment.

     On this Word of God Sunday, may we be blessed with a deeper awareness of Christ’s presence in the scripture and his desire to meet us as we continue our journey.