By Stephen J. Binz
In the sixth century, St. Gregory the Great wrote: “The biblical scriptures are letters from Almighty God to his creatures. Study them, I beg you, and meditate daily on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God” (Letters, 5, 46).
Reading, studying, and meditating on the Bible as the Word of God expressing the heart of God, is what the ancient Church called lectio divina, or “sacred reading.”
The foundation of this way of praying with scripture is an understanding of the text’s inspiration. When St. Paul declared that “all scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tm 3:16), he used the word theopneustos (God-breathed). The sacred text is written by the human hand, but “breathed” by God, the primary source of scripture.
Inspiration is not only a charism given by God to the biblical writers but also an ongoing characteristic of the biblical text enabling us to trust that God can work deeply within us through the text. Whenever we take the Bible in our hands to read, we can expect God’s Spirit to guide us to listen, ponder, and open ourselves to the transforming grace of God’s Word.
Because the Bible is the word of God—“letters” from God to us—our first response must be listening (lectio). We attend carefully to the text, listening to it “with the ear of the heart,” as recommended by St. Benedict (Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue).
If God is indeed speaking to us through the sacred text, then we must attend to the Divine Word and let go of our own agendas. No matter how many times we may have read the passage in the past, we can expect God to offer us some new wisdom every time we read. We must listen to the text as if for the first time, paying attention to whatever God desires for us.
Listening to the inspired word leads us to reflection (meditatio). We want to understand the meaning of the text in the context of our lives. Because the scriptures are divine revelation, they are far more than mere information. By reflecting and pondering the text, we open ourselves to its deeper significance and the grace of God.
Entering into this kind of meditation, we might try to place ourselves in the scene or dialogue with the characters. We want to encounter God through the text with our whole selves: our minds, hearts, emotions, imaginations, and desires. Through this kind of reflection, we try to discern what God wants us to experience through the sacred text.
Then, after listening to and reflecting on God’s Word, we naturally want to respond in prayer (oratio). Our prayer arises in our hearts as a result of having encountered God in the biblical text. As in any true communication, we listen and respond so that a dialogue is established between God and ourselves. As St. Ambrose said, “In lectio we listen to God, in oratio we speak to God.”
Depending on what we have heard God say to us in our reflective reading, our prayer may be of praise, thanksgiving, lament, or repentance. And our prayer is increasingly enriched because it is continually nourished by the vocabulary, images, and sentiments of the sacred texts.
Because our dialogue with God leads to an increasingly more personal relationship with God, our prayers then move us to contemplation (contemplatio), which is simply resting in the presence of God. As with any relationship, words and dialogue can be sustained only for so long. In the presence of God, our prayer leads to intimate silence.
In this silent contemplation, we open our hearts to whatever God wants to do within us. Having been fed by God’s word, we are now transformed by God’s grace in the ways God knows best. A humble receptivity on our part allows God to work his transforming will within us.
Before ending our prayerful time with God’s word, we take time to move back into our active lives with awareness. We move from contemplation to action (operatio). We should consider what God wants us to do as a result of having encountered the divine presence in scripture.
By allowing our lives to be gradually transformed by scripture, we become witnesses of the gospel. The experience of lectio divina deepens the presence of God within us as we seek to become more like Jesus Christ so our daily lives become more attentive, more merciful, and more purposeful.
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Stephen J. Binz is a Catholic speaker, biblical scholar, and pilgrimage leader. He is the award-winning author of Threshold Bible Study and Transformed by God’s Word. Discover more about his work at Bridge-B.com.
