Lectio Divina
The spiritual practice of “lectio divina,” the slow meditative reading of Scripture, stems from the monastic tradition, but is easily adaptable even to the more frenetic life patterns of non-monastics. Enzo Bianchi, the prior of the extraordinary monastery of Bose in Northern Italy, has written a helpful guide: “Praying the Word: an Introduction to Lectio Divina.”
When he was Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Martini conducted meditative readings of Scripture in Milan’s Duomo that attracted many young people. Some time ago he published an article in “America” magazine in which he warmly recommended its use in contemporary spirituality.
Pope Benedict himself is a masterful expositor of Scripture. Indeed, his book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” might be considered a extended lectio divina of the Gospels.
A week ago the Pope, as is his custom at the start of Lent, met with the priests of the diocese of Rome and delivered (I believe without a text) a long meditation on a passage from the “Epistle to the Hebrews”. Here is a section:
In the Roman canon after the consecration we have the prayer supra quae that mentions certain prefigurations of Christ, his priesthood and his sacrifice: Abel, the first martyr, with his lamb; Abraham, whose intention is to sacrifice his son Isaac, replaced by the lamb sent by God; and Melchizedek, High Priest of God Most High who brings out bread and wine. This means that Christ is the absolute newness of God and at the same time is present in the whole of history, throughout history, and history goes to encounter Christ. And not only the history of the Chosen People, which is the true preparation desired by God, in which is revealed the mystery of Christ, but also in paganism the mystery of Christ is prepared, paths lead from it toward Christ who carries all things within him.
This seems to me important in the celebration of the Eucharist: here is gathered together all human prayer, all human desire, all true human devotion, the true search for God that is fulfilled at last in Christ. Lastly. it should be said that the Heavens are now open, worship is no longer enigmatic, in relative signs, but true. For Heaven is open and people do not offer some thing, rather, the human being becomes one with God and this is true worship. This is what the Letter to the Hebrews says: “Our priest… is seated at the right hand of the throne… in the sanctuary, the true tent which is set up… by the Lord” (cf. 8: 1-2).
Thanks Father. I am hoping that this Lent will help me to return to my meditative practice which has been far too neglected over the past two years or so.
Thank you, Father.
In Genesis 22:7-8 Abraham and Isaac talk of sacrificing a lamb but in 22:13 God actually supplies a ram, which has its horns caught in a thicket.
Here is a link to Cardinal Martini’s article:
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=10811
That first paragraph just reeks of supercessionism and triumphalism.
Cardinal Martini’s article is very interesting on many fronts, but while he recommends lectio divina, he does not give detailed guidance–not that he should have in this format. I had heard that he promoted this practice with some success in Milan. Do you know of any more detailed account of how he would recommend going about it? The Cardinal’s status as a Scripture scholar was brought home to me recently when I noticed in my United Bible Society edition of the Greek New Testament that one Carlo M. Martini is listed as a member of the editorial board as of 1968 along with Kurt Aland, Bruce Metzger and others
Contemplative Outreach is a foundation which promotes lectio divina and Centering Prayer. It was started by Fr. Thomas Keating, the great Trappist teacher. Its internet site offers information (including info about books, tapes, whole lectures by Fr. Keating and others, support group information for both lectio divina and Centering Prayaer. Wikipedia has information on both contemplative practices.
For lectio divina go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.phptitle=Special%3ASearch&redirs=0&search=lectioo+divina&fulltext=Search&ns0=1
Fr. Keating says that lectio divina is highly popular with Bible reading Protestants — they have been doing it without calling it by a latin name. The site above includes a URL for the United Church of Christ’s lectio divina page. This could get very ecumenical :-)
The Centering Prayer page is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centering_prayer
Some people are suspicious of it as being Zenn-like, and it is different from ordinary Christian practices. But it goes back to the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and many find it particularly good for people these days.
Lent is a good time to start one of these ancient practices. It is suggested that you do lectio for an hour a day, CP for a minimum of 20 minutes. Yes, these are for the laity too, and that’s you! (I’m a pusher.)
Excerpts from Enzo Bianchi’s book are available on the Monastery’s website:
http://www.monasterodibose.it/index.php/content/category/8/160/343/lang,en/
INTO THE SILENT LAND, OUP, by Martin Laird, OSA, is a thoughtful exploration of the origins of the “Jesus Prayer” and some helpful chapters on the doorways and the distractions one encounters in pursuit of the fruit of the practice.
SUPERWHAT?
At the background of Centering Prayer is the “Cloud of Unknowing” which, in turn, appropriates some ideas from Saint Augustine’s “Letter to Proba.” There is a lot of egregious nonsense written by critics of the practice linking Centering Prayer to Hindu (not Zen) practices because Keating and company had shown some interest in TM some decades ago but Centering Prayer has solid Christian links to old Christian practices.
It seems that some people are convinced that Centering Prayer must be Asian because insofar as it uses no images or words or thoughts of any sort it must be the same as one of those passive, blank=minded, godless Buddhist practices. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Ann and Larry,
thanks for your comments. I agree that “The Cloud of Unknowing” is a rich resource for Centering Prayer.
I would only add, subject to correction, that the author of the Cloud presumes a solid foundation in the Christian Way. The path he maps there is not intended for “incipientes.”
Fr. Imbelli –
I’m sure you’re right. I know Fr. Keating says that Centering Prayer is derived from The Cloud of Unknowing, but I can’t see how. I must admit I didn’t finish the book because it wasn’t leading me to a better understanding of CP.
I’ve not done a lot of reading on the influences of one tradition on the other, but from the little I know it seems to me that some Eastern practices did make their way West and I suspec vice versa. For instance, Al Yazid, the Muslim heretic who was crducified, made statements that are very, very similar to certain statements in the Upanishads.
And now the scholars have discovered that India seems to have had some extremely early influence on Greek philosophy, math, and even spirituality. See, for instance, the Pythagoreans who were very spiritually inclined, and Plato’s “reminiscence” theory of knowledge seems to have its origins in the Indian notion of transmigrations of souls. Even Aristotle speaks of being illuminated (or some such word) for a short time. I suspect the last chapter of that book on early East-West influences remains to be written.
There are certainly no geographic barriers between East and West — you can just walk across Afghanistan and turn right :-)
I also wonder about the later influence of early Irish spiritual practices on the medievals. Their pre-Christian religion included some contemplative practices, or so I”ve read. (Can’t remember where, however.)
Roberto:
The Cloud Author was a Carthusian writing to another Carthusian. He did presuppose the regularity of the monastic life. The Cloud was the foundation upon which Keating et al derived the practice of centering prayer but, as usual, it was Thomas Merton who first saw the possibilities in the writings of the Cloud author. Another prayer practice taught by the late John Main was inspired by Main’s experiences in the East before he became a Benedictine monk. For the theological context of the Cloud one could hardly do better than read the Colledge/Walsh introduction to the Cloud in the Paulist series.
I am not sure that one needs to be advanced in the life of prayer to do centering prayer but one does need to be cautious that it not be reduced to the kind of “meditation” one sees in TM and other such movements. After all, the central idea of centering prayer is rather like the old notion of “putting one’s self in the presence of God.”
Prof. Cunningham –
It is true that there are similarities between Centering Prayer and some of the Asian techniques that empty the mind of specific content and which result in an extremely comfortable feeling that is particularly satisfying in this hyper-frazzling world. But as Fr. Keating puts it, Centering Prayer is “accepting the presence and action of God within”. This sounds very simple, and it is, but it is also very, very hard sometimes and not at all like the Zen practices.
To accept the action of God within is to accept His grace. To accept His grace is to accept His will for us, and this can be terribly hard sometimes. As the Trappists teach it, it is a thoroughly Christian practice. Unfortunately, the word “centering” is used ambiguously in other contexts to mean just using any technique to get into that comfortable state of mind that is so all-round healthy. Such techniques are pretty much automatic in effect. But this is not what the Trappists are teaching, though Centering Prayer also usually results in that comfortable state of mind. By the way, Merton was the one who named the practice. Ahead of his times as usual :-)