Lectio Divina (Latin for Divine / Sacred Reading) is an ancient spiritual practice from the Christian monastic tradition that allows us to experience the presence of God through reading and listening, prayer, meditation and contemplation. It is a dynamic, life-orientated approach to reading the Holy Scriptures which can help all Christians discover the rich truths of the Word of God.
[youtube id=”F6Z2T2X5_60″ align=”right” maxwidth=”400″]Using Lectio Divina, either individually or as part of a group study, can have many benefits:
- It prepares your heart and mind, helping you to be more receptive to the readings.
- The Holy Spirit is given the opportunity to work on and with you, to help you understand what the Word means for your daily life.
- It allows you to savour the richness of the passage so it becomes your companion for the week.
- It helps enrich your experience of the Lord Jesus.
- Your daily life is connected in spirit and action to the rest of your Church community, many of whom will be sharing the same passages of Scripture.
It follows a simple, four-step process:
- Reading;
- Meditation;
- Prayer;
- Contemplation.
Lectio Divina invites you to savour and mull over God’s words quietly, slowly and intently until you begin to respond to what God is saying.
The lectionary runs in a 3 year cycle. These resources were written to coincide with the three year cycle between 2009 and 2011. Unfortunately, this means that there are differences between the dates provided and the Sundays within the liturgical calendar. There are also some particular Feast Days and Holy Days which aren’t noted in these versions. There are many other online resources which can provide useful material for reflection during these one-off occasions!
