LECTIO DIVINA Prayer Before Lectio Divina Lamb of God Give me the grace To read Your Word As I ought Lamb of God Give me the grace To understand Your Word As You thought Lamb of God Give me the grace To preach Your Word As You taught. Amen. In Chapter 2 “The Theological Basis of Lectio” (pages 35-47) Fr. Casey presents us with the theology of Scripture reading. The three main themes in monastic theology of Scripture reading are: (1) to lead us to prayer and to contemplation; (2) to safeguard us from ourselves and our subjectivism; (3) to discover the gems to be mined in the text. Schola Christi (The School of Christ) is what Sacred Scripture is in lectio divina, and we are the students. To learn the Scriptures is to learn Christ. This is the turn of the phrase of Saint Jerome: “Not to know the Scriptures is to be ignorant of Christ.” (In Isaiam prophetam, prologus 1-2). Just as in a university the student is the hearer of his teacher’s lectio, those who take up the Scared Scriptures hear the Divine Master instruct them according to his ways of divine love; how to read, understand, and to profess by thought, word, and deed. Just as we read about compunction opening us up with a willingness to listen and be formed by God’s Word so too must any student of Christ listen and obey him. When lectio divina is prayerfully exercised it allows Christ to “inform” our minds, “form” our faith, conscience, and spiritual vision, “reform” our behavior by correcting bad habits and learning virtue, and “transform” our lives so that we may “perform” words and deeds that “conform” to the kingdom. When we allow Christ to “inform” our minds he nourishes us. When we allow Christ to “form” our faith, conscience, and spiritual vision, his grace flourishes within us. The efficacy becomes apparent. We who were “deformed” become “reformed”. Lives that were “malformed” become “transformed”. Through Him, with Him, and in Him we conform ourselves, transform all things and perform the works of grace. Grant me the grace O Lord To seek only You For it is in finding You That we find ourselves. “Whatever part of the Scriptures we read, Christ our teacher is waiting to instruct us. This is what the traditional Christocentric reading of the Bible means. We learn not only about Christ but from Christ.” (36). Michael Casey, Sacred Reading. The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina. (Liguori, MO : Liguori/Triumph, 1996). 151 p.; ISBN : 0-89243-891-6. Michael Casey is a Cistercian monk and prior of Tarrawarra Abbey, Victoria, Australia. ____________________________________________________________ Get advanced SPAM filtering on Webmail or POP Mail ... Get Lycos Mail! http://login.mail.lycos.com/r/referral?aid=27005