Now there’s a word. It’s the Greek word Jesus uses in Mark’s gospel when healing the deaf man. It means be opened!
Jesus heals the deaf man. He liberates him from his impediment so that he can hear clearly and so act according to what he hears. In doing so, Jesus shows what God desires for us all: truly liberation from all that keeps us from truly hearing God’s life-giving word and from living into the fullness of life to which that Word leads us.
What a happy coincidence that this gospel falls this year on September 8, the Feast of the Birthday of Mary. Who, more than Mary, models for us openness to God’s word. Mary is completely open to the word spoken to her by the Angel Gabriel. And with such openness she bears fruit, she brings forth Christ.
Of course, Mary stands as a paradigm for us all. When we are completely open to God’s word and let that life-giving and loving word form and create us, we bear fruit for the life of the world.
So how can we cultivate an ever-greater openness to God, and to God’s Word—Jesus Christ? Well, one ancient practice for doing so is called lectio divina. That simply means divine reading. It is a simple way of reading the Word of God that allows us to take in the Word and let it penetrate our mind, heart, body and soul.
It’s not complicated. It goes like this:
- Read (lectio): Turn to a Scripture text you have chosen. (Maybe the first reading, or gospel of the day, for example.). Read it (out loud if possible) slowly and gently. Don’t intellectualize the passage. Just listen to it; savor it. Listen for a word of phrase from the text that touches you, calls out to you.
- Meditate (meditatio): Take the word or phrase that touched you. Slowly repeat it to yourself. Let it enter your mind, heart, body and soul. Let it interact with your present life: your thoughts, the things that are happening in your life. Repeat the word or phrase several times, letting it enter in and penetrate your being.
- Contemplate (contemplatio): After this, quiet down. Spend time in silence. Be still. Let the word do its “work.” Have no expectations of special feelings or visions or ecstasies. Just gently sit in quiet having listened to the word or phrase and let it enter into your whole being.
- Pray (oratio): After a period of silence, talk with God as you would with one whom you know for sure loves you and accepts you. Share with God what the word has stirred up in you and anything you’ve experienced during your meditation time. Thank God for God’s word and for the time together.
This is a simple and very ancient practice that can help us, like Mary, to open ourselves up to God’s word, to let that word touch us to the core, and to respond to the word with all our being.
Just remember that sometimes your experience of lectio divina may feel enriching and warm, exciting and energetic; other times the experience may be dry, boring or distracted. IT DOESN’T MATTER. The “quality” of the time spent in lectio divina is not the measure of its success or worth. There is no measure of success. Lectio divina simply enables us to be in God’s presence through praying with God’s word. And little by little, often in ways we will not immediately perceive, our practice is making us more open to God, more intimately connected to God. And like Mary, we become a vessel, a temple, a body in which God’s life lives and touches the world.
Peace and every good,
Father Liam