Lectio Divina is a spiritual practice that is meant to help us connect with God through reading and reflection on Scripture. Literally translated as “Divine or Sacred Reading,” Lectio Divina is a listening practice centered on reading Scripture. It is through this practice that Christians for centuries have heard God speaking and have been transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Reading and reflecting on Scripture has been a key part of the Christian faith from the days of the early Church Fathers and Mothers. Listening closely to Scripture in order to be deeply shaped by it was always a part of the faith, but it became especially important in the 4th century when the Roman Empire, under the rule of Constantine, converted to Christianity. For the first few hundred years after Christ, becoming a Christian meant intentionally and often sacrificially joining a counter-cultural movement that looked very different from the “normal” way of life. Once the empire became Christian, however, it became normal for everyone to be a Christian simply because they were a Roman citizen. Joining the Church became the standard thing to do rather than an intentional choice to die to one’s self in order to follow the ways of Jesus.
In response to these changes, many followers of Jesus began to leave the empire and head to the desert to try to understand what it would look like to know God in these changing and confusing times. They wanted to escape the distractions and noise of the empire that had taken over the Church and try to hear from God in fresh ways. Over time, these monastic men and women formed communities in the wilderness that were devoted to spending time with a reflective heart on Scripture.
Benedict of Nursia was the leader of one such community in the 6thcentury. He wrote the Rule of Saint Benedict in order to organize his community around principles that would help them live the life of Christ together. In his Rule, he taught that reading Scripture aloud and reflecting on it would be central to the daily life of their community. Early writings such as Benedict’s help us to understand just how important it has always been for people to have a posture of reflective listening to Scripture in our faith tradition.
We know how to read the Bible but we aren’t always comfortable with letting it ‘read’ us.
We live in a day and age where Scripture is often understood as something to dissect and control so that we can figure it all out and arrive at the “right” interpretations. While digging deep into Scripture and studying it has also always been an important part of the tradition, we have somewhat lost the ability to listen to it well. We know how to read the Bible but we aren’t always comfortable with letting it “read” us.
The 4-step process that is commonly known as Lectio Divina is invitation to reclaim the art of listening well to Scripture. It is a practice meant to guide people in engaging Scripture with a posture of submission, attentiveness, and listening so that we can hear what fresh Word God is speaking to us today. Rather than controlling it, we leave space for God to simply communicate with us. The format this practice usually takes today can be traced back to a French monk named Guigo who lived in 12thcentury. He wrote a book called The Ladder of Monks where Lectio Divina’s four steps are explained.
For hundreds of years since, Christians have been accepting the invitation to listen well once again to Scripture. If you are interested in learning more about how you can practice Lectio Divina and why we have made it a foundational component of the Ruah Space Ministry, check out Lectio Divina for Beginners as well as our weekly guided Lectio Divina podcasts here.
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