LECTIO DIVINA Introduction

Lectio Divina as a Group Exercise

But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. Romans 10:8-10

This form of lectio divina works best in a group of between four and eight people. The same text from the Scriptures is read out three times, followed each time by a period of silence and an opportunity for each member of the group to share the fruit of her or his reflection.

Lectio Divina (holy reading) is a centuries old tradition drawing the individual or a group into deeper relationship with Scripture. Its great virtue is that it treats Scripture as a living word providing insight over a text to be studied. For centuries it has been used in monastic communities – lay people living in community – as the basis of Biblical reflection and prayer and as a way to engage deeply with the biblical story. “Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation” John of the Cross

In many churches of Global South a form of corporate lectio divina is common, in which a text from the Scriptures is meditated on by Christians praying together in a group.

First Reading The first reading is for the purpose of hearing a word or passage that touches the heart. When the word or phrase is found, the group's members take it in and reflect on it during the silence that follows. After the silence, each person shares the word or phrase has touched his or her heart. Second Reading The same passage is read again (by a member of the opposite sex from the first reader). Each ponders the word that has touched the heart and asks where the word or phrase touches his or her life that day. Then, after the silence, each member of the group shares what he or she has "heard" or "seen." Third Reading The third and final reading is for the purpose of exploring where we are being called as Christians. How does the text "call us forth" into doing or being; “calling us forth” to be the church? Members ask themselves what the text is calling them to do or to become today or this week. After the silence, each shares for the last time.

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