Word!
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, November 18, 2010 1:00 PM
Last Thursday, the Pope released Verbum Domini, the “most important document on Scripture to be released since Vatican II.”
Here’s a short piece featuring highlights of its contents and why it’s so important.
In addition to theological reflections on the Word and correctives to false interpretations, the document is chock-a-block with practical suggestions and recommendations for making Scripture come alive in us (there’s even a paragraph on moms).
I will just highlight his practical instructions on “lectio divina,” a practice highly recommended in Catholic literature, but rarely explained.
the greatest attention was paid to lectio divina, which is truly “capable of opening up to the faithful the treasures of God’s word, but also of bringing about an encounter with Christ, the living word of God”. I would like here to review the basic steps of this procedure. It opens with the reading (lectio) of a text, which leads to a desire to understand its true content: what does the biblical text say in itself? Without this, there is always a risk that the text will become a pretext for never moving beyond our own ideas. Next comes meditation (meditatio), which asks: what does the biblical text say to us? Here, each person, individually but also as a member of the community, must let himself or herself be moved and challenged. Following this comes prayer (oratio), which asks the question: what do we say to the Lord in response to his word? Prayer, as petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise, is the primary way by which the word transforms us. Finally, lectio divina concludes with contemplation (contemplatio), during which we take up, as a gift from God, his own way of seeing and judging reality, and ask ourselves what conversion of mind, heart and life is the Lord asking of us? In the Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul tells us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (12:2). Contemplation aims at creating within us a truly wise and discerning vision of reality, as God sees it, and at forming within us “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). The word of God appears here as a criterion for discernment: it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). We do well also to remember that the process of lectio divina is not concluded until it arrives at action (actio), which moves the believer to make his or her life a gift for others in charity.
Although my conversion to Catholicism entailed a sea-change in my approach to the Bible, I am deeply grateful for the grounding in scripture I received from my evangelical upbringing. Having loads of Psalms and swathes of the gospels committed to memory is a gift in moments of fear, temptation and darkness.
One of the tensions I always have on my heart is that in teaching our kids about the sacraments, liturgy and saints, there is less time for reading, memorizing and discussing the Bible as much as I’d like. Our kids know the basic biblical figures and stories from children’s books. During the summer we have daily gospel reading time and at various times of the liturgical year we might substitute reading Psalms or the gospels for our nightly rosary. And a change in curriculum at our parish school means the two younger kids at least will have more exposure to the Bible at school.
But whether these things transmit the deep love for Scripture and appreciation of its “performative” as opposed to merely informative power I’m not certain. (Which is why I am so excited about this.)
Does your family read the Bible together? How do you teach your kids to love Scripture? And do you practice lectio divina?
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