Lectio Divina

Earlier this month I attended a retreat at the St. Meinrad Archabbey concerning the ancient practice of lectio divina. The conferences were effectively led by a young monk named Matthew Mattingly, OSB. It was a special time for reflection and assessment. I had attempted to practice the sacred reading before but had failed in part because I did not understand that it is not accomplished by technique. Below are several ideas Bro. Mattingly left with the participants that I thought were helpful:

1. Lectio Divina (LD) trains us to see the world as God sees the world.
2. LD must be part of a larger prayer life, both corporate and personal, as well as a larger plan (re: rule) toward Christian spirituality.
3. Christian spirituality demands a complete way of life, a life which includes prayer, the Word, and the liturgy, where the day can be sanctified by prayer, and where time is sanctified within the context of the liturgical year.
4. In LD we read slowly and eventually make the scripture our own.
5. LD makes the Bible's story our story.
6. LD is not just found in the moment we read, but later on when we internalize what we have been reading, when we mull and meditate on the Word.
7. In the practice of LD we do not look for technique.

If you would like to learn more about St. Meinrad's, I have included below a video they produced:

A Prayer for Daily Pastoral Renewal

Most of us pastor-types can quickly get worn down by the grinding wheel of life-events. Besides the meetings and the messages, there's the meetings and the times of counsel, the meetings and the ministries, and of course there are all those meetings. Around our place we've decided to jettison meetings wherever possible, seeking to add sanity to the church experience rather than the insanity of the rat-race. Of course, there are a few hero-pastors who are especially gifted, who can easily withstand the daily grind, but for most of us by evening prayer we are pretty well running on empty.

This means daily renewal for the pastor is not optional; it is mandatory. Of course, by far the most important source of daily renewal is our ongoing and vital life of prayer. Without prayer this work simply cannot be done. In fact, apart from prayer we are mere employees (hirelings) and not pastors.

To that end I found a prayer of encouragement I would like to share. This prayer can be found on Gregory Norbet's CD, Morning & Evening Prayer. (go here):

MEND MY HEART

Mend my heart, O God, from the wounds of many yesterdays

Heal my body so that I might serve you in grace and holiness

Lift up my soul where I have been worn down from discouragement & anxiety

Give me hope to make a fresh beginning today

Fill me with a greater awareness of your presence so that I may stand and walk with a little more confidence, courage, love and serenity

Help me to be a person of compassion and understanding so that something of my life may soothe the wounds of those whose paths I cross today

I thank you, God, for this day, in which to know you through your love incarnate, Jesus Christ.

Mend My Heart - Gregory Norbet

John Goldingay

very poignant stuff from the Work of the People

thinking of acts 6-8

a reminder that the world is no friend of grace. from voice of the martyrs...

Absolute Waiting

Earlier this year I officiated the funeral of a church member who died unexpectedly (I've written about him before). Since the funeral I have given him quite a lot of thought.

Several months prior to his death he had surgery, and there had been complications, so he continued to be ill -- taking several trips to the hospital, and at one stretch spending three months there. But, he had gotten better and was home and was on the mend. So, we thought he was out of the woods. Not so.

I have been in the hospital a couple times, and after the about the second day I'm ready to make a daring escape. There is something about the institutional setting and the constant interruptions that drive me to the brink, which means that this guy's three month stay in the hospital really opens to me a world of hurt. How did he last so long without losing it?

Well, actually he did lose it. He came out of the hospital quite a different man than when he went in. It just wasn't that he was physically better, he was spiritually better as well. Before he was troubled and stretched thin by the cares of this life, but he came out of the hospital calm and open to the callings of the Christ. Very surprising.

Once, toward the end of his extended hospital stay, I asked him about the change. He told me that at first the days were so difficult for him that he despaired, but when he gave up the LORD was with him.

He spoke in christianese, of course, but it was true for him. In his isolation and in his despair apparently he had been visited by the LORD in such a way that it changed him spiritually. As I think about this change it somehow reminded me of the hermits, or those inhabitants of the desert, where solitude offered time for one to move toward the living Christ. To be sure, his solitude was forced, but the LORD took the opportunity to touch this lonely life with his presence.