On completion of a silent directed retreat at Campion Ignatian Centre, Kew, in 2015, the counsellor suggested I could continue a spiritual program by attending weekly Lectio Divina at the Carmelite Centre, Middle Park. It’s proved to be very good advice!
The set format with the readings, prayer and discussion has certainly given me an understanding and appreciation not previously realised. A lifetime of rather sketchy, even superficial, thought considerably jolted, I think. It is a blessing that general discussion rarely wavers from the prayerful study of the gospel text.
Talk about church institutional practices and other matters, while interesting perhaps, are kept to a minimum.
Of course, the preparation of detailed printed commentaries are a help to the understanding and subsequent general discussion. They are so useful. I keep them for future reference. But it should be noted that even when those commentaries are not available the Lectio does still provide a most lively and rewarding experience. The reason for this I’m sure is that participants are so well attuned to the essence of what the Lectio offers. To the Spirit of the exercise. The Gospel reading and the teasing out of the subtleties
and profundities of the text.
Yet, as commentators have said, Lectio Divina does not treat Scripture just as texts to be studied but as the LIVING WORD.
I think we have all come to appreciate that. In Lectio Divina we can open ourselves to what God wants to say to us.
by Brian