Nourishing the Spirit -- Part 2

One of the best ways we can strengthen the Spirit/spirit within us is prayer --- not "saying prayers," so much as "praying" -- or breathing in and out the Spirit which nourishes our own spirit.

Prayer is not what we do so much as it is connecting with the Spirit of God.  As David Brenner says in his book Opening to God, prayer is opening our own spirits to the work that God Himself wants to do in us.  Whoever we are as persons, God wants to do His work in us, just as He did and does in creation in the beginning and now -- pushing back the darkness and filling us with light, moving things around, building a foundation for His own place of dwelling.

One of the very best ways to pray is the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina, literally "divine reading," or "spiritual reading."  Our minds are filled daily with 'junk,' so to speak, that keeps us from hearing the Voice of God speaking to us.  When we try to read Scripture, the junk in our heads keeps Scripture from speaking to us personally, for we are reading it the way we read history, literature, or philosophy.  We think about it, argue with it, disagree with it, or treat it as culturally irrelevant to our times. 

But lectio divina is a way of prayerfully engaging with Scripture in order to hear God's personal word to us.  It comes to us from the earliest days of Christianity, with roots in Judaism.  Jews have always had two ways of engaging with the Torah.  The first is informational and analytical -- the way we read today -- and seeks to understand the meaning of the text.  The second way is subjective, seeking the deeper and more personal spiritual meaning.

In the 3rd century, Origin described a way of approaching the Scriptures for the purpose of finding a personal message from God.  Shortly afterwards, St. Benedict made lectio divina central to Western monasticism. This practice is not so much as "method" of reading Scripture as an expectation when we read Scripture.  It arises out of a desire not only to hear the words of Scripture, but to hear the Word of God to us today. 

Most people will read Scripture for insights, eternal truths, and precepts for living.  But in lectio divina, we seek not information or motivation, but communion and union with Jesus Christ, Who is the Eternal Word of God.   When Jesus encountered people on His journeys through Palestine, He spoke to each one the word they needed to hear to respond to God's invitation to come closer.  To Mary Magadalene, He spoke the word which delivered her from 7 demons; to Peter, James, and John, He said, "Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  To the woman at the well, He said, "I will give you a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 

Our question today is "What does the Word of God want to speak to me today?"  Is it a word of strength, of comfort, of Truth?  Is it a word of direction, of guidance, of peace and joy?  In reading the Scriptures, we seek not information as much as God Himself in our hearts and minds.  We attend to the Word as a way of opening our hearts and minds to God's Living Word to us right now.  Lectio Divina treats Scripture not as a text to be studied, or as a set of truths to be grasped, but as the Living word of God-- alive and active, fresh and new.

It is not so much a way of reading as a way of listening.  The posture it encourages is more passive than active.  We don't need to force ourselves to stay awake and attentive to the words on the page; we need to be still and even sleep, if that comes, in the Presence of God.  We are waiting for the Gift of God that Jesus promised us.  We are waiting for the Voice of God, communicated through the Scriptures and revealed by the Holy Spirit.  We are opening our hearts to God, Who speaks to us in various ways.

In the church of St. Clement of Rome in Metairie, there is a statue of Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is clasping to her breast a dove with wings outstretched.  That image is perfect for this concept of prayer.  In Lectio Divina, we are reaching for the Spirit of God, Who will lead us into all truth -- but it is a communion of Spirit to spirit, not a matter of understanding and study.

Tomorrow I will write more about this way of praying and listening.