The Holy Bible is a message from the creator to His creatures. Therefore, it is never intended to be any other text books of human history, but the Word comes from Almighty God to His creatures. Although it was written in the past and to a great extent a record of past events, it is God’s Word that comes to life when it is read and prayed even today. Since God is a living God, His Word is a living and inspired Word for those who believe in Him at present. In his second letter to Timothy, St. Paul states that the Bible itself claims to be living Word and breathed out by God (2Timothy 3:16).
Through the first two steps of the spiritual practice of Lectio Divina; reading/listening and then meditating on Holy Bible, we begin to experience an intimate encounter with God. And this encounter leads us to respond in prayer.
Oratio (Prayer)
After encountering Jesus to a certain extent in His Holy Word, we are called to speak to Him in our own words. Prayer for most of us is simply abandoning our hearts to God. In this abandonment, we present ourselves before the presence of God. This prayerful presence before God can either be a moment of silent or a moment of conversation with Him. In other words, prayer can be described as a loving experience of being with God in total abandonment. Here, we are called to present our life situation before God in our thoughts and feelings. Then, we reflect our situation along with the Scriptural passage that we are meditating.
Here, we need to allow some silence in order to listen to God who speaks to us deep in our hearts. Further, this prayerful conversation with God may spend in various forms: we may ask petitions (or requests) of Him, we may give Him thanks, or we May give Him praise. Further, as Catholics, we might also ask for the intercession of Mary or the saints who can be represented in the Scripture passage that we have meditated. At this stage of Lectio Divina, we also can reflect questioning, “How can I respond to the Word of God that I just listened to?
Contemplatio (Contemplation)
After going through the stage of praying (oratio), we are gradually led to rest in the presence of God and simply absorb in that moment. In any loving relationship, there are moments when words are not necessary. Same way in our relationships with God, we may experience wordless moments when we simply rest in the presence of God in silence. This moment of humble resting in God can be best summed up by the words of a peasant to a St. John Mary Vianney (the cure of Arc), “I look at Him and He looks at Me.”
Through this humble resting in God, we are gradually led to a spiritual transformation. We humble ourselves and open our lives up to God’s transformative power as Scripture states; “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Through prayerful contemplation, we come to know that certain ways of our lives need to be transformed by God.
Further, our transformation calls us to witness to others by selflessly serving them through our actions (Actio). As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in Verbum Domini, “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/her life a gift for others in charity” (no. 87). Having filled with God’s love through Scriptural reflection, we go forth to serve others out of love.
— Fr. Niranjan Rodrigo, Ph.D.
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