Wednesday 27 January 2016

Blind Lectio Divina #prayer

Yesterday at our church's Open Door Retreat we were reading the Bible using Lectio Divina.  For those of you who don't know what that is then here is a brief summary

First one goes to a quiet place and recalls that one is about to listen to the Word of God. Then one reads the scripture passage aloud to let oneself hear with his or her own ears the words. When one finishes reading, pause and recall if some word or phrase stood out or something touched one’s heart. If so, pause and savor the insight, feeling, or understanding. Then go back and read the passage again because it will have a fuller meaning. Pause again and note what happened. If one wants to dialogue with God or Jesus in response to the word, one should follow the prompting of one’s heart. This kind of reflective listening allows the Holy Spirit to deepen awareness of God’s taking the initiative to speak with us.
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-what-how-why-of-prayer/praying-with-scripture



Now you might have noticed that one of the key things about lectio divina is that it is done quietly, alone and involves reading.
See any problems?
No, don't worry, neither did I.
Not until I realised I wasn't going to be able to read the words on account of the normal print size and low light in church.

But I wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop me.   I just made sure that when the scripture was read aloud at the start, as is the way we always do it, that I would listen into God carefully and see if he brought something to my attention and just sit with that.
And of course God did not fail
He never does if I listen and trust Him.
And the words I was given: "How can I give you up?" Hosea 11:8

I will blog more about what came from this at LLM Calling, but I'm posting it here because it's shown me, yet again, that if I'm patient and trusting then I will find a way to do ANYTHING.

Hear that?
ANYTHING
Watch out World
(She says as she's sat on the couch after having a night of pain)
But I will rebound and then you just watch!

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