Catholic Review of: Praying Scripture for a Change

Picture a ladder that you can climb to Heaven. It starts right there where you're sitting, and although it's tough climbing, the ladder leads straight to God. That ladder has four rungs, and you must climb them one by one, without skipping. That's lectio divina, literally "divine reading," and it's a way of reading Scripture that leads to intimate spiritual communion with God.

 

In the book "Praying Scripture for a Change," Dr. Tim Gray explains the four rungs of that ladder: reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating. Lectio divina is an ancient art, first articulated by the monks who developed it as a method of cultivating their souls as they cultivated their land, but it's just as relevant to us today, whether we're monks or stay-at-home moms. Gray describes lectio divina in modern, understandable terms - you'll love all the vineyard analogies - and gives his own examples each step of the way. Here's a brief rundown of Gray's take on the four-rung ladder (originally described by a Carthusian monk named Guigo), just to give you a taste of what you'll learn:

 

1. Reading: Not as simple as you probably think! You will learn, for example, how to pay attention to each word, as often a particular one was chosen in order to allude to a passage in the Old Testament. The Jews at the time knew their OT better than most of us do, and they would immediately pick up on this sort of thing. Takes a little work for us, but it's a necessary step. This is also where you ask who, what, when, and where.

 

2. Meditation: This is where you ask why. This is not an Eastern-spirtuality, mind-emptying sort of meditation - it's just the opposite, a mindful, thoughtful examination of what you've read. Gray gives good examples of this, but they may discourage you if you aren't a biblical scholar, as he is. I would suggest having a good commentary on hand to help you make the type of connections he does.

 

3. Prayer: By now you're relating what you've read to your own life, and it's time to take those thoughts to God in prayer, to ask God how you can apply what you've read to your own circumstances. It's a "wrestling with God" where we talk to God and ask Him questions.

 

4. Contemplation: A "gaze of love" that comes as a gift from God, not something we can conjure up ourselves but a fruit of our time spent in the first three steps. Gray does a good job describing contemplation, something that really is almost indescribable.

 

Gray quotes the saints in saying that if prayer is talking to God, reading Scripture is listening. With lectio divina you get the whole dialogue. I'd say that's an ancient art worth reviving. This book just came out (2009, Ascension Press), and it has numerous little typos, but nothing glaring. Go forth and read!