Lectio Divina
I find Mulholland’s recommended approach to Bible reading—Lectio Divina— a needed corrective to the overly analytical approach I absorbed over the years:
“Lectio Divina is a posture of approach and a means of encounter with a text that enables the text to become a place of transforming encounter with God.
“The classical form of lectio divina has four components: lectio, meditatio, oratio and contemplatio. [Mulholland adds a component BEFORE (silencio) and one at the end (incarnatio)]
“Silencio is preparation. Our informational culture trains us to approach a text as if we are in control of the text.
So, at the beginning of the process, take time to engage in a deep internal shift in your posture, making a deep commitment to God’s purposes, even before we know what those purposes may be.
“Lectio is simply the process of reading the text. We read expectantly, hungry to hear what God has to say to us, receptive to whatever God says, and willing to respond in loving obedience to whatever we receive.
“Meditatio is the activity of processing what we have received in lectio and flows naturally from our reading. In meditatio, we seek understanding and comprehension of the text. We may need to study the passage, look up unfamiliar terms or phrases, or research background information. But never lose sight of the fact that we are seeking to hear what God is saying to us in the text and to respond.
“Oratio is our response to God on the basis of what we have read and encountered. At this point, we enter into a personal dialogue with God. This activity nurtures the feeling side of our temperament.
“We share with God the feelings the text has aroused in us, feelings such as love, joy, sorrow, anger, repentance, desire, need, conviction, consecration. We pour out our heart to God in complete openness and honesty, especially as the text has probed aspects of our being and doing in the midst of various issues and relationships.
“At the close of oratio, contemplatio moves us into a posture of released waiting on God for whatever God wants to do in us, with us, through us—a posture of yieldedness to Him.
“To these four steps of lectio divina I add a concluding step, incarnatio. The whole focus of spiritual reading is to encounter God in ways that enable God to transform our being and doing in the world. This step brings us full circle to what we do in silencio. There we placed ourselves before the text to seek the whole will of God with “a fixed resolution to do it.” Incarnatio is the fulfillment of that resolution.
Mulholland, Robert. Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (129-132). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
