“Lectio” is the latin word for “reading”, the full name of the practice is “Lectio Divina”, which translates to “Divine Reading”. It is a practice that was introduced to me first by a traveling missionary who came to my local parish many years ago, and then again when I entered the Monastery where I was expected to do this for an hour each day. Myself and others often just called it, “lectio”!
So, what is it? The name doesn’t really fully reveal what it is…divine reading? What is that?? Well, lectio divina is a prayer practice that utilizes scripture, and sometimes other spiritual books, but typically the Bible is used. The Bible is, as we all know, the word of God, it is the very book that we Christians proclaim was written by God Himself through human hands. Do you want to hear God speak? Understand Him? Get to know Him? Hmmm? Well, you really ought to read His book then! Right? That’s not to say that God does not speak to us in other ways, of course He does, but the easiest and most clear way to know what God thinks, acts like, and wants you to do is to read the Bible…and sometimes a good commentary along side it! (haha) Because, let’s face it, it was written over the course of a few thousand years and is at it’s youngest about 2000 years old…there are things in there that are hard to understand simply because of the separation of time and culture.
Anyways, the practice itself is pretty simple. It usually has 4 steps; lectio/read, meditatio/meditate, oratio/speak, contemplatio/contemplate.
To begin, choose a passage from scripture and read through it broadly once (lectio), getting the overal theme or feel of the passage.
Then read it a second time, this time more slowly and attentively, you are looking for a word, phrase, or concept that “jumps out” at you. When that happens, stop and meditate upon it (meditatio). Your task here is to try and extract from the passage whatever God might be trying to say to you. Read it again if you wish.
When ready, pray. Speak to God about what grabbed your attention and the thoughts, memories, or feelings that surfaced (oratio).
Finally, conclude by reading the passage again, but now just rest in the Father’s love for you, and contemplate God (contemplatio).
Sometimes, an image comes to my mind, that is where some of my art comes from, and why I decided to call my…business?…mission?….or whatver this will be, “Lectio Art”. It is an image that comes to my mind while I’m reading the Bible or other spiritual works and contemplating God. I find myself thinking of a visual way to express what I’m hearing from God and often feel driven to use this image to reach out. I’m old enough now to know that I’m not that unique…I don’t mean that in a self-depricating way, but only that typically, whatever I’m experiencing, good or bad…I’m not alone in it. I know that others are there too, or have been there, or will be there. If I can create one image that helps someone to see God, to know Him, and love Him as I do, then I feel that I have done what is being asked of me.
There are many resources that further explain Lectio Divina, some go very into depth regarding it’s history and some provide techniques. If you’re interested in learning more, simply google Lectio Divina, there really is a lot out there. Below is one resource to get you started.
Lectio Art 