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The phrase lectio divina, difficult to translated adequately, is the Latin for “sacred reading.” Personally, I like to translate it as reading which is sacred. Ordinarily lectio is confined to the slow perusal of sacred Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments; it is undertaken not with the intention of gaining information but of using the texts as an aide to contact the living God. Basic to this practice is a union with God in faith which, in turn, is sustained by further reading. There is no special program or technique to lectio. Even more importantly, one must resist the temptation of covering a given amount of material within a prescribed time frame, a particularly modern temptation. This is more difficult to sustain than first meets the eye, and one will run up against it sooner than anticipated. A person is well advised to linger over a single word or phrase for an indefinite period of time, trusting that it will lead to further texts. Such is one of the most attractive features to lectio divina, for it is open-ended and subject to continuous growth.

One would expect that instead of the phrase lectio divina, the adjective sacra (the feminine form) or “sacred reading.” The word “sacred,” whether Latin or Greek, pertains to objects related to the holy such as a church or vessels of the altar used for Mass. Instead, tradition employs the adjective divina or “divine.” This intimates that such reading is divine, not sacred, or more proximate to God himself instead of being an object on the periphery of his holiness. Furthermore, lectio derives from the verb lego, “to choose, pick.” In sum, lectio divina may be said to be a “divine picking” or choosing of a given sentence, phrase or word through which God himself speaks. While certainly sacred (or sacra), one quickly discovers that lectio appeals directly to the heart of God and does not beat around the bush, so to speak.

The contents of the home page represent a wide variety of examples of this ancient exercise. It started out in monastic communities but currently is enjoying wide acceptance among laypersons. In fact, many people show a spontaneous interest in lectio divina, often after having been initiated into some form contemplative prayer, a practice now enjoying popularity. They discovered that such prayer cannot continue without verification of their practice, and the best locus for those raised in the Judeo-Christian heritage is found in both the Old and New Testaments. Prayer enables one to penetrate beyond the letter of text and to see how the Holy Spirit is speaking to us through these inspired words here and now. Not long ago Pope Benedict the Sixteenth said that lectio divina lies at the heart of the Church's renewal.

The approach to lectio divina in this Home Page is unique in that it rely heavily upon the biblical texts composed in the original Hebrew and Greek languages. Not only that, reference is made to authors of both the Latin and Syriac traditions. Despite frequent references to these original texts, I wish to avoid a purely etymological or scholarly approach. That is to say, I do not wish to present them as bits of information but as the fruit of Christian contemplative prayer which must remain primary to any subsequent reflections. While some readers may find the transliterations wearing and somewhat dense, this constant appeal to the original texts is integral to most reflections within this Home Page. Ideally, these documents should be read with that same slow, thoughtful attitude essential to lectio divina. I have tried to make these notes more palatable by a simple yet thorough explanation of the transliterated terms. If the reader is patient with them, her or she can allow the text to speak on its own terms minus my any personal take on them. Again, it is important to keep in mind that one must not rush through a given text but linger as long as needed to absorb it.

To my knowledge, examples of lectio divina in and by themselves are quite limited; that is to say, rarely have I encountered them except through writings or diaries kept by monks or nuns, few of which have been made available to the general public let alone are circulated within their respective communities or religious Orders. On the other hand, there are numerous articles and books on the subject. Such material assumes either a how-to approach or presents historical, theological or philosophical background material, all valuable in their own respect but not representative of the practice of lectio in and by itself.

A leading authority on the subject of lectio divina, Jean Leclerq, osb, has noted that this slow, ruminative reading developed its own stamp, the florilegium grew out of spiritual reading. The monk would copy out texts he had enjoyed so as to savor them at leisure and use them anew as subjects for private meditation. “The monastic florilegium not only originated in the monk's spiritual reading but always remained closely associated with it” The Love of Learning and the Desire for God (New York, 1988 reprint), p.182. Leclerq's emphasis upon savoring the Word of God is integral to the Cistercian tradition Much of the exegesis here centers around this them of tasting Scripture which, of course, suggests ingestion and therefore assimilation.

Right away I wish to stress that these reflections are personal by nature, yet they based on objective, scholarly material. While not strictly following this latter path, my goal is to have the original words in transliterated form achieve greater meaning through Christian contemplative prayer. More likely than not, someone schooled in the literal or historical sense of Scripture may disagree with the nature of these reflections. I freely offer them to the reader with this important caveat in mind. In more recent years, I have added reflections upon several non-Christian texts such as Plato and Marcus Aurelius. The principle of lectio divina can be applied to them as well since many early Christian authors drew heavily upon them. Besides, there's something fascinating with such authors in the original languages which has never been surpassed.

And so, one demonstration of lectio divina is to present the following samplings just as they are. I ask forbearance because there is no strict logical order to these excerpts; they were assembled over a good number of years mostly as reflections centered around the liturgical cycle of the Church. This is important because our yearly passage through the liturgy lays out a plan of celebrating the mysteries of the Christian faith. Again, these reflections derived from lectio divina within a monastic context are personal, originally composed with no intention to make them public, so I apologize in advance for what appears to be a lack of organization. My sole desire is to have the reader run with the sacred text and personalize it.

I do not discuss upon the nature of lectio divina; many excellent books exist for this purpose as well as references on the Internet which may be consulted. A Cistercian monk from Australia (Michael Casey) recently has published a number of books on lectio which are highly recommended and accessible through bookstores as well as on line. For the sake of convenience I have divided this Home Page into four sections; the first three are more or less arbitrary, keeping in mind those persons with more limited or slower computer access. The fourth and last section consists of several articles and form a somewhat independent category. It may be of general interest that this page is linked with one devoted to the works of St. Gregory of Nyssa (fourth century), an important figure in the development of both Christian theology as well as mysticism.

As for the Gregory of Nyssa Home Page, there's a form connected with PayPal to purchase the CD of his works.  However, it is preferable to contact the author directly if interested in this matter.

Richard McCambly, ocso

St Joseph Abbey

167 North Spencer Road

Spencer, Massachusetts 01562-1233

USA