Lectio Divina: A Lenten Journey

During my candidacy retreat for Pastoral Candidacy we practiced a session or two of Lectio Divina. And if you don't know what Lectio Divina is,  I can sum it up in a few words as "becoming immersed in the scriptures very personally. It draws on the way the Jews read the Haggadah, a text read during Passover that retells the Exodus story. 
I have decided during the Lenten Season to practice Lectio Divina as a part of my life. If you want to join me, here are the steps to Lectio Divina. 
Here is a way of engaging in this prayer form which is relaxing and rather easy.

1. Select a passage from one of the Gospels in which Jesus is interacting with others.
2. Recall what one is doing in engaging with the Word of God and what one desires from this encounter. God is present and because God is present one relies on God.
3. Read the Gospel passage twice so that the story and the details of the story become familiar.
4. Close one’s eyes and reconstruct the scene in one’s imagination. See what is going on and watch the men and women in the scene. What does Jesus look like? How do the others react to him? What are the people saying to one another? What emotions fill their words? Is Jesus touching someone? As one enters into the scene, sometimes there is the desire to be there. So a person can place oneself in the scene, perhaps as an observer, as one lining up for healing, or as one helping others to Jesus. 
5. Some people’s imaginations are very active so they construct a movie-like scenario with a Gospel passage. Others will enter the scene with verbal imagination, reflecting on the scene and mulling over the actions. Vividness is not a criteria for the effectiveness of this kind of prayer. Engagement is and the result is a more interior knowledge of Jesus.
6. As one finishes this time of prayer, one should take a moment to speak person to person with Christ saying what comes from the heart. *

If you want to journal your journey with Lectio Divina; I recommend these journal sheets. 

*Bullet points: From Finding God in All Things: A Marquette Prayer Book © 2009 Marquette University Press. Used with permission.