Lectio Divina

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
they will behold a land that stretches far away.
Your mind will muse on the terror:
"Where is the one who counted?
Where is the one who weighed the tribute?
Where is the one who counted the towers?"
No longer will you see the insolent people,

 the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a language that you cannot understand.
Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be pulled up,
and none of whose ropes will be broken.
But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor stately ship can pass.
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler,
the Lord is our king; he will save us. ~ Isaiah 33:17-22

Reading seeks for sweetness of a blessed life, meditation perceives it, prayer asks for it, contemplation tastes it. Reading, as it were, puts food whole into the mouth, meditation chews it and breaks it up, prayer extracts its flavor, contemplation is the sweetness itself which gladdens and refreshes. ~ Guigo II, 12th century Carthusian monk



The book of Isaiah has always been a thing of beauty to me.  It calls out to be read more than once.  

What strikes me is that each time I read it something else jumps out at me.  This would be a wonderful text to use for Lectio Divina, a Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer that promotes communion with God and treats scripture as The Living Word - not something simply to be studied.

 It is a form of type of reading of scripture that we use in the Friday Follow-Up.

The four steps in Lectio Divina are read, meditate, pray, and contemplate.  Here is a link to the Beliefnet website that gives step by step instructions how to work through the steps: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Catholic/2000/08/How-To-Practice-Lectio-Divina.aspx

As I read this morning, two phrases jumped out at me:  "your mind will muse on the terror" and "a quiet habitation, an immovable tent."  

What would it be like to simply be able to let your mind quietly muse on terror?  To not have something terrifying have power over you?  God's very presence is the kind of place where that happens.  As someone who has an active imagination and a mind that tends to always jump from thought to thought, the idea of not letting terror weigh on my mind and to find shelter in a place of quiet habitation is grace.

What words and phrases capture you in this passage?  If you haven't tried it already on Fridays, I encourage you to give Lectio Divina a try and engage in God's word in a way that brings it to life.


Prayer: Gracious God, remind us that scripture is Your Living Word.  It is not static and fixed, but living, breathing and full of life.  Help us to find ways to see the new possibilities your Word offers us each day.  Amen



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