from ‘General’ to ‘Particular’ Light
________
Note: this article and some others are published
as a book here: Amazon USA – Amazon UK
A Bit of History
It is in 1999, at the request of Micheline, that I first wrote about Lectio Divina. In fact, after my lesson on Lectio she asked me if I had any written material on the topic. At that time, I did not have anything prepared. Also, I was aware that the form of Lectio Divina I was presenting -based on the two readings- was relatively unknown, and I had not found a book that explained it in the detailed manner in which I had understood it since early 1983. Before that, in 1986, while discussing Lectio with a fellow Canadian Carmelite novice at Montpellier, I noticed with dismay that he seemed lost during our daily hour of Lectio practice from 8 to 9 a.m. This led me to an intuitive realisation: one day, I would write about Lectio Divina. However, this insight was soon forgotten.
I first taught Lectio Divina in 1992 during a retreat I was giving to my friend Daria at the same convent in Montpellier, but still, nothing was written down. It was not until Micheline’s request in 1999 that I felt a strong sense of obligation to put down something in writing. In a single night, I drafted twenty-one pages -though poorly written- that would eventually become Chapters 1 and 2 of the published book and also form the content of the CTS book.
I share this story because, at that time, my understanding of the steps of Lectio Divina was framed around two crucial moments represented by two key demands/prayers and Jesus’ responses:
1) “What do you want from me, Lord?”
2) “Help me to achieve it.”
Of course the Holy Spirit was invoked. These two demands/prayers were illustrated in a twofold diagram showing Jesus being assumed to be above, illustrating our intellect, our will, the gap between them, the arrows of each prayer, and Jesus’ responses.
When the book was published, starting from 2003, I was discerning seven steps for the practice of Lectio (Not the actual three phases with fifteen steps that later evolved):
- Sit down in a quiet and solitary place – in the morning if possible.
- Ask the Holy Spirit for help in listening to the Lord.
- Re-read the two texts until they reveal one single light for today.
- Ask for the strength of the Holy Spirit in order to put the light received into practice.
- Write down briefly the light received.
- Put into practice the word received today.
- Verify at the end of the day that we have incarnated the word, and give thanks to God for it.
In the seven steps of Lectio Divina, the core elements are steps (3), (4) and (6).
The first key moment (3) involves the initial demand (the first upward arrow), where I ask the Lord, “What do you want from me?” His response reveals what He desires for me to do or change in me today (the downward arrow, lightly touching the will).
The second crucial moment (4) is the subsequent demand (the second upward arrow) where I ask the Lord to give me his Holy Spirit to help me put His guidance into practice. Jesus’ reply, is God’s grace flowing downward and entering my will, helping me put into practice what He said (the second downward arrow, entering the will, touching a specific area, the act to perform).
It goes without saying that the goal of these two moments is to put into practice what Jesus has said (step 6).
For me, Lectio is what the Lord relentlessly says in the Gospel: listen to me and put what I say into practice. It is the core of the Gospel. This is how we build our house on the rock of Jesus’ Word (see Mt. 7), this is how we make sure our prayer is sound (“why do you call me ‘Lord Lord’ and don’t do what I say” (Lk. 6:46)).
Since 1995, I have continuously taught Lectio Divina. However, during my time teaching in Legnano, Italy, from 2004 onward, I was surprised to discover that many people struggled with implementing the practice. They often found themselves stuck at a specific stage in experiencing God’s light.
I had always assumed that Jesus’ first reply was clear and straightforward (represented by the first downward arrow), that when He answered our question “what do you want to me to do today” it was clear. However, through my experience in Italy, God revealed to me that the process of listening was more complex, that practising Lectio was not straightforward and “easy” for people. I learned that receiving Jesus’ light involves more than one phase, each with its own intricacies. Many individuals seemed to be stuck in the process of discerning Jesus’ message (see diagram below). The paradox is that they were making substantial progress: the two texts intersected at a certain point, they already had one light coming out of the two texts (see diagram below). This was really positive, it showed that the beginning of the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit had started. The light however was general, so they were unsure of what in practice Jesus was asking them to do and so lacked clarity and certainty. To find out that one can be blocked in the middle of the process, especially after having had the two texts saying the same thing (i.e. allowing the same Light to go through), was a significant realisation for me. I discovered that what I had previously viewed as a single, straightforward process was actually composed of differentiated steps. At least two. As one can see in the diagram below, the arrow is comes to a halt in the middle of its journey inside the mind.[1]
Witnessing that one can be stuck in the middle of the journey of descent of the light, witnessing that in fact this new step stage was emerging in front of my eyes meant that I had to do something. I was able to see that even if a light was received, it was still general, and Jesus’ will was still unclear. It meant that the process of begging, asking, and insisting had to resume, until the light was clear, until Jesus’ indication was clear, until His will was clearly expressed. This new stage had to be underlined in the teaching and consequently in a new Summary of the steps.
Today I may say that the first stage of the descent into the mind is the result of a first effort in our practice of Lectio, in the way we offered our mind to the Lord. Then the second stage where the light needs to reach the edge of the will, showing practically and clearly what was needed to be done, seemed to involve a more powerful and complete gift of ourselves to Jesus, where the will was clearly given to Him, freely, totally, unconditionally, with total trust and abandonment in His hands. We will see this illustrated below with Our Lady.
This insight led me to develop a more detailed framework, expanding from the original seven steps to fifteen. In this new approach, I differentiated between various types and depths of “reading” within the process of listening. One key point in these fifteen steps, is in the second part (Part II – Listening), in the distinction between the four forms of reading the sacred text: Read (1), Read (2), Read (3), and Read (4). Contrary to the over simplified and very widespread four-step model of Lectio of today: Read, Meditate, Pray, Contemplate, where “reading” might be seen as merely an initial phase, reading itself is an ongoing process, with ever deeper levels. In fact, we continually engage with the text, much like a person contemplating an icon stained glass, waiting for the divine light to reveal itself through them. We persistently read and re-read the texts until the Lord highlights in each text the passages He wishes to use to communicate his light to us. The supernatural light is given but it is general. Then, we keep reading, especially the highlighted passages in each text until the light becomes clear, practical, certain. The new insight I gained back then involves the distinction between steps 8 and 9 in this expanded framework (in the former one they comprised one step, now they were two):
I- Preparing
1- Sit in a quiet place
2- In the presence of Christ; entering into my conscience
3- Consider His desire to speak to me
4- I choose Him again as my First priority
5- I give myself to Him, unconditionally
II- Listening
Active phase: seeking understanding
6- Read (1) in order to understand the text
Listening phase: asking for the help of the Holy Spirit
7- Read (2) in order to discover Christ’s will
8- Read (3) until I see only one light
9- Read (4) until the light becomes clear
10- Write down the words or sentences from the readings that touched me as they become highlighted in the individual text.
III- Realisation
11- Asking the Holy Spirit’s help in order to put the Word into practice
12- Giving thanks, being immersed in Him
13- Putting into practice the Word I have received
14- Echoes during the day
15- At the end of the day: giving thanks
The innovation in the fifteen steps lies in the distinction between step 8 “Read (3)” and step 9 “Read (4)”. Step 8 marks the beginning of the supernatural phase in Lectio Divina, signified by one light given to us by Jesus. A general light, coming through the two texts, entering in our mind. It indicates that with the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is beginning to enter our mind, our conscious mind. This represents a radical shift from the general light of faith we have (meditating), (6) and (7), to a more specific, personal intervention of the Holy Spirit in our intellect (supernatural listening) (8).
Meditation
To meditate is traditionally understood in the Church as the reflection of the mind on a text, using the general light of faith we have in us from Baptism. In step (8) in Lectio we have the beginning of the supernatural process of listening. The difference between spiritual meditation (the general light of faith) and supernatural listening (the direct personal intervention of the Holy Spirit, i.e. the Particular Help of the Holy Spirit) is radical.[2]
One can easily notice that in Lectio we never use the verb “to meditate”. The reason is that what we are seeking is listening to Jesus directly and personally, not reflecting with our mind on the text and extracting ideas, trying to find by ourselves an application in our daily life.
In her autobiography, St. Teresa of Avila places “meditation” as the first form of prayer, and she is very clear: this form is not supernatural, i.e. the direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit is not involved in it. Meditating for her is making an effort with the mind, with the general light of faith, reflecting on a given subject, extracting some light from God. Here it is a human effort of the mind to read and extract some “light” from the text.
There is nothing wrong in meditating on the sacred text. We can call it “spiritual meditation”. In this case we go from a to b, b to c and c to d, with our mind, but this is not Lectio. If some insist on considering Lectio to be a spiritual meditation on the sacred text, one will have then to differentiate it from the real Lectio. One is with the general help of the grace of God, a form of meditation on the sacred text, and another one (the one we have at the School of Mary) which is supernatural involving the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit.
Personally, for many reasons, I do not think it is advisable to make a spiritual meditation on the text and call it Lectio. The main reason is that Lectio is practised by the faithful who have a living relationship with Jesus, or who are starting to have one. Also, traditionally Lectio was always understood as involving Contemplation. And Contemplation is by definition supernatural. One can see it in the widespread form of Lectio inherited from the Middle Ages, the four steps to Lectio being: Read, Meditate, Pray, Contemplate. Contemplation is the goal of Lectio. This shows that the practice of Lectio was understood as involving the direct and personal intervention of the Holy Spirit, i.e. contemplation.
Lectio is first and foremost a liturgical experience where the Sunday Reading of the Old Testament is illumined by the Gospel’s proclamation. In this sense there is a movement going from the first Reading to the Gospel and back again from the Gospel to the first Reading. This illumination of the Old Testament by the Gospel is the initial stage of Lectio Divina. This accounts for the mysterious reply of the father of all monks, St. Antony the Great, to the question: “how do you spend your day while working with your hands?”, namely, “I go from the Old to the New and from the New to the Old [Testament].” St. Antony keeps doing this until the light becomes clear. This best illustrates the core occupation of the Monk: to “meditate day and night” on the Scriptures. “Blessed is the man [who’s] delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.” (Psalm 1:1-3) “Law” is understood as being the Sacred Text.
Meditation can be understood sometimes as a “ruminatio” (rumination), that is, a pondering and praying on the text until contemplation is given by God. It is more the work of the memory, where one repeatedly goes over the text or various texts in the mind. The process is akin to Mary’s way according to St. Luke. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 and 2:51) See for instance Fr. Matta El Meskeen (Fr. Matthew the Poor), “Orthodox Prayer Life”, pp. 43s, 2003. See also Ghislaine Salvail, “At the Crossroads of Scriptures: An Introduction to Lectio Divina”, 1996.
Initially, the new light provided by the Holy Spirit to our intellect through the two texts is broad and general. For instance, the light can be on humility or mercy, or any other indication from the Lord. The initial light does not immediately clarify how to apply it in a practical way. The risk here is that we might take matters into our own hands, trying to implement these lights/virtues according to our own actual understanding.
It is crucial, however, to recognise that even when the Lord begins to speak to us, we must continue to ask and seek further clarity directly from Him. For instance, if it were “humility”, we need to inquire: “Okay, humility—what does that mean in a concrete or visible way for me? How do you want me to apply it?” and all the while remaining open to the Lord’s guidance. We should allow Him to reveal which specific area in us that day requires enlightenment, transformation, or purification. Which part of our will is ill and needs Jesus’ power to be healed and made alive? The more we persist in our request and openness, the clearer the light becomes, eventually directing us toward a specific area wherein lies the action I will perform involving my will (Step 9). The light received is not general anymore, it is pointing clearly to some area in our will.
Note: When I check Lectio with people, I notice that often the temptation is that once the general light is given, i.e. once the two texts are saying the same, people take this general light and try to apply it by themselves in their own way. This deviation and human interference can be represented by the diagram below:
Note that this intervention stopped the descent of the initial light in the middle of its journey in our mind. Our interference is shown in darker blue, and the area we decide where to go with the general light and where to apply it, can be seen to be different (darker red). According to our experience and knowledge we are thereby taking the general light and conducting our own search as to where to apply it in our life. We are not following the precise indication of the Lord but are rather taking the light and trying to find an area, which ironically requires greater effort. This rushing into applying, rushing into forming conclusions is widespread and aborts Lectio.
Over the past twenty years, I have observed that transitioning from the general light to a more specific and clear light is a significant challenge for everyone, not just for my friends in Italy back in 2004. I have clearly seen that stopping the descent of the light in us right after receiving the general light prevents Lectio Divina from reaching its completion. When God begins to work in us and sheds His supernatural light upon our minds and when this process remains incomplete because of our intervention, I have referred to this as the “abortion” of Lectio. While the term is strong, it reflects the deep respect we owe to God and his action in us, not to mention the respect God has for our free will, and the necessity for our correct response and proper collaboration with the Lord’s work: neither slower nor faster than Him. We need to be under his guidance.
As mentioned above, this insight into the step once we have God’s response -and the continued effort required to allow the light to fully descend and touch our will- led to an additional teaching that is not fully developed in the earlier major book on Lectio Divina. Consequently, the Vademecum or Summary of Lectio evolved from having 7 to having 15 steps, as outlined above. This expanded version of the summary started to be included in the second edition of the book on Lectio.[3]
Subsequently I have written an article entitled “Finished and Unfinished Lectio Divina” because I have frequently encountered this issue when people review their Lectio Divina with me. Reviewing or checking your Lectio with someone, then, is an important part of the process of learning Lectio (see the online article “Steps Toward Implementing Lectio Divina”). Since Lectio Divina is a practical exercise, checking its implementation often reveals significant insights about your own practice and helps ensure and discern when it works and what needs to be implemented. This is strongly recommended.
Many people -more than one can imagine- do experience the fact that the two (or three) texts of the Mass are saying the same thing to them, and this shows that the Holy Spirit has started to work within them and has started to introduce his light into their minds. However, the process of receiving this light is more complex and extended than one might expect, as the mind has various levels and functions. As a consequence, the descent of the light is a longer journey than people think.
As we have already said, often, the mind rushes into conclusions, interfering with and stopping God’s work. This may happen out of ignorance of course. As a consequence, we get stuck at this first stage of the descend of the light of the Holy Spirit, not knowing what to do. The great number of cases having this difficulty shows that this issue has to be addressed extensively.
The following diagram shows the full journey of the descent of the light until it touches the edge of the will showing us, in the will, what “act” the Lord wants us to make. This is very different from stopping the light in the middle of its journey and trying by ourselves to apply it, our way. On the contrary if we continue to ask and beg, the light continues its descent according to Jesus’ will, his way, and under his light. Nothing can equal direct and personalised guidance.
First let us talk about what to expect, i.e. the act I am always mentioning. My approach to the “act” is probably unconsciously influenced by St. Thomas Aquinas’ use of the word in the Secunda Secundae of his Summa Theologica (ST), when he studies human acts.
Far from desiring the reader to be inundated by St.Thomas’ work or diverted from our subject, the chief concern of the latter remains the intervention of the Holy Spirit in us to reveal what act we should undertake. Briefly, then, the journey of the birth of a human act according to St. Thomas, from the mind to the will, is the following:
1- Intellectual Apprehension and Deliberation (ST. I-II, Q. 14, Art. 2),
2- Judgment (ST. I-II, Q. 15, Art. 1).
3- The Will’s Choice (ST. I-II, Q. 8, Art. 1) “The will is a rational appetite, which chooses according to the intellect’s judgment.”
4- Execution (ST. I-II, Q. 1, Art. 1): Aquinas describes the execution of an act as the final stage where the choice of the will is translated into action: “The will moves the powers of the soul to the action which it has determined.”
For me, when I use the word “act”, as in an “act to make” in Lectio, I mean essentially: an inner transformative act made in collaboration with Jesus and his Spirit. He wants to change our will, because our will is ill, and He is the Doctor, the Divine Physician who knows us, knows what to heal, transform, purify in us. He knows how to transform the will in us that is ill, the will of the Old Man in us, of the Old Self, into his will, making/building the New Man in us, the new self, the new creature. It is an amazing work of collaboration where He is the one who knows best what to do and where to go. This is Lectio Divina: Jesus is building our new house (our soul) on the rock of his word (see Matthew 7:24-27). We are his dwelling place (John 15:4-6), we are immense. Our soul is immense. It shrinks of course because of sin, we lose some of his likeness and He has to enlarge us again at/to his infinite dimension.
Since our old self draws us to the outside world, we hear “act” as something to go and get, something in our external daily life to do. We look toward the outer world searching for something to do, but we are not aligned with his project, with his plan: He wants to transform us, and we think: act is something to do outside of ourselves. We diminish ourselves in fact to doers, to a robotic spiritual life where I receive an order and execute it. Easy. Maybe. But this is not God’s way. Not God’s plan. We are created in his image not in the image of another creature. We are created to enter into a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus, we are created to be his dwelling place, immense as He is! He is uncreated. So, who are we in his eyes? Expressed at its simplest, the aim of the Gospel is the evangelisation of all our being. This necessitates paying attention first to his work in our soul as if we were his garden. We are his garden. Consequently it would be illogical to expect Him in Lectio to ask us to do things exteriorly all the time. He wants to change us. Yes, it is true we live in this world and need to do things! But how do our acts begin? They always originate from within. This point is fundamental. The real change that will impact the world is the change within ourselves first. Jesus wants to make of us new creatures. This work takes time.
It is true that the first example I take of concretising the act are Jesus’ words seems an external act: “go and reconcile with your brother” (Matthew 5:24). It is not. Yes, it is the most important, the universal example. It is at the heart of the Our Father: “[…as] we forgive” those who have offended us. But if we pay attention it will become clear that this act of forgiveness or act of mercy will have to originate in the soul, come from a change in the soul. The laboratory of Jesus is our soul. We need to look inwardly to find the act. For us to be able to forgive, we first need Jesus to heal our heart. To forgive, we need to receive from Him the Love He wants us to give to our brother. Note, all this is done while sitting and doing our Lectio. Did we move? No. Well this is an example of the Act! It is not an act like “go getters” will think it is. Of course, the exterior acts are never excluded from Lectio. I am just explaining exactly where the change occurs: it happens in the soul, in the conscious mind and in the conscious will. The act is in the will, from the will, by the will. But its starting point is given to the mind or intellect. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the will then executes what was shown to the mind, as will now be outlined in detail.
The Journey of Descent of the Light in Our Mind
Many people when they start to practise their Lectio based on the two (or three) Readings of the daily Mass, as I explain it, frequently find the common light, the common message. What is the real meaning of this? When the two sacred texts are miraculously used by the Lord to convey one thing to us this means that His Light, or if you prefer, the intervention of the Holy Spirit in the mind, has started. The Holy Spirit takes Jesus’ Word for me today and introduces it into my mind.
But my mind is a big “factory”, with four layers or ways of functioning at least. The descent of Jesus’ message -Jesus’ light- in us has to go through these four layers.
a) The first “layer” -the highest- in the functioning of our mind is the layer of wisdom: the mind is enabled by God’s light to see everything, embrace everything with a general view, knowing how to order what we see, that is, seeing what should take precedence, what is more important than what. To reiterate, the light of the Holy Spirit here is perceived in its general capacity.
b) The following “layer” has more to do with the act itself of understanding: the intelligence of the thing itself. Intelligence comes from the Latin intus – legere, that is, to “read inside” of the thing, understanding it in itself. It seems abstract because we are studying the thing in itself: for example what is mercy? Here the mind sees its object (mercy for instance) in itself, penetrating it and seeing it from within itself.
c) The following “layer” is grounded more in reality, on the “scientific” level: we see how this can be applied in a practical way in real life practically in real life, how it would look, understanding how it could be applied. We are no longer in the theoretical contemplative level of what mercy is, we can already see examples of what mercy can be in daily life, in human life. It is more practical, but still general, i.e. not leading to something specific to do or change in us today.
We can represent the descent of the light so far as having reached the “middle” so to speak of the mind. See the diagram below.
d) Then comes the key level, the hinge between mind and will, the capacity of the mind to apply the light, to move toward the will, to look toward the will: this level of functioning of the mind under the light of the Holy Spirit shows how the mind can translate what it saw in the previous levels (that is, in general in wisdom, in intelligence in itself, and in applied cases), in a practical way in the will. This functioning of the mind helps us discover in the will what the Lord wants us to put into practice; it allows the light to descend into a specific, practical, here and now way, touching our will, not the will of others, touching what I can do, indicating it clearly (see diagram below). It is the Holy Spirit that makes the mind see under a clear light the particular act to perform. All our efforts should be concentrated on facilitating this descent of the light of the Holy Spirit until it becomes a clear act to perform.
There is a huge difference between knowing in general what forgiveness is (it can be any other general light), and what it has to become for me today. It is the difference between the general light and the particular light, it is the difference between the journey through (a), (b), (c) put together and (d). The general light does not offer me a clear supernatural understanding of what the act to make is. While the particular light does. The difference is radical. With the particular light, we will be able to move forward, start a journey of real change, and start it in a very different way: from the primary point of contact, Jesus, and with clear guidance given by Him. Building a virtue first needs a new act, then it needs to be reinforced, by repetition. The first act is the most difficult one because it is the beginning and because it is totally new. It is only afterwards that repetition comes. First things first: the initial act. This is how the new self really starts to grow. Jesus knows us much better than any other guide, or self-help book. He knows our weaknesses. He knows from where we need to start, He sees things in us we fail to see, He knows the entire process because He is our way.
Spiritual life is a new life with Jesus. It exacts a deep change in us from the behaviour of the Old Man to that of the New Man. This is what is at stake. How can this change happen? If we look at who we are we find that the Old Man or old-self is taking up too much space in us. It has its own vision, means, goals, and ways.
This needs to change. Our will is ill, paralysed, needs healing. We need new acts, coming from Jesus. We need them to create a solid stable new way of behaving. Traditionally we call this a virtue. A virtue is the result of the repetition of a new act, this result being called a “new habit, a good habit”. But how can we achieve this? The needed change seems insurmountable to us: we are weak, we have bad habits, but we are at a loss about where to begin. We do not know how to persevere. It is a real art, a divine art. Even if we have a book indicating to us all the new outlook we need to acquire (the new virtues), we do not know how to start, and how to persevere. We need Jesus’ light, and Jesus’ supernatural help: the direct and personal intervention of the Holy Spirit. This is where Lectio intervenes. Lectio here puts us in direct contact with our Guide, the Lord and his Holy Spirit. The uniqueness of what Lectio offers needs to be truly appreciated by each member of the faithful, and by each spiritual guide. We need to be very zealous about it, understanding its uniqueness and preserving it from any deviation. Let us go back to the radical difficulty we face with the necessity to change when we follow Jesus.
To illustrate what is at stake in this very important issue and how Lectio is the real powerful means at our disposal to employ for change, we can use a comparison: let us say that the needed change is about moving from an old place to a new place and that they are separated by a strong thick wall. It is imperative for us to move from the place where we are to a new place but how can we destroy this wall?! We then see ourselves as being in the place of illness and weakness, and that we need to move to the place of virtue, light, new life with Jesus. If we apply all our strength to destroy the strong wall, pushing with all our body, nothing will happen our strength being distributed over a big surface, for since the wall is very strong nothing will change. This effort is a general effort, and it is applied to the whole wall. It is like the resolution we take after confession, or after a retreat, or for the new year. A general resolution stays a general resolution. We are at loss, not knowing where to start and how to progress.
On the contrary, however, if we focus on one action only, and we put all our energy into it, if we drill a tiny hole in the wall, we will already be able to access the other side, we will be able to see the other side through this tiny hole. It seems insignificant, it is only one step, but it is a huge step, a necessary goal and newness will start to manifest itself. The light and vision from the other side of the wall become visible. Divine life is starting to be given to us and can start to flow. If this is achieved, we need to understand that from God’s perspective we have really achieved something that day: we can “see” the other side through this tiny hole.
What the lowest level of the functioning of the mind (d) (see above) offers us is a unique practical understanding of God’s light received in Lectio. The light and understanding of it are directed toward the will, toward crossing the abyss which separates the mind and the will. This last level (d) deals with the question: “Jesus, what am I supposed to do today?!” I am asking for the new act I never made before He needs to show me, the change He wants to realise in my soul. This is the level of “prudence” as understood by the ancients, or better said: the level of “discernment”. As one can see, it aims toward one point! (the one point on the wall where we need to drill) Not two points! Not our opinion on how to apply the general light. Not a general effort, or a good general resolution like: “I will be merciful today”. When we repeatedly beg and wait for Jesus’ general light to reach the soil of our will (“on earth as it is in heaven”) it becomes clear. The birth of the new act in the will, given and directed by Jesus as something we need to see in our mind, is daily work: give us “this day our daily bread” of your word is what we need to see in our mind. This way Jesus can hold us in his hands and transform us in his way.
Again, here the mind is looking toward the will, not in general but concentrating on letting the light move and become one act. The will is finally touched by Jesus’ Word, and is transformed by his holy Spirit in/at one point only.
As we can see on the diagram above, the same light Jesus is giving to our mind, has a journey of descent: a, b, c, i.e. from clear blue (general light) to darker blue until it touches our will.
In spiritual life we need to use our mind. We need to put it in the hand of the Lord, we need to expose it to his Divine Light, to His Word. But we are not aware how rich our mind is, differentiated in its levels of activities, and we fail to realise that the descent of Jesus’ light takes time from a very general view to a really practical implication for today. Taking time for the descent from Jesus’ mind (heaven) to the concrete practical soil of our will is of the essence, which is the reason for Lectio taking at least one hour, and this descent needs our “facilitation”, step by step: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. We contemplate your will O Lord, with our mind, and we let it descend into it until it becomes clear, and we can see how to apply it on the earth of our will.
Again, to reiterate, it is imperative that we realise that our mind does not interfere in this descent. It facilitates. The difference is huge. We need to avoid intervening or interfering or deciding. This is very important. The Lord himself opens the way in our mind toward our will. He knows where He wants to go. All that we are required to do is to beg, to tell Him that we are open to his will; to put our will into his hands, again and again; to give Him full rein, allowing his light to descend, where He wishes it to, in the way He wishes; allowing his light to be shed on the area He desires and upon which he decides, and in the way He wishes it to be. This is why when He sheds his light on the will, one always has the impression of newness, the impression of: “oh, this, I would have never expected!” “Jesus surprised me, in the area I wasn’t expecting”. Or “Jesus showed me something I wasn’t seeing”, at least not this way.
Can the Incarnation of Jesus’ Words happen without the Holy Spirit? Impossible. Can it happen outside of Our Lady? Impossible. Mary is our mould, the place[4] where the Holy Spirit forms us. But first, Our Lady is our role model. If we focus on the way the Word of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, became incarnate in Her womb, we find that there are two stages too in the Annunciation. When the Angel announces the Incarnation to Mary, that she will become the mother of the Messiah, even if the initial words of the Angel in the annunciation are true, they were not totally clear to her. As a consequence, she felt she needed to understand God’s part and her part in the process more completely. She needed to know what she was supposed to do before saying “yes”.
The Light is Initially General
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”” (Luke 1:30-33)
Mary does not immediately say: “May it happen to me according to your word”. Why? As we have said, she lacked a clear understanding of it all. What the angel said was true, but Mary wanted more explanations in order to know what to do: “How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)
God’s Will Needs to be Clear
The same initial light we receive was first given to Mary and it will receive wider explanation and will be developed to include greater clarity, practical insight, something to do. Most important it will lead her to know what God wants to achieve in her and with her, and the part she has to play in it. The Angel’s explanation will help Mary respond properly to God. Let us remember how God wants to treat us: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) Mary, indeed, is the first friend of God, the archetype of all Jesus’ friends. God’s desire is not for us to be passive recipients of his light, but would much rather we submit our minds to His Light in order to collaborate with Him, as his real sons, or brides. God could very well have given the entire light from the start, but it was not His choice to do so: Mary had to ask. Mary showed she understood what her dignity was in God’s eyes, and wanted to understand and collaborate, as a real partner. Obeying God implies the fact that we first understand from within what He has in mind. The explanation the Angel gives to Mary is as follows:
“The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Look, even Elizabeth your relative has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.””
From these words we see that Mary understands her role of collaboration with the Holy Spirit. She just needs to offer herself to the action of the Holy Spirit for this very case. But she also learns from the Angel the impact of her act upon others who were unable to believe: Elizabeth and Zacharia (and all of us) who failed to believe, need Her to believe for them. So her yes” to the angel’s words has a twofold consequence: a- the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity and b- becoming the spiritual mother of all human beings, believing for them.
It is only then that she was able to make her act of loving faith and total surrender to God’s project: giving Herself to God, to the Incarnate Word, to her mission at his side but also to her mission at our side. We are the mystical body of Jesus. So too Mary becomes the mother of not only the head but also of the body. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
It is really admirable to see in Mary the archetype of the two steps of descent of God’s light in us.
Mary shows us the way, and also teaches us how to listen to God in Lectio. She also helps us from within for God gives us her Heart, her mind, so we can really listen to Jesus her Son and do his will.
Luke shows us the workings of Mary’s heart: “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 and 2:51) Pondering, reading, re-reading, pondering, understanding, praying, asking for clarity, until God gives us the clarity, is how we too must follow in Her footsteps.
Some people think that Lectio is a matter of intellect and that they are clever when they “get it” from the first light so that they do not need to spend that much time on Lectio. They rush into putting into practice the light without understanding it, without taking the right amount of time, without asking the right questions, needing more clarification. Here we have the Mother of God, with all her purity and holiness, who she still asks the right questions, seeking clarity to respond fully to God’s will.
It behoves us then to learn from Mary, to ask Jesus to give us a heart like Mary’s. Let us ask Mary to show us our dignity in God’s eyes, and how the Lord wants to explain his will to us so that we can correspond better to it.
As we can see, the descent of Jesus’ light has stages, and it can often stay general. We rejoice when the two texts are saying the same thing, we enjoy the “drunkenness” of seeing his intervention and realising his miracle of making the two texts say the same thing. Yet we tend to stop there trying to see by ourselves how to apply this light instead of continuing to allow the light to descend in us until it becomes clear. We might expect the light to be about some exterior work to do, while the Lord is aiming at healing our will. Far from our thinking is that the Lord will pinpoint something interior, something within us. We are not aware enough that the work He wants to realise is our inner transformation. This is the core of evangelisation. If the human being fails to change, if we ourselves fail to change, the Gospel itself fails in its very objective. We need to focus on ourselves, allowing His light to follow its path to our soul, to our will.
We need to continue to beg for further enlightenment by saying: “what does humility or mercy mean in practice for me? What do you want to change in me?” And very importantly, we must keep reading the highlighted areas of the text while we are seeking this clarity. We must never veer away from the texts. We must continue to go from one text to the other, focusing on the passages He highlighted, until He makes his will clear to us, until his light touches an/a specific area of our will.
So, two things at least are of paramount importance: begging and reading.
1- Offering our will anew to Him. It is as if at the first stage when we offered ourselves to him, to listen to Him, it was chiefly the mind which received the light. But now, we accept having a more in-depth relationship by renewing, we renew the gift of ourselves with a more complete act of love by offering our will, repeating to the Lord: “Here I am again, I don’t mind what you do. Direct your light in me, to the area of your choice. I trust you, you never hurt, you come to heal me, you know me better than I know myself. I trust you Jesus totally; I trust you more than I trust my own judgement. You have free reign. Go ahead.” This renewal of the gift of ourselves is a true act of love which allows the Lord to go deeper and touch our will. It is as if we offered Him our will. It is like the traditional movement of our hands when we pray the Our Father: we open them out, lift them to God, showing our total openness, our total surrender to Him. The hands often symbolise our will, so opening them out, raising them toward Him, expresses our renewed total surrender and entrustment. We open the deep door of our being to his action.
2- While doing this we keep reading. We never abandon the sacred text, because it is through the text that the Lord will talk to us, He will give the written words a new meaning, a power capable of penetrating our soul, capable of touching our will.
This is the phase of listening in Lectio. In a way it is the most difficult one, the most challenging one, because it is about allowing the Lord to enter freely within us. It is difficult because we need to enter into a real interaction with Him. Remember we are not servants or slaves; we are his friends. The difference is huge. The servant, the military obey orders. They do not interfere with the order it is in a purely robotic fashion. The individual’s mind, his will, his life are not involved directly. While in the case of the friend confidence predominates for he listens to the deep thoughts of his fellow friend. He is invited into greater intimacy. This interaction involves the whole being and is infinitely much more demanding. Willing to engage fully with all our being with the Lord and renewing our commitment in the course of the process of listening, then opens the Door for the Lord to really enter: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Opening the door is the most challenging part! It depends on us, using the general help of the grace of God, and it is decisive because if we fail to do it, Jesus will not force the door! So, the bitter consequence that we often observe is that God seems to be silent in our life! Very committed Christians seem to deal with a silent God and the saddest aspect of this is that they do not know that the reason is that He is waiting, that His respect for our free will is that divine that nothing moves forward without our permission! It is the foremost responsibility of the Church to highlight this issue. It is the core part of its mission to explain to the faithful that God has no intention whatsoever of being silent. In fact, He gave us His Son, his Unique Son, proof of a divine infinite immense love for each one of us. His Son is His Word. God’s Son teaches us to which extent He is yearning to talk to us in order to change us, purify us, transform us: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, therefore “give us today our daily bread” the bread of your word. He is clear on that: it is a real act of love to keep his commandments, to do what He tells us to do: “whoever loves me keeps my commandments” (John 14:21.23). He teaches us that it is not optional to love Him, but He cannot force us: “you shall love God with all your strength, all your will, all your mind”. And to love is to listen to Him and put what He says into practice, otherwise our acts do not originate in Him, He is not our real Guide and He will respond to these acts by saying: “Go away from me, I don’t know you.” But we will protest in reply: “I did miracles in your Name and prophesised in your Name, I did many things in your name,” to be met by the stern rejoinder: “No, I don’t know you, go away.” (see Matthew 7:22)
It is by our not understanding the real practical insight of the Gospel that God remains silent, that our process of listening is uncertain. This is not God’s will. Impossible. He did not give us his Son for the sake of uncertainty! This is a serious matter. He gave us his Son, his Word, His Words to change us. The process of the reception of these sacred redemptive Words cannot be undertaken randomly, with vagueness or with uncertainty. The process of our transformation is real, necessary and vital. The desire of God to talk to us, to heal us to transform us is immense. He really loves us therefore he is showing us, on a daily basis, what new inner act He wants us to perform. He gives us the capacity to do it, the Grace to do it. This is the essential function of the Holy Spirit: to make us hear Jesus’ Word, to facilitate the incarnation of this Word, one Word at a time, one Word a day, for this Word to become alive in us. Otherwise, how can Jesus grow in us. This process requires interaction, time and space. It is a sacred process, not less sacred than the Incarnation or the Mass. In fact, it constitutes the first part of the Mass, the in-depth meaning of the Liturgy of the Word.
How can we live on earth with a silent God? With a silent or uncertain Jesus? Love on the Cross is not uncertain. He shed his blood. Nobody can doubt this. It is inconceivable that anyone can think that Jesus wants to be silent. It has the makings of a deep contradiction and a sin to think this. It is an immeasurable offence against the God who became incarnate and took thirty years to prepare (so to speak) and bake the bread of his Words that He then gave us during the three years of his public life. He came to give us his redemptive words, words that are Holy Spirit and Divine Life. He would be denying his very snature to deprive us of them! We cannot just fob it off lightly saying: “Oh lucky Apostles, they saw Him and heard Him speak.” On the contrary, in the Mass the Priest and the Deacon (in the Eastern Rites) say the “Holy, Holy, Holy,..” before the Proclamation of the Word; they pray, invoke the Holy Spirit on the Assembly; they warn us and say: “silence, listen carefully and reverently.” We have candles, incense, we take the Evangelarium (Book of the Gospels) in procession for what reason? Why all this? It is to show us that Jesus the Risen Lord is among us, and for three years (A, B and C, Sunday cycle), exactly as He did 2000 years ago, He will personally teach us. He is among us today, as He was 2000 years ago. Even better, because He is risen, and the Holy Spirit is given to us. God prophesied it in the Old Testament and said: “I myself will be their Shepherd” (see Ezekiel 34:15) and “I myself will guide them…” meaning that He would would feed them directly with His Words. Nobody can doubt the absolute/infinite desire of God to talk to us, to change us. This is why learning the process of listening and understanding the journey of Jesus’ Word in us are crucial.
It helps immensely, after having understood clearly what He wants from us, to flesh it out, briefly, in our notebook with the date, and the feast if it applies, copying the sacred words which touched us, the ones He used to talk to us, and to write one or two sentences explaining to ourselves how we understood them. Seeing what the Lord has said to us in writing mirrors his Word to us and helps it enter our being more deeply and thereby encourages us to put it into practice.
Yes, Lectio Divina requires a total commitment to Jesus on our part. Yes, Lectio Divina requires a total involvement of our conscious faculties, at least the mind and the will.
In the second part of the 15 steps Summary of Lectio Divina, there are two phases: an initial phase described as the Active Phase: seeking understanding. In this phase we make an effort, with the general light of faith to understand the text. It can take some time and is normal and necessary. We are not used to the biblical world, culture, expressions, words, concepts. We can undertake some brief research, read footnotes, cross references, etc. Yes, this is an active phase, and it involves a certain amount of effort on our part.
The following phase is described as the Receptive Phase: the listening phase: asking for the help of the Holy Spirit. One might think that in this phase no effort is required of us, and that we just need to be receptive, and that it is preferable to simply wait for the Lord to intervene, whenever He wants and in the way He wants.
Yes, we pray, yes, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, admittedly the end result is our being shown, we end up being shown one light, distilled from the two (or three) Readings. This could tempt us to think that after the active phase, we need do little other than pray. All to the contrary in fact, and what I am trying to underline here is that in this receptive phase, during the descent of Jesus’ light, two stages are involved: one which leads to one general light and the second to one clear distinct expression of Jesus’ will. What we need to understand is that each of these two receptive stages requires an effort. True, they are two different efforts, but still, they are efforts.
The first stage, which is the one that leads to one general light consists in the reading and re-reading effort of the texts, reading while praying and begging. It requires going back and forth from one text to the other: it requires a renewed commitment to the Lord.
The second stage, which is the main subject of this article, takes us from the one general light received to a clear, distinct, light, expressing Jesus’ will. This second stage of the receptive phase is also characterised by an effort, a form of wrestling with the Lord, similar to the wrestling of Jacob with the Angel in the book of Genesis 32:24-30.
“So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.” And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
Having received Jesus’ light, then, since it is not yet clear, we need to wrestle with Him until He clarifies what He meant with the general light. Yes, receiving the general light is definitely a solid criterium of discernment, indicating the Holy Spirit’s action in us. In the book on Lectio I admit to a degree of audacity in saying with 95% of certainty that it is Jesus who is starting to communicate with us and that it is not our own thoughts that we are hearing, the reason being that the two texts are saying the same thing. I consider this as a major criterium of discernment. However, having the one general light does not indicate that the process of listening has come to an end. And this is my point in the present book. We need to be careful and not stop Lectio at this stage. Not only that, but we have to bear in mind that there is a degree of serious wrestling which needs to take place in order to have this light become clear. Yes the supernatural light of the Holy Spirit has been given, but it has not completed its entire journey by reaching the edge of the will and revealing the act to be performed.
Indeed, now it is necessary to gird our loins once more, separate ourselves from any human attachment we may have, offering it to Jesus and placing our will totally into His Hands. To reiterate, we might be tempted to stop Lectio on receipt of the supernatural light. But we need to renew our wrestling with the Holy Spirit. This is why Jacob is wrestling with the Angel (the Angel here represents God himself). Lectio gives the impression of seeming to end here: “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But we should not surrender after such a feeling for Lectio has definitely not finished: “But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”” This is the attitude to have while we are at this stage of Lectio. We need the blessing of the clear light, otherwise… we truncate Lectio and remain in the dark about how to put the light into action.
There is something deep and sacred about “wrestling” with God. The Angel here in this passage represents God, Jesus. Why do we need to wrestle with Him? The answer is the same: He wants to befriend us and to friends he says everything. Most significantly and poignantly, however, He does not impose himself or force himself on us. He initially waits for our first prayer and demand and gives us his general light. Then since what is at stake is sacred (the incarnation of this light in us, with a total collaboration of our mind and will), and because we are called to renew this likeness with God which we have lost, we are invited to make a greater commitment, to offer our will to Jesus, putting it into his hands, and to insist repeatedly: “what does this light mean in practice, how and where does it touch my will?” Thereby we renew our determination in a more radical way, unconditionally, and wait for His reply. It is imperative that we don’t let him go before He clarifies what He has meant by this general light as to how it can become incarnate in us.
As a conclusion and learning from Scripture, we can say that this second phase of the descent of the light is embodied in this “wrestling” and “prevailing”: “you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed”. Lectio in the final analysis embodies wrestling with God – and prevailing! What a mystery! God wanting to be conquered by us!
Understanding with St. Augustine
“Crede Ut Intelligas”
St. Augustine reflected deeply on the relationship between on the one hand the act of believing in the Word of God and on the other the search for understanding with our mind. St. Augustine always honoured the mind and sought after understanding our faith. He summarises our first effort in twofold pieces of advice: “Crede Ut Intelligas”. Let us see what the two steps which he suggests reveal.
First St. Augustine invites us to believe in the Word of God: “Crede”. He places the act of believing in the Word in first place. This consists of our initial effort and prayer: “give me O Lord your Holy Spirit and show me your will.”
What is not so apparent in St. Augustine’s advice is that, as a response, God starts by giving us his general light. God’s reply is necessary, however, and is the starting point of the second stage “Ut Intelligas”.
This is where we need to understand St. Augustine’s next step given to us more indirectly: let this light God has given us fertilise our mind, let it illumine our mind, let it interact with our mind, seeking greater understanding: Lord explain what you mean by this light.
St. Augustine constantly sought understanding the contents of our faith. But it is not always properly underlined that to do so, he is placing himself under the light his act of faith has already obtained. He wants to understand, he knows he has the right to understand; he knows that this is part of being Christian, that God honours our mind, that God wants to illumine our mind; that God wants to make real friends of us, that He wants to explain from within.
This step of understanding the general light given to us by our initial act of faith is a very important stage. And making it with the right intention is paramount for its success. What is the “right intention”? It is to obey God, to obey His Word. To achieve this, we need clarity: we need to involve our mind totally, until the light reaches the edge of our will, showing us how it can change our will.
As we see, St. Augustine summarises the whole process in this phrase: “Crede ut intelligat”. “believe in order to understand”.
Summing it up then: we need to realise that the process according to St. Augustine also has two stages as does the one outlined above: 1- to believe, seeking God’s will. As a result, we have a light, a general light. 2- to understand this light now and see how it applies to our life: “intelligat”. This is the second phase we address in this article, where we seek, wrestling, offering our entire mind and will, to let this light descend and fertilise our mind and thus becoming clear. In this way we become the Lord’s true friends because “He explains everything to us” with clarity (John 15:15) – He explains what He wills for us. Our question: “what does it mean in practice?” obtains an answer: the same light becomes clear, “ut intelligat” – an “intelligent understanding” is realised.
Quotes From St. Augustine
“Our faith is not a blind adherence but a journey into the depths of divine truth. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate a deeper comprehension of the faith we profess.” (Sermon 117, 8)
“The more we know of God, the more our faith is enriched. Thus, seeking an intelligent grasp of our beliefs is not a mere intellectual exercise but a means to grow closer to the divine truth.” (Confessions, Book 10, Chapter 23)
“It is the duty of every Christian to seek an intelligent understanding of their faith, for in doing so, they will come to appreciate the profound wisdom of God’s plan.” (City of God, Book 19, Chapter 23)
Of course, the quotes above could be erroneously understood in a wrong way, that is, as if understanding faith is the goal of our life, or as if we are saved by this understanding (Gnosticism). The goal of our Christian life is to seek God’s will and to put it into practice. Hence the correct context to understand St. Augustine’s advice and quotes is Lectio Divina.
The Three Graces of St. Teresa
When St. Teresa of Avila explains spiritual life, she mentions something which is in the province of Theology. She says that the grace itself is one thing and to understand it quite another, and that yet another is to transmit it or explain it to others: “it is one favour that the Lord should grant this favour; but quite another to understand what favour and what grace it is; and still another to be able to describe and explain it” (Life 17,5. See also 12,6; 23,11 and 30,4)[5]
These three graces are often presented as two categories of graces: the first one, being the grace itself, which is considered to be of a particular category (sanctifying grace) and the second and the third are extra graces, not necessarily considered as sanctifying grace. They are considered to be freely given for the growth of the mystical body of Jesus.
One needs to remember also that the grace itself cannot, by definition, be felt. While the second and third graces can be felt: one cannot have an understanding of the grace without a clear awareness of it. One cannot receive help from God to explain and transmit what has been understood without the help of a grace which penetrates our conscious mind.
Traditionally, the second and the third graces are considered as not the grace itself, and therefore can be reserved for some people only, not necessarily for sanctification[6]. They are graces given for the ministry. But this view weakens our proper understanding of the second and third graces for the believer and fails to show the connection between the first grace and the other two. Consequently one misses an important aspect of the mission of the faithful: to witness to Christ, and to have a well-developed relationship with Him, and that helped by this friendship He wants to establish with us where He explains everything to us, as He says in St. John (John 15:15)
In my humble view, we are missing something very important related to our spiritual growth, to our mission in life, and to our Lectio Divina, if we ignore this connection. In fact, the second and third graces enhance the normal growth and development of the main grace in us, going from the supraconscious (above consciousness) communication of the main grace to the conscious part, or if you will, from the general light to the precise light.
In this sense I would say that in the case of Lectio Divina the first grace (the grace itself) is the general light given to us, and that the second and third graces (understanding and putting into practice) constitute the descent of the first grace into the conscious part of our mind and will: the clear light. In this sense the second and third graces are not optional as one would think, or just given to some for the ministry and the growth of Jesus’ mystical body – on the contrary they are integral to the process of Jesus’ communication with us. The three graces are in fact one grace, one process of descent in three stages.
The image of the motorcade can help us understand the effort of facilitating the descent of the light until it reaches our will. When an important political personality is travelling, sometimes we have two sets of motorcycles opening the way for him or her. Similarly, we, like the important personality, are not the Light, and we do not direct the light. Our role is to simply open the way for it to descend closer to out will that needs to be healed. Thus we humble ourselves, we beg and ask, being more attentive to Jesus’ whispering (remember Elijah’s gentle breeze), telling us what He wants to change in us. This entails another effort of being humble and begging to allow what is now already supernatural but too general, too abstract, to become precise, clear, and practical. Only when the light has reached our will, to indicate first and foremost a practical area that needs changing in our heart, may we then consider that fruition is in sight.
We all know that when it comes to listening to the Lord, we all struggle so that we spontaneously ask: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” In other words: “Will only a few people be able to Listen to you?” In reply the Lord will say: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate….” (Luke 13:24) “Small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to Life and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14)
What, then, is the “narrow gate” and what is the “narrow way”? These two images sum up to what lengths we should go to completely humble ourselves. The degree to which we should humble ourselves is encapsulated in the words: The last will be first, and the first will be last. “Matthew 20:16) “Take the lowest place.” (Luke 14:10) “Humble yourself”. (James 410, 1P 310) The choice, then, is to meet the Lord either in the “middle” of our mind, or at the “bottom” of it. The “middle” of our mind means keeping distant from our will, from the core of our being, from real change, in the high abstract regions of the mind, and not allowing God to reach our core. Meeting Him at the “middle” offers us a general and abstract light / understanding of the will of God. However, if we allow Jesus’ light to reach the “bottom” of our Mind, at the junction with our Will, the light He will shed on us is more concrete, more incarnate, for it will generate an inner action in the Will. Sadly we sometimes settle for meeting the Lord at the “top” of our mind, and this fails to bear fruit. This is why the typical effort required of Lectio Divina, the typical effort of “listening” is to go down, to bow down, to humble ourselves, to descend into ourselves, opening the way within us for the Word of God, so it can reach our will and illumine it, heal it, transform it, sanctify it. There is a deep desire in Jesus for his Word to enter within us, but He never forces us. This is the reason for his asking us to open the narrow door of our inner world and to make in ourselves an entry way for Him – that is, the narrow way.
The space we dig out for Christ in ourselves has: Height, Depth, Width, Length. (see Ephesians 3:18)
It is vital to humble ourselves in:
- Height: for the Word comes from Him who is higher than heaven, connecting the soil of our being with the Divine.
- Depth: the Word we receive has to come down and reach the intersection between our mind and will, touching the will to show it what to do.
- Width: the Word cannot carry/bear in our heart any other idol / “god” with it. No competitors, no worries.
- Length: our commitment to the Word is for ever.
1- Opening the door of our inner being to Jesus’ Word, is the most challenging preparation we can make to receive Him. Remember the first type of soil in the parable of the Sower being totally closed to the Word of God.
2- Digging a narrow path deep and humbly within ourselves, so deep, as to expose our naked will to the light of Jesus, allowing the Word to reach it, are the only ways to receive God’s Word within us and be transformed by His Holy Spirit. Indeed, in order for Lectio Divina to succeed, we first need – by the Grace of God and by our resilient efforts – to become able, in a personal encounter with the Word of God, to listen to His Voice. This personal encounter, consequently, necessitates:
1- Our opening we open the “narrow door” and entering through it.
2- Listening attentively until the Message becomes clear by touching our will, thereby opening a “narrow path” to the Word in us as it is passing through us: “Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” (Luke 322-30)
Will many be able to practise Lectio Divina in a fruitful way? Since Lectio Divina is so vital for our Spiritual Life, “only a few people will be saved” can easily and rightly be translated this way: “only a few will be able to practise Lectio Divina fruitfully..”
As a conclusion, therefore, when we practise Lectio Divina, and when we start to sense that the supernatural light of God is starting to appear, occurring when the two texts say the same thing, it is important not only to rejoice with gratitude, but to continue to open the way, humbling ourselves more and more, asking the Lord to tell us how He wants to incarnate the word or light or indication He is revealing to us. Only humbling ourselves will open the way for Jesus’ Word to reach us, touch our will, heal us, challenge us, enflame us. Within reason, therefore, we should not stop Lectio until the grace of God has touched us.
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[1] Subsequently I realised that the majority of people have this experience. This is why my advice for each person wanting to implement Lectio is to check it, so they do not stay stuck. Often, but not always, I find that people are stopped by this difficulty, and they do not know what to do. Seeking help is needed.
[2] For the direct and personal intervention of the Holy Spirit, the Particular help of the Holy Spirit see the following articles on the School of Mary’s website: “The Particular Help of the Grace of God in St. Teresa of Avila” and “St. Thomas Aquinas’ Explanation”.
[3] The 15 steps are also thoroughly explained in a concise book I authored in 2012, in collaboration with Anna Maria Cattaneo, which is currently available in Italian and will soon be translated. In the meantime, English-speaking readers are able to find relevant insights in the online short article “Finished and Unfinished Lectio.” This current article serves as a continuation of that discussion and of course goes further and deeper than the 2012 book.
[4] See this article : https://schoolofmary.org/our-place-in-god/ See also this article: https://schoolofmary.org/all-the-predestinate-are-hidden-in-marys-womb/ and this one: https://schoolofmary.org/our-place-is-in-marys-heart/
[5] St. Thomas Aquinas discusses two of the three graces in the Summa Theologica, Part I-II, Question 110, Article 1. Francisco de Osuna also mentions two of these graces in his Third Abecedary, chapter 2.
[6] See Summa Theologica, Part I-II, Question 110.
A few years ago, “Lectio Divina at the School of Mary” was published, a work originally written in 2001. The teaching of Lectio Divina began in 1995 and has continued to develop since then. Over time, a significant challenge emerged: many individuals noticed that the daily readings often conveyed the same message. The Lord was beginning to impart His supernatural light, with the Holy Spirit acting directly and personally.
However, the light people received seemed general rather than specific, practical, or precise. As a result, Jesus’ will often appeared unclear, leaving people uncertain if they were truly listening to Him or practicing Lectio Divina correctly.
The key was to persist in prayer until the light became clear and Jesus’ will certain. This crucial aspect, however, was not sufficiently emphasised or explained in the first book. Therefore, the purpose of this new book, Finished and Unfinished Lectio Divina, is to assist all who have begun practicing Lectio Divina, as outlined in the first book or in the Solid Foundations Course, and need clarity on this issue.
Additionally, articles published on the website have been included in this book. (Amazon USA – Amazon UK)
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