Common Lectio Divina
In a community or in a group a question might be asked: “Is it possible to do “Lectio divina” all together, that is to share in the Gospel?”, because we know of Lectio Divina done as a personal form of prayer.
Before answering this question, I would like to categorise the two forms of prayer by calling them “Personal Lectio Divina” and “Common Lectio Divina”. “Personal Lectio divina” is when we do it privately, without necessarily sharing what we have received with others. On the other hand, “Common Lectio Divina” is based on doing it together, and necessarily sharing what we have received.
To answer the question about the differences between these two exercises, their exact dynamics must first be understood. Let us first remember the essence of Lectio Divina done by individuals. Its goal is to listen to Jesus (Our Master, Our Guide, Our Doctor) who is giving us a Word that is Spirit and Divine Life, directly, adapted to what He sees to be our personal need that day that we then have to put into practice. By receiving and putting today’s word into practice, we are healed in an area of our being, that is, in our will and mind.
On the other hand, in order to know “Common Lectio Divina” is we need to know what its goal/s. Various answers might be given:
1- to seek together the will of God for the community or the group
2- to encourage each other, on our journey
3- sharing our “listening to Jesus” helps each other, illuminates each other, strengthens the faith of each other
4- we can “push” each other in order to grow in our journey
5- allows us to place our relationships under the light of God
Other goals could be found that will motivate us to do a “Common Lectio Divina”. However none of the above goals should be underestimated or dismissed by any Christian.
In accordance with that, we can easily understand that “Personal Lectio Divina” is not exactly the same thing as “Common Lectio Divina”.
The Relationship between the Person and the Community
The community (or group) is composed of individuals, and only within the heart of each person can the community live. A person who lives a community life, but who, in his/her heart, doesn’t receive, accept, love, and pray for his/her community, remains an isolated person.
The group, thus, is not an entity! When an individual dies, he cannot say to God: “my friends did this and that,” for God’s response will be: “and you, what did you do?” Therefore, we cannot escape from our personal responsibility, and from the “cornerstone” of each community: the single Person. It is true as well, on the other hand, that we help each other and that we are also accountable for it. But without the “cornerstone” of bearing our own responsibility for personal growth there is no group.
Having said this, doing a “Common Lectio Divina” has its own importance and its own dynamics. “Personal Lectio Divina”, while being fundamental, doesn’t necessarily replace the “Common Lectio Divina”. God taught us to seek His will together and promised that when two or three were gathered in His Name, searching out His will, He would be present amongst them and therefore would be acting in a more powerful way. God is communion, the Trinity is a communion between the Three Persons, and seeking, as a community, the word of God, creates something even more powerful. “They will know you from the love you have for each other” (John) and since love is constantly working on the truth (seeking the truth, trying to make the truth be its reference point), the truth not only in us, but the truth that inhabits our relationships; it is of absolute importance to allow the Light and Love of God to dwell amongst the members of the community, in all of them, in order to grow in Holiness.
It is then by seeking the truth together in our relationships that we can also grow. The personal act of seeking Truth for ourselves, directly from God, doesn’t exempt us from seeking the Truth together.
Person and Community are not exclusive of each other, they don’t oppose each other, on the contrary, they do complement each other, but they do so bearing in mind that the Person is the Cornerstone of the Community and that the Community does not give accounts to God, but the persons that compose it do so.
When God causes us to us grow, interiorly, personally, it is never at the expense of others, but allows others to be borne in our heart, learning, exercising Divine Hospitality, where the Outpoured Love of God is enlarging our heart in order to receive everybody into it, without excluding anybody and any act performed by anybody.
This is why opening ourselves out to others always generates new growth in us. “the one who loves me, puts into practice my commandments (my words) and (then, and because of it) the Father will (be moved “anew” to) love him and we will come and dwell in him” (John 15:23). This is why, as St. John of the Cross points out in his Spiritual Canticle, we can “provoke”, “generate,” a greater love from God to us by putting into practice the heroic love St. Paul depicts can exist in us.
“God does not establish His grace and love in the soul but in proportion to the good will of that soul’s love. He, therefore, that truly loves God must strive that his love fail not; for so, if we may thus speak, will he move God to show him greater love, and to take greater delight in his soul. In order to attain to such a degree of love, he must practice those things of which the Apostle speaks, saying: “Charity is patient, is benign: charity envies not, deals not perversely; is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeks not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinks not evil, rejoices not upon iniquity, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.””(1 Cor. 13:4-7)” (St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle A, stanza 12, paragraph 11 or CS B, 13,12)
– Is there a “Common Lectio Divina” for couples?
These previous indications on “Common Lectio Divina” apply also for couples: it helps them live their life as a couple under the light of the Lord, supporting each other, understanding each other, growing, and helping each other in that growth. They will then actuate the Sacrament of Marriage everyday by taking time to find a “common ground”: the Word of God, the received light, agreed with free will, by both together.
The Sacrament doesn’t end on the day of Marriage. It is an open Spring, capable of nourishing each member of the couple, and nourishing them together, in their choices, and in their dialogue.
God wanted the power of two, who are different, but united “under the Name of God” to be the fulcrum of a New Divine Life – the life of their children, their spiritual life as well. The quality of that fulcrum depends on the quality of the dialogue and communion between the two of them.
The challenge of their differences, and the Grace of belonging to the same Faith, the same God, the same Grace, are two elements that have to be combined.
I would really like to stress the difference between doing a “Personal Lectio Divina”, and a “Couple’s Lectio Divina”. They are both important and fruitful. I would think that if the “Personal Lectio Divina” is to be done every day, the “Couple’s Lectio Divina” doesn’t have to be done every day – mostly for the lack of time and the priority, in general, of “Personal Lectio Divina”. I tend to think that “Common Lectio Divina” requires another type of effort that can tire or, worse, take the place of the “personal” one. The “Personal Lectio Divina” is and should remain the centre of gravity of the couple because the development of the couple relies on the progress of each. It is true also that they are a community, and much more than a community, for they are one flesh, one soul and one spirit. What one of them feels, as says St. Paul about Jesus’ body, the other feels as well. If one suffers the other suffers, if one is happy, the other is happy. However, there is one big difference – one helps the other by prayer, and not only by word and by example. If one of them grows, the other is happy, and will be “pulled” into a higher realm.
Let us remember the mission of the Couple, the ultimate aim of their union: fecundity is why they have come together; they are supposed, together, to bear fruits. Children are fruits, but not the only ones. They take their share in the Mission of the Church in expanding the kingdom of God. Therefore, it is not a selfish finality, the one of “couple’s Lectio Divina”, it has at its centre not only the spiritual life of the two members of the couple (and later that of their children), but the life of their Community and the life of the Church. Their prayer, their communion, capacity to agree, to converge, to help each other, is a very powerful lever in the Church and for the World.
It is very important, as well, to understand that the “Personal Lectio Divina” of each member of the couple is not something too distant from the couple or from the dynamics of the couple. The “couple”, the family, is born in the heart of each one of its members. The more they are in tune with God, and grow spiritually, the more the couple grows in compatibility, become stronger, and can bear more fruits.
But this “sharing” (Common Lectio Divina) what each one hears from God, for the Couple, is a different activity: it is situated according to the level of the couple (and not the individual’s journey) and its common search for the will of God.
God wants us to help each other, sacramentally, seeing in the other the image of Christ, or His Church to love, inspired by His Word. In addition, it is true that husband and wife are no longer two persons united, but one. They are one body, but also, one soul, one spirit. The Soul is what works essentially during Lectio Divina, therefore, if they are one, it is normal for them to unite their faculties (Mind, Will, Freedom) in order to grow as one. Not only is it good not to stop the couple from doing Lectio Divina, but we should encourage couples in general to do Lectio Divina together. Furthermore, one has still to remember their intellectual, spiritual and Marian levels.
It is fundamental for the couple to open themselves out to each other, as a couple would do with their bodies, totally naked as they face each other – loving the Truth more than themselves, praying for that primacy, knowing that the Truth frees the Couple and brings it to newer heights, every day.
As they are invited daily to actuate the Sacrament of Marriage in their common heart, through the Prayer of the Heart, they are invited to actuate it in their common mind and common will, in order to grow in the quality of their Union with each other through the “Couple’s Lectio Divina”.
The cement of their union is God himself, who knows each of them, and who is their guide and Pastor. The more each one gets closer to union with God, the more they are united between each other. The closer their mind and will (not plural minds and wills but singular, as they are a unit)) are, the more they realise the Plan of God for them, uniting them, and making them capable of bearing much greater fruits.
In the 60s and 70s the practice of sharing the Gospel already existed, much before the renewal of Lectio Divina as a personal practice became more common. Some priests even now promote a “church” or “community Lectio Divina” as the only form of Lectio Divina…!! This just goes to show the actual “confusion” that exists between the two types of Lectio Divina.
Both exercises are important, but I remain adamant about “Personal Lectio Divina“. We always pray “in the church” even when we are alone because the Church starts in our heart, not outside of it. Furthermore, nobody can deter us from listening to Christ. He comes into the church, during the “Proclamation of the Word”, and speaks to us, but in fact first of all, and fundamentally, He is speaking to each human being in his heart. The community, significantly, doesn’t have a heart, but each member has a heart. The encounter of real hearts, alive, might create a “heart” for the community, but not the opposite. The walls of the church building are composed of bricks, and without the single bricks, there can be no wall. The Person is the Cornerstone of the Church… we are not Communists, the former being explained by Vatican II in Gaudium et Spes 16.
Notes on Couple’s Lectio Divina
The challenge is to ensure the supernatural mechanism of « Couple’s Lectio Divina » is activated and maintained. Otherwise Lectio Divina done by the couple can become an intellectual and theological exercise, nothing more, where often, one or each will exert influence over the other by pressurising him/her, while thinking that in doing so, he/she is doing the right thing.
The supernatural work of the Holy Spirit through a Word that God sends to the couple (as one) is very challenging and requires a strong disposition, and a just balance between the two members that are common to both, plus the capacity to hear, to listen to God who speaks through their partner. Lectio Divina will then become one of the most opportune times to open up, in prayer and with a common prayer, to the Holy Spirit, to listen to God speaking sacramentally through the other partner.
This is a marvellous actuation of the Sacrament. Each sacrament has two dimensions, two layers: a physical layer, and a deeper divine layer. This is why they are called a “sacrament”. They are just like the stained-glass window, which consists of glass and the light that passes through it. For the sacrament of Marriage, the man and his wife are sacraments of Jesus and the Church, as stated in the Holy Scriptures by St, Paul and by St. Peter. Thus, we have here the two layers: the man, and the woman are the “material” layer. Jesus and the Church are the Divine Layer.
To “actuate the sacrament,” then, is to make it work, to allow all the supernatural power enclosed within it to be activated, each day, the measure of each day, and not any less. This comes from giving full attention, through the material aspect (the daily life and presence of the man and his wife) to the divine layer that is constantly there. However, the risk in each sacrament is to forget the deeper layer, and therefore the potential of the sacrament will not be realised to the full. Any sacrament.
One of the two most important acts in order to enact a Sacrament is to see and to listen. These two spiritual senses are fundamental for us in order to receive the Grace of God daily. To see through my husband or my wife, by the help of the Holy Spirit, as we see through the Holy Scriptures the living and powerful Words of Jesus. There shouldn’t be any contradiction between the layers, but they remain as two layers. Like the letter and the spirit in a text of the Scriptures, they constitute different layers, but are not opposed, or in contradiction, or dislocated without links, which would be the case if meanings in the text are seen which the text itself does not mention or allude to, or if the text is contorted in order to change subject or sense, or application.
Listening to Jesus is through my husband or wife and is “through” the sacramental operation – it is not an abstract seeing or listening. There are criteria for discernment for this listening, as for the “spiritual senses of the Scriptures” in their relationship with the letter of the text.
By asking the help of the Holy Spirit, He will come and help us see through the spiritual meaning, with respect and attention to God. By asking the help of the Holy Spirit, we can listen to what Jesus is telling us through our partner.
Couple’s Lectio Divina, this common attention to the word of God from two wills, united in one prayer, is a great moment of Grace for them in particular and for the Church and for the world. The reason is plain: this creates Peace on earth, this promotes real progress, when two on earth succeed in agreeing, in seeking the will of God and receiving it. It is so powerful that, like the prayer of the Monks, it allows the earth so to speak to make its revolve.
The Supernatural Work of God in “Couple’s Lectio Divina“
In “Couple’s Lectio Divina” (CLD), as I was saying, the main challenge, cannot be different from the challenge of “Personal Lectio divina”. The main challenge is and will always be to allow God really and truly to speak to us, and not transform the Lectio Divina into an exegesis exercise, or a theological, intellectual exercise, or simply a psychological projection of our thoughts, problems, desires, the unconscious etc. This is why, now, from experience, I recommend individuals to check on their Lectio through ensuring that two texts or more lead to only one Light from Jesus, one Word from Him (my book on Lectio can verify this). One can have the best of intentions and yet fail to complete Lectio correctly. I have experienced such cases on various occasions. Perhaps more intellectual people tend to struggle more because they can interpret many ideas within a text. But the fact remains, the supernatural operation of Holy Scripture is absolutely unique and absolutely possible to realise every day. I have enough evidence of this for verification.
Now, remember, I have no personal experience of “common Lectio Divina” or “couple’s lectio divina”. Hopefully this might be remedied in the future, thus everything I have written emanates from the voice of reason only, the voice of experience of “Personal Lectio Divina” (PLD). Please take my word for it that any reading on “Common Lectio Divina” has not convinced me as yet. This is why I am laying stress on the “supernatural action of the Holy Spirit” and the total attention that it deserves from us.
At this point I think it opportune that a comparison of both methods be made and conclusions drawn.
First and foremost, let us remember the main aspect of PLD, which totally relies on the first demand we make: “Jesus, with the help of your Holy Spirit, tell me what You want me to do today?” The clear intention here is that what Jesus wants me to do is for my own good, for my personal spiritual growth.
Similarly, the “first demand” for the “Couple’s LD” is the same: “Jesus, with the help of your Holy Spirit, tell us what You want us to do today?” “us” representing both or one of them through the prayer of the other. The goal is to help the couple progress – as individuals supported by one other and/or as a couple.
The couple, here, are putting themselves in the place of the beggar, asking humbly, waiting for the Holy Spirit. As we know, this type of prayer cannot be resisted by God. This is the promise of the Lord: “if two of three are gathered in my Name, I am always amongst them” (Mt. 18:20) and will answer their prayer.
The Process of CLD
The question now is to know how the process unfolds: what belongs to the couple and what belongs to the person?
The process normally needs time for each one, while sitting together, to listen to God, in order to achieve the final goal. Let us take a moment to examine the needs of this process more closely:
0- The couple might start with a short prayer, putting their concerns into the hands of God and asking for the Holy Spirit to help them search for the Will of God for them, today. They entrust themselves into the Hands of God.
1- A time alone, with God, to do the LD with the texts (always silently repeating the question: ‘tell us God what you from us?’ Time to listen to God.
2- A time to share what has been received. It is possible that the two lights received do not coincide at first glance.
3- A time to interiorise what has been received from one’s partner, to listen to God, to refine together what was received. The partner here is sacramental like the Scriptures.
I remain convinced that it is possible from the first time spent with God that each can see what God wants.
4- In case they don’t reach a common light, the couple then will start the exercise of listening to each other, trying together the find a common light.
Let us remember that for the PLD we find an “echo” between at least four things if not more: us, Jesus, and the two texts. We also know that we can do it when there are three (Sundays and Solemnities) or even four texts (if the Psalm is added). It is very important, to understand this “resonance”.
In the case of CLD we have one more “element” to add – the partner. Therefore, the total number of elements that will “resound” is five or more.
The resonance is important, but it depends on two human wills and not only on one, as in PLD. This is at the same time the challenge and the beauty of CLD.
With no experience of CLD this is how I see it. Further suggestions would be futile but I remain open to information concerning your trials, experience, questions, suggestions.
Some Questions Around CLD
– How long can one CLD last? – Certainly, it will last longer that the personal one. This is so because of one added factor: listening to the partner and facing God with all this with God and listening interiorly to Him.
– Will they always receive one light together? – Probably not always, out of weakness.
– What would happen if they don’t? What should they do? – Just the effort in common which they make is to be considered as something that pleases God enormously.
– Should the point of view of one prevail? – Just as some would say that the woman should obey her husband. – The same text that gives this advice says that the Husband should serve his wife like Jesus did for the Church. Therefore, I don’t know who listens to whom here. Both have to converge.
– Should we force God to consider one point of view asking Him what He thinks about it? – No.
– How many times should the couple practise CLD? I would tend to think that Sunday is an appropriate day for it. If the couple can afford to do it more often (bearing in mind the importance of doing the PLD) that would be great. I wouldn’t mind personally, if for one day during the week the PLD is replaced by a more solemn CLD. I think it is good to “meet” like this, under the light of God, in a moment of intensity.
– You asked me this question: What do you mean by the “Marian level” of Lectio Divina?
– The text doesn’t quite say this on the level you seem to mean. What I meant is that the Marian level of each member of the Couple is decisive because the “marianisation” of our being makes things easier in our spiritual life. It helps God form our new being with greater ease. In our life, there is a before and an after when we get to know the spiritual doctrine on Our Lady, as taught by Grignon de Montfort. In fact, our life changes completely, or should.
Of course, the marianisation of our being makes the practice of LD much easier. You can have a look at the book “Lectio divina, Mary and the Spirit” in which I detail all I have to say about Mary and how she works in us; transforms us in her image; how she is our role model for the Lectio Divina; how she listened to the angel and put into practice the Words he was giving her from God.
One last point: remember that when the couple meets to do Lectio Divina together and prays, there is a specific goal. It is mainly the couple who, together, are searching for the will of God for both of them. It can be on something they have in common; it can be on something that one should work on, and the other gives his/her support and prayer. I don’t think the will of God that will appear will be on different subjects.
The Common Project of Holiness
Let us remember the framework of CLD (Common Lectio Divina): it is the same framework as that of “spiritual life” and of “Christian life”: holiness. Seeking holiness. The Second Vatican says very clearly that married couples are also called to holiness and that the Sacrament of Marriage is a way to reach holiness. However, the big difference between holiness in general and holiness in the couple is that the latter is sought with two wills and not by one alone. It is sought in a very close partnership by helping each other, sanctifying each other, and supporting each other as well. Each member of the couple provides support, love, advice, and prayer to the other. And, as I have mentioned various times: praying together is such a powerful means of transformation that it should be used much more often in order to change our homes, our communities, our society, and the whole world.
Marriage is a way for two to reach holiness, where the bond between two human beings is unique, close, intimate, “mystical”. By the Sacrament, they really become one body, one soul and one spirit – “one” and not “two”, not “united” but “one,” which is more than being united. “United” means there are still two entities. They breathe the same air, they eat the same food, they do many things together, their plans are common to both, the carry each other in their body, soul, and spirit in the hope of the best for each other.
First and foremost, the couple needs to address, with great attention and care, the fundamental question of life: what is the goal? What is our common goal? What is holiness? Why is it our goal? How can it become our goal? What would it change in our life? How can we be motivated, for the rest of our life by this goal? How can we keep it alive, day after day? How can we enrol all our energy, gather it around that unique and common goal?
CLD is thus placed in this context or frame: a striving to reach holiness. This is why one should first address the “common plan for holiness” before speaking about CLD. The sacrament in fact has this central goal and we often forget it. We might put “creating a family”, “having children” as the first goal of marriage. They are certainly the goals and the means of marriage, but they are not the real first goal. Of course, not all the couples would envisage their married life or themselves as a couple in this way as seeking first and foremost holiness. Very few engaged couples would envisage this as a common goal and project. But it should be the central aim.
Establishing this great and central aim as their own common project, each member of the couple would then become aware that he/she is invited to put his hand in the hand of his/her partner in order to increase, and then subsequently they can begin to gauge the power of their burgeoning holiness, as well as the possibilities open to them of growing together in holiness. This means that they are there to help each other.
If on one hand the CLD helps the two combined, to seek together the Light of God and His Word and to listen to it together, on the other hand the PLD will also have personal indications on how to help the partner, how to listen to God through him/her, how to help him/her and many other aspects related to marriage, indications on the progress in it and considering it as a way for holiness.
Extra Question on Lectio Divina
– To what extent is the light we have received, in personal or couple Lectio Divina, affected by our intellectual understanding of Scripture? For example, by reading the homilies of the Church Fathers is the light received different if one had not read a homily on a particular text?
– A fundamental part of the teaching of LD (personal or couple) is to explain the different levels of understanding of Scriptures, “reading in the Spirit” (in the Holy Spirit), namely, spiritual exegesis. This means that I don’t leave the student in the School of Mary without indicating this aspect of the reading of the Scriptures. For this reason, I mention the Fathers of the Church, the way they read the Holy Scriptures and I offer The Good Samaritan as a good sample reading from the Fathers of the Church, a reading made by some and how they did it: see this in “Lectio Divina, Mary and the Spirit.” By so doing I wish to open the inner eye and boost the intelligence of the student.
But after this, experience shows that many of the students, since starting to apply Lectio Divina as I explain it, have experiences very similar to that of the Fathers of the Church for they come out with amazing things. This gives me great joy and demonstrates the “times of the Fathers” extends up to today. This shows that the methods they used, are in truth explained by the Holy Spirit and should be collected in a systematic way and treasured in order to show “how to read the Scriptures”.
You can find (as quoted in my book cited above) some extracts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on “Reading in the Spirit”.
So definitely, it is important to mention this aspect to the person who is learning how to do Lectio Divina. It is comforting to have this type of teaching because sooner or later reading in the Spirit will result. Let us remember that the connection made by the Light of God during the Lectio Divina involves a very specific supernatural event: two texts are saying the same thing. Therefore, just imagine the effect on perspective and on the spiritual experience. This is part of it, it is the same thing: the Lectio we do equates with how the Fathers of the Church did it.
In addition, some people think that in order for the Lectio we do to work we have first to have a sound preparation in exegesis, in studying the Bible. They think that if we don’t have a biblical preparation, we can’t really enter into Lectio or it will be different. I refute this idea. I accept the necessity of only a simple preparation, that is, just reading as an adult, at least once the whole New Testament, to familiarise ourselves with it and to read large extracts as well of the Old Testament. I don’t think we need much more because I do believe that the Lord’s language is simple, capable of speaking to the average human being (remember that in order to speak about the highest mysteries He uses examples taken from nature), and that He takes us from where we are, and walks with us, deepening, step by step, our understanding of His Will. I do believe, like the Fathers of the Church that the Scriptures walk with us, grow with us, according to our needs.
I would add as well that very often the knowledge of God and of the Scriptures that an average practitioner of Lectio Divina has is much higher than the one exegetes often have. Because the experience that Jesus gives us of the Bible in Lectio Divina is supernatural, every day, He transforms our understanding of a word of God into an experience, a deep knowledge (remember the biblical meaning of the word “knowledge”: the Bible uses this verb to express the experience a man has with his wife). He helps us, by the direct Action of the Holy Spirit, to understand from within – from His perspective – the meaning of that word or expression.
To conclude I would affirm that there is absolutely no contradiction or opposition between modern critical exegesis and Lectio Divina. But there is just a difference of levels: exegesis is an intellectual knowledge while Lectio Divina is spiritual knowledge. It is all about the words – but seen from different angles. They complement each other, and we need a balanced and reasonable exegesis, but the biggest exegesis in the world is still nothing compared to one Lectio Divina. The spiritual experience is completely different. As Jesus says about John the Baptist, that the smallest in the kingdom of God is bigger than him, I would say exactly the same here, the biggest exegetes are still smaller than the smallest person who practises Lectio Divina.
I hope this helps.