Lectio Divina can be translated as divine reading. Some also translate by the expression Prayer Reading of the Bible. The Lectio Divina is a very old method used in the Catholic Church for reading and prayer with the Word of God.
A monk named Guido, in the 12th century, says that, one day, he was working and began to think about the spiritual life of man. And suddenly, he was inspired by the four spiritual steps of the Lectio Divina ladder : reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. A ladder that, although small, leads to Heaven.
Illustrative photo: Bruno Marques / cancaonova.com
The Lectio Divina method process
Reading awakens the desire for this encounter with God through His Word , and it is an effort to understand what is written in the texts. For this reason, it is an exercise in the reason of the commitment of intelligence in the search for sweetness for a blissful life. Meditation delves more deeply into what has been read, it examines every detail to make an intimate reflection. At this stage, one begins to sense the divine presence and the desire for an encounter with God increases even more.
Prayer is the request for that encounter with the divine to happen. By itself, man is not able to attain knowledge and experience with God. Only with the help of the Spirit of God can he be taken to the meeting that his soul so desires. Contemplation is the encounter, it provides the flavor of the experience with God who, in his kindness and attentive to our prayers, barely waits for the prayer to end and already hurries to meet the soul that desires Him ardently.
It is important to understand the functions and properties of each step and also to understand how the steps on this ladder are related to each other; to then understand what each step produces in the person doing the Bible study using this method.
