Engaging Scripture

Happy New Year and Happy Epiphany.

Lorna and I were on a retreat over Christmas from December 23^rd to 26^th.  This was a first for me and also for Lorna.  The retreat was held at the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine in Toronto, which is an Anglican order (yes there are Anglican monastic orders).  The subject of the retreat was a Christmas theme, Images of the Nativity.  It was led by one of the members of the order, Sister Constance (Connie)It used the method of Lectio Divina and Visio Divina.  I was aware of Lectio Divina as a spiritual practice; this means divine reading (things do always sound more mysterious and esoteric when you use Latin).  It is a method of engaging a text (scripture or other writings) to go more deeply into it and explore how it speaks to you.  I was not aware of Visio Divina.  However, it uses the same technique to explore images i.e. pictures and icons rather than text. 

As I noted, in the retreat we used a method which combined both approaches.  We took a scripture passage related to the nativity and explored it using the Lectio Divina method as a group (also a first for me).  Then we engaged with an image which had that narrative as its subject.  For instance, staying with Epiphany which we celebrated yesterday, we engaged with the account of the visit of the magi in Matthew and then engaged with a painting of the event.

There are the steps we followed in both taken from the material provided in the retreat:

Lectio Divina

First step:            Read or listen to the scripture “with an ear of your heart” as Benedict would say.

Second Step:      Meditate – notice what you hear or read, what words or phrases or images jump out at you, and consider their meaning.

Third Step:          Pray – speak to God about your response to the scripture; ask what God desires of you – or desires to show you in the scripture; listen for any words from God, or feelings that may speak of what God is drawing you towards or away from.

Fourth Step:       Rest in God’s presence, perhaps aware of the scripture you have read/heard but not evaluating or thinking about it.

Visio Divina

First Step:            Gaze -  look slowly, over a period of time “with the eye of the heart”

Second Step:      Meditate – notice what you see; write it down in your journal without putting an interpretation on it.

Third Step:          Pray – Speak to God about what you have seen and its meaning for you – or draw you response to the painting, asking God to reveal what God desires you to see.

Fourth Step:       Rest in God’s presence looking at the painting momentarily but inwardly gazing on God.

Here are the scripture passage and the image which we engaged with in the retreat.

Matthew 2:1-12 The Visit of the Wise Men

2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men* from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,* and have come to pay him homage.’ 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah* was to be born. 5They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who is to shepherd* my people Israel.” ’

7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men* and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,* until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped,* they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

                                               James Tissot, Journey of the Magi ca. 1894