Lectio Divina is a Latin phrase meaning ‘divine reading’. This is a form of meditating on the word of God that trains us to listen to His whisper speaking personally to our hearts, allowing His word to become one with us.
This is a reflective and repetitive way to read the Bible, that is not so much focused on becoming informed by the text but rather being transformed by it. It does not replace the other types of Bible reading – rather Lectio Divina adds depth and value to all other forms of Bible reading, facilitating a movement from our hearts to more active ways of wrestling with scripture.
Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
The four traditional steps of lectio divina are read (lectio), reflect (meditatio), ask (oratio) and yield (contemplatio). With Lectio 365, we use these steps and add ‘pause’ at the start, to help us shift our focus onto the presence of God. Together, they make our P.R.A.Y acronym that we use in Morning Prayers.
Lectio 365 devotionals are based on lectio divina.
Try a devotional to discover this ancient tool in practice.
In Lectio 365, we use Lectio Divina in Morning Prayers, but you can follow this tool to read the Bible yourself at any time, either individually or in a group.
We start by Pausing – we take a moment to breathe slowly and focus ourselves on God’s presence with us. We invite the Holy Spirit to come and guide us in our time of praying the Bible.
Then we Read the passage – slowly, out loud if you can. If you’re in a group, you could ask a couple of people to read the passage, with a minute of silence in between.
We Reflect, or meditate on the passage, and note down (or share, if in a group) a particular word or phrase that you noticed more than others during your reading. You can ponder what God might be saying to you through this – if in a group, only share the word or phrase at this stage.
You can re-read the passage, and further meditate on its meaning. In Pete Greig’s book How to Hear God, he shares three keys to meditation on the passage at this point – embracing interruption, exercising intuition and engaging imagination.
You can find out more about How to Hear God here.
Then, we Ask – this is where we ‘pray’ the text we have read. We can turn our reflections into prayer; this may be rejoicing, thanksgiving, adoration, repentance, intercession or petition. We can turn the thoughts or reflections that we had to God in prayer. If in a group, make space for people to pray short prayers of what God is saying to them through the passage.
Finally, we Yield – we surrender ourselves to the presence of God with us, and instead of rushing on to the next thing, we enjoy the moment of having spent this time with God and allow those words and prayers to sit with us. In a group, you can simply rest in God’s presence, and perhaps share how God is speaking to you. If there are common themes here, you could consider what an appropriate response might be.
There are many approaches to using the lectio divina in our daily lives. The Lectio 365 app follows this practice every day in morning prayers as a way to start the day with praying God’s word. You can download the app for free and join over 330,000 people using this ancient practice to connect with God.
If you want to find out more about the lectio divina, Pete Greig’s books How to Pray and How to Hear God both explore this practice further, and The Lectio Course is a 5-session guide on how to hear God’s voice.
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