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Tower Topics ~ Fall 2006 |
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Friendship with God
Greetings of peace from Conception Abbey. In the first year of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has spoken on several occasions about the importance of developing, enlivening, and sustaining a friendship with God as the key to a wholesome and enriching spiritual life. At first such an expression as friendship with God can take us off-guard. What does it mean to have a personal friendship with God? One way to understand this is to consider what it means on a human level. When we want to develop a friendship with someone, we know it demands time spent with the individual. Also it means getting to know the other person by listening to his or her ideas, values, hopes and struggles. When there is a resonance of shared hopes and values, grounds for friendship are established. We want to spend time with the other person to draw from his or her goodness and to share something of ourselves with the other person. These avenues to human friendship can also show us a way to friendship with God.
The early practice of Sacred Reading was rather fluid with a variety of approaches. Then in the 12th century the prior of the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse in France, Guigo II, developed a four-fold method that has continued to this day. It includes Lectio (reading), Meditatio (meditation or reflection), Oratio (prayer), and Contemplatio (contemplation). A brief description of each of these practices of the method follows. Lectio (Reading). When a person reads the Scriptures, it is not like reading the newspaper, a magazine, a novel, or even a serious piece of literature. The Scriptures are to be read slowly, very slowly, over and over again. The great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, gives a vivid image of this when he talks about reading the Scriptures as being similar to “a cow chewing on her cud.” Slowly, over and over again, as if to memorize the Scripture passage or verse before us. Meditatio (Meditation, Reflection). In meditating upon the Scriptures, we go to the heart of the message of the words. We draw on our experiences of faith in life to see where there is a resonance with the words of Scripture. The Jewish philosopher and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel says that “To meditate is to know how to stand still and to dwell upon a word.” By this we mean that each and every word can convey to us a meaning that both explains the passage of Scripture and reflects our experience of faith. Such reflection is a work of the heart. The reading of the word of God slowly and repeatedly prepares the heart to draw out new and inspiring meaning for our lives. St. Gregory the Great was fond of reminding his monks that “No one can ever plumb the depths of the word of God; it remains a treasure ever to be found with new and wondrous nourishment for the soul.” Oratio (Prayer). After meditating on the word of God, we pray from the word. If we understand prayer as communication with God, we then respond to what we have first heard God speak to us. As God speaks to us in the divine word, our prayer is a response to the divine initiative of God addressing us. It is especially in prayer that friendship with God is developed and nurtured. So often we begin prayer to God with our list of needs and desires. But in Lectio Divina we listen to God first, and then we respond to what God has first spoken to us. This is why some call Sacred Reading appropriately “Prayed Reading of Scripture.” Such an approach truly teaches us how to pray and what to pray for. Contemplatio (Contemplation). In contemplation, we rest in the word that God has spoken to us and in our response to its message. Contemplation is the echo of God’s word and of our prayer that lingers in our hearts; we keep it alive by entering into its meaning ever more deeply. In the end, we see how friendship with God is nurtured by this kind of reading of Sacred Scripture. For centuries this is how Benedictines have sought after God’s will, by listening to the divine voice and responding to it in faith. I hope it can be a way of strengthening your relationship with God in a personal way that keeps us growing in the ways of God’s Spirit who fills the word with divine love and peace. Sincerely in Christ, We welcome your comments: |
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Dear Friends,
How do we listen to God? One way is through the Sacred Scriptures, the word of God, the Bible. Our faith tells us that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God to us, a means by which God continues to speak to us in our own day and age. Part of the spirituality associated with Benedictines is the practice of Lectio Divina, sometimes called Sacred Reading or Prayed Reading. This manner of reading the Scriptures is something which, I believe, encourages friendship with God. This manner of reading, reflecting, and praying from the Scriptures has its roots in the early centuries of the Church, and has continued to this day. It is practiced in Benedictine monasteries throughout the world.