Lectio Divina

I have heard of the lectio divina reading before. But I had only heard of doing it in reference to scripture. So doing this with a piece of literature was a different experience for me. But it does strike me how you can read something one time and read it again and get a new meaning out of the text.

Francis X. McAloon talks about his experience in Reeading for Transformation through the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. He first encountered Gerard Manley Hopkins, a English Jesuit poet, in his English Literature class. In his first encounter with this author he struggled to comprehend Hopkins writings. Francis then encounters the same author later in his life when he is doing his doctoral studies. He then to began practicing Lectio Divina, focusing upon a sonnet or stanza from Hopkins’ corpus.  Francis developed a new appreciation for poetry and his practice of lectio with his poetry. It became a spiritual practice for him.   

I am still sometimes amazed how I can read something one time and then read it again and it mean something completely different or I get a whole new meaning out of it. Like sometimes when I read scripture I may read a verse or passage one time and then read it again later and it have a meaning to me that I didn’t comprehend before.

Although I don’t think I would personally practice lectio divino very often I do think it can be useful to do sometimes. I think it is hard for me to just sit down and read for transformation rather than read just to get the reading done with. I feel that sometimes my life does not allow time to do so. But I am beginning to realize the importance of taking time to read for more than just accomplishing a to do list.

“When a poem touches us deeply, in whatever way and for whatever reason, our existential horizon of understanding expands in some way” (Fracis X. McAloon).