We read                                 Lectio
under the eye of God           Meditatio
until the heart is touched    Oratio
and leaps into flame.           Contemplatio     ~ Dom Marmion

He does not always remain bent over his pages; he often leans back and closes his eyes over a line he has been reading again, and its meaning spreads through his blood. ~ from The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke

Lectio Poetica: An Explanation

A spiritual practice that has become popular in recent years for persons and groups outside the monastic life is Lectio Divina, literally, Divine Reading. It is distinguished from the practice of Lectio Continua (continuous reading) in which a monk alone or aloud with his/her monastic community would read a passage from scripture sequentially, for example, during lunch and/or dinner over a period of days or weeks, picking up where they left off at the last reading.

In contrast to Lectio Continua, Lectio Divina encourages a slow reading of a passage from a sacred text in which the reader stops at the first point in which a word or phrase or sentence grabs the reader’s attention or heart, perhaps subtly waves them over or more urgently and forcefully stops them in their tracks, inviting meditative pondering, a prayerful response, and then sitting in quiet contemplative stillness before God.

Lectio Divina is praying with scripture. Unlike bible study in which exigetes break open the scriptures to examine things like historical context, authorship, audience, original intent and meaning, Lectio Divina involves being broken open by the word. The reader is in actuality an intentionally susceptible “pray-er” and the reading is a deep listening to the voice of God in and through the sacred text in light of one’s present life. As such, it invites an intimate encounter with the Divine through the agency of the Word. Originally a practice of individual monks alone in their cell or in the garden or woods or while walking slowly, it has become a common communal practice in which a circle of companions listen reflectively to a series of readings of the same passage, eventually inviting reflection on a particular word or phrase or line that spoke to them.

At times over the years, I have expanded the sources I use for personal and group lectio beyond the Jewish-Christian scriptures traditionally used. In The Human & the Holy, the spiritual formation community I have led for the past fourteen years, I have found certain poems, when read with the same prayerful spirit as in Lectio Divina, to be effective and powerful entrees into contemplative prayer (not to mention mutually beneficial conversation). It should be noted that no absolute truth claims of divine inspiration or revelation are being made of the poetry, nor am I making any less of a claim of a poem’s capacity to evoke awe, elicit gratefulness, and connect us to the Divine than do an exquisite sunset or a field of fireflies on a hot, summer night.

In this spirit, and with this intention — to invite rumination, quiet prayer, and contemplative stillness — from time to time here on The Almond Tree, I will offer poems for Lectio Poetica. Remember, you are not analyzing or even trying to understand “the meaning” of the poem. Rather, you are allowing one part of the poem to invite you into reflection and to work on you.

One way to do Lectio is to read the poem silently all the way through once followed by a pause. As you pause, close your eyes and just list words that you remember from the poem. After you have done this, open your eyes and read the poem a second time. This time read it aloud. Then pause again silently with your eyes closed seeing if any word stood out for you. Then read the passage for a third and final time. Read it aloud and see what word, phrase, or sentence catches your attention or evokes something within you. Then close your eyes and reflect on that sentence, phrase, or word. Why does it draw your attention today? What does it bring to mind? What are associations you have with it? What feelings does it bring up? Let your reflection and free association take you where the Spirit leads you. Consciously let God in as if you were sharing your thoughts, feelings, and responses with God. After you have done this for awhile (5-15 minutes), let this word, phrase, or sentence evoke a prayer within you. Depending on what is happening in your life at this moment, depending on what it was from the poem that caught your attention or your heart, depending on what came up during your quiet pondering, your prayer might be anything from one of gratitude, wonder, deep peace, or joy to worry, fear, anger, or sadness. Offer your prayer to God as honestly as possible. Speak aloud or silently what is in your heart.  End your time with silence. Simply sit in the presence of God’s love as if you were lying on the beach letting the warmth of the sun shine on you.♦

Our first poem for lectio comes from the American poet Anne Sexton (1928 – 1974) .

 Welcome Morning

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry “hello there, Anne,”
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard,
dies young.

~ Anne Sexton