June 2006

May the Risen Lord give you His Holy Spirit! June is the month devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Last time I wrote about the reading of the Sacred Scripture, this month I would like to mention a method of prayerfully reading the Bible called Lectio Divina - Divine Reading. As Catholics, we have an deep reverence and love for God's Word. When we prayerfully read the Bible we are able to hear our Heavenly Father speak a word to our heart. This was a key experience in the lives of so many saints (read about St. Francis here).

I heartily encourage you to include some time for Lectio Divina in your daily prayer life. To start you need a good translation, for English I recommend the Ignatius Bible (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition - RSVCE). Go to a quiet secluded place and begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit for the grace to hear what the Lord wants to say. Next, you slowly read and reread a small portion of the Bible. Lastly, you allow for silence in order to ponder the word. You end with a prayer from the heart inspired by what you sense the Lord has said. For more on the "how to" of Lectio Divina I have included some good links below...

• A message from Pope Benedict XVI including Lectio Divina.
• Sacred Reading by Michael Casey. A good book on the topic.
• A helpful article on Lectio Divina by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.
• A short article on Lectio Divina found at Wikipedia.org.
• Prayer Primer, an excellent book by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.
• Sacred Scripture in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

We are praying for you and your discernment everyday, especially on Wednesdays. Let us set our hands to the plow in the Lord's vineyard and not look back! "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor" (1 Cor 3:8).