Sunday
I invite us to read the Old Testament and the New Testament as one complete book: an anthology of inspired stories, with a beginning, middle, and end. Read it as one Spirit-led text.
—Richard Rohr
Monday
To read the Scriptures as an act of faith means that the words of the living God are on your lips. The power of God’s words works as leaven in the heart, awakening us to a personal experience of the presence of God that Scripture reveals.
—James Finley
Tuesday
Unlike reading for content, lectio divina approaches the text as a form of prayer, guiding us closer to union with the Holy One.
—Beverly Lanzetta
Wednesday
To use biblical text in a spiritual way—as Jesus did—is to allow it to convert you, to change you, to grow you up as you respond: What does this ask of me? How might this apply to my life, to my family, to my church, to my neighborhood, to my country, and even the world?
—Richard Rohr
Thursday
When we open the Bible, we read it in light of the way we look at things. We come to Scripture with a heart and mind shaped by our global culture and local history.
—James Wilhoit and Evan Howard
Friday
Our commitment to visio divina and seeing the world as a sacred text, and everything as worthy of our attention and presence, rather than divided between what is “ugly” and “beautiful,” means that we might begin to see this as true within our own hearts as well.
—Christine Valters Paintner
Week Twenty-Four Practice
Awaken the Prophet Within
We invite you to engage in a guided practice of lectio divina with Isaiah 61:1–2a.
God has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Deep reading (lectio): Read slowly and pause on any word or phrase that especially speaks to you, touches you or awakens something in you.
Deep meditation (meditatio): Allow yourself time to reflect on whatever in the text calls to your attention and reflect on why that word or phrase might have such appeal to you.
Deep prayer (oratio): Turn your thoughts into an intention, desire, or request that you share with God as you understand God.
Deep contemplation (contemplatio): Rest into a time of silence in which you are receptive to God’s presence—or the presence of divine love, truth, and goodness—with you. [1]
References:
[1] Adapted from “Lectio Divina Instructions,” CAC’s Living School: Introduction to Engaged Contemplation, Center for Action and Contemplation, 2024. Unavailable.
“Awaken the Prophet Within: A Lectio Divina Practice from Richard Rohr’s The Tears of Things,” March 12, 2025, Center for Action and Contemplation, YouTube video, 8:45.
Image credit and inspiration: Annie Spratt, untitled (detail), 2018, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Through the stillness of our witnessing, word and image become thresholds—stirring the unseen and inviting Spirit to speak through the quiet bloom of our attention.
