This past Tuesday, we read the Gospel of Jesus being called out by his mother and brothers:(Mark 3:31-35):

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.

With Lectio Divina, we learn to sit with the Word. We learn to ask the questions that well up in us. For instance, we might be surprised that Jesus had brothers? And sisters, maybe? Why is he so short with his mother? What are his priorities; doesn't his own mother come first?

So, we sit with our questions. That is pretty much part of the Meditatio step. We are asking God to sit with us and to listen to our questions. We trust that God will attend to our questions, confusion, puzzlement.

Sitting with the Word  will gently open us to God's perspective. God's Word is alive and is always trying to communicate with us.

You might note something gently stirring inside of you, some insights that slowly come to the surface of all your questions. It could go like this:
You remember that we have journeyed with Mark's Gospel for a couple of weeks now. Mark tells us about Jesus' first appearances and his impact on people. He calls them, he missions them, empowers them, lets them  know that they are now called "apostles". These apostles show us a remarkable ability: They are able to listen, They are sensitized, if you will, to Jesus' call. They are ready to respond immediately.

For me, in my lectio, a song by Sister Genevieve Glen, OSB, came up that I love very much, How Blest the Listening Heart:
"How blest the listening heart attuned to hear the silent voice..."
This is the beginning of the first verse. I am picturing the apostles as being those people, attuned to God's voice. How else would they have been able to respond so readily? Being attuned.

Further along in the song, in the third verse, it says,
"How blest the spirit stirred with gospel zeal
to build the vision seen and heard in prayer
into the living household of the Word
in Jesus Christ whose love is our desire."

Household of the Word. Is this the family Jesus is talking about? Jesus is creating a new understanding of relationships, of community. His family consists of those
- who let themselves be impacted by him
- who are attuned to his Word
- who are willing be part of the household of the Word
- who do the will of God

Lectio Divina always invites us delve deeper into the Word of God. There are times when certain Scriptures sort of linger with me. It is almost like they have gotten a hold of me and I find myself pondering them for several days. The beauty of the Liturgical Year is that Scriptures come by again. There is a rhythm of re-visiting. 

Last Sunday, John 1: 29-34 was read again. There is John the Baptist speaking about Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." The Lectio Divina process asks us to pick out one word or phrase that resonates with us. Well, for me it is the word "behold". 

Take a minute and sit with this word. 


                                   Behold

This word has always resonated with me. It speaks of gazing and looking intently. It seems to say, "Do not miss this!"

It also speaks of tender care, attentiveness, protection. That's why I picked this picture: These hands hold soil and the young plant, new life. What would it be like if you could hold God's Word like this? Behold God's Word? Cradle God's Word?

Beholding happens with all our faculties: Sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste. Behold the Word of God: 

See the Word
Hear the Word
Smell the Word
Touch the Word
Taste the Word

The Benedictine Way of Life is inviting us to behold God's Word. Isn't Lectio Divina that process of beholding?

Let's add it to the four Lectio Divina steps:

Reading - Behold as you read the Word
Meditatio - Behold as you ponder the Word
Oratio - Behold as you pray the Word
Contemplatio - Behold as you sit with the Word

With the New Year, we have started a new cycle of reading through the Rule of Benedict. You might know that the Rule begins with the Prologue, which reads like a poem and serves as a preview for the following chapters. It also sums up what the Benedictine Life is all about. 

The well-known phrase "Listening with the ear of your heart" can be found right in the first verse: "Listen carefully, my child, to the master's instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart."

This is how Benedict prefaces the Rule. This is also how this New Year 2014 has been prefaced and introduced to us by Benedict. 

Volumes have been written on this admonition and we can enjoy reading and pondering these good books. Let's explore how Benedict's words could set the tone for the year.


Listening with the ear of your heart - This is all about awareness. How do I notice God's presence, God's actions, God's way of communicating with me? This has to be a special way of being aware. It is the awareness that we call "prayer" or "meditation". This kind of awareness goes deep down into my very being. 
I would like to give you an example of such a meditation:

I have always liked the light the flame of a candle creates in a dark space. It is a warm light. It is intense and hot right there around the wick. It melts and consumes the wax. There is tremendous energy there! 


In the Easter Vigil, when the Easter candle is lit and the total darkness of night is permeated by that light, we sing, "Christ our Light!" Liturgy sharpens our awareness around the meaning of darkness, light and fire. 

Let's take this a little further: In the Emmaus Story (Luke 24:13-34), we are listening to a story of growing awareness. The disciples slowly become aware of the identity of the person walking with them. They realize:




“Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

I have taken you from the first verse of the Prologue all the way to Emmaus! Listening with the ear of  your heart takes us on such journeys of growing awareness. In this year 2014, what would it be like for you to listen with the ear of your heart as a spiritual practice, a way of praying? What would it be like to have your heart on fire and an ever growing appreciation of how God communicates with you?