Lectio Divina - Broken Bay Institute

Lectio Divina Praying the Scriptures in Lent and Holy Week 2011 Year ALectio Divina TogetherLectio is especially useful when it is shared with others. The basic pattern is thesame, but it is enriched by the sharing of the members of the group. It is stilla uniquely personal thing, but there is an appropriate sharing of the personalexperience. The following suggests a way of sharing lectio, but it should beapplied according to the desires of the group. Groups will fi nd their own uniqueway of doing lectio together. The following suggestions may be of assistance.If the members of the group have done a lectio on the text before the groupmeeting, the following suggestion could be followed. If not, there would needto be some times of silence for each member to process the particular stages.1. The opening prayer could be said by all.2. In the reading, it would be helpful for each member tocomment on what they have seen in the text. It often happensthat an individual see something that others have missed.It can help to get a better appreciation of the text.3. In the meditation, it would be helpful to respond to the four questionsproposed in this section. The comments of each should be seen as apersonal sharing of faith, not a contribution to a discussion. A prayerfulatmosphere needs to be maintained. Care needs to be taken that membersof the prayer group are not pressured to share beyond what they wish to.4. The prayer of each person is naturally very personal, but eventhat can be shared if the members of the group choose to do it.It can move the group to a deeper bond and create a contextin which the group can more easily engage in lectio.5. In the action stage, the members of the group could sharethe word, phrase or sentence they have chosen. It wouldnot be necessary to explain why they have chosen it.6. A concluding prayer could be shared by all.10