Lectio Divina

by Fr Jean Celestin Ngoma

 

Prayer for Stillness

Still the restlessness of my youth: still that hunger that would have me be everywhere, that hunger to be connected to everyone, that wants to see and taste all that is, that robs me of peace on a Friday night.  Quiet those grandiose dreams that want me to stand out, to be special.  Give me the grace to live more contentedly inside my own skin.

(Ron Rolheiser)

 

1. Lectio (Read)

 

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight[a] the way of the Lord’, as the prophet Isaiah said.” (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

St John 1:19-27, ESVUK

 

Silence

 

I choose the sacred phrase “Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness” to help me focus on the presence of Jesus during my prayer.

 

 

2. Meditatio (Rejoice and Reflect)

 

The vocation of John the Baptist to make straight the way of the Lord, reminiscing the prophecy of Isaiah, echoes that his contemporaries have gone astray, diverting their mind towards things that were foreign to their faith. The Greek word ευθυνω (euthuno), meaning to straighten, primary conveys the idea of making things publicly available, visible without compulsion to hidden agendas or of a call to focus on a specific goal without bumping into things.

This simple semantics make me think about what distracts my ascension to the heavenly values here on earth, my spiritual clumsiness in life, lack of motivation and need of the Lord to reassess my direction.

Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness…

 

Silence

 

I image Christian life as being a journey, and the proper use of one's mind is crucial in navigating in it successfully and in reaching its ultimate goal, which is Jesus’s mind. 

At the first station, I imaginatively read:

“What Do You Gain If You Win the World But Lose your Soul?” (St Matthew 16:26).

At the second station, I contemplate the words of Philippians 4:8:

“brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”.

At the third station, I contemplate the words of Proverbs 30:5:

“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him”.

Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness…

 

 

3. Oratorio (Ask and Pray)

 

I try to visualise something in my mind, something about the mind of Christ and what is happening in my mind.

 

Pause

 

What are my doubts and internal struggles in my mind?

When I wake up during this week, instead of saying what am I doing today, let me shift the question and contemplate the image of John the Baptist pointing Jesus to me and ask: can I have the mind of Christ today? How can I resemble Him?

Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness…

 

Silence

 

I reflect on moments in which I fail to have internal peace, and how I turn to self-help books or mindfulness exercises in search of healing and peace.

I also equally thought how those books fed my mind and how the solution for inner fulfilment lay not in external changes, activities, but reading the Holy Scripture.  Jesus Christ, the fulfilment of the Scriptures, can heal my mind with His eternal words of wisdom.

Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness…

 

 

4. Contemplatio (Yield and Pray)

 

I yield and let John the Baptist point Jesus to me to steal my restlessness.

I yield and let him speak to my inner world, asking me to straighten my life and to prepare my soul for the coming of the Lord Jesus.

I yield and let John the Baptist’s call for preparation, a call to a spiritual shift, ground in my mind this week.

Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness…

 

Pause

 

Lord Jesus point out to me what is worthy in my life.  Point out to me what is true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and virtuous in my life today.

Let me not be swallowed by pride.

Let me hold fast to humility, the root of every good work.

Protect me from what that robs me of peace during this week

 

Silence

 

As a way to look toward tomorrow with confidence, I read and internalise an ancient exhortation of St. Gregory the Great.  I take it as my weekly prayer intention:

Pay not heed to the things in which you are better than others, but to those in which you are worse; so that while you keep before you the example of those that are better than yourself, you may, through humility, be enabled to ascend to greater things, by the bountiful mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen.

 Point Jesus to me to still my restlessness…

 

Silence

 

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