Lectio Divina

by Fr Jean Celestin Ngoma

Prayer for stillness

 

Holy Spirit, enable us to bring peace where there are opposition.

Allow a reflection of God’s compassion to become visible by the lives we lead.

Yes, show us how to love and to say it with our life.

(Brother Roger, Taizé)

 

1. Lectio (Read)

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’  But you have not known him.  I know him.  If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.  He saw it and was glad.”  So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

St John 8:48-end, ESVUK

 

Silence

 

I was nudged to meditate upon the phrases: “I do know him and I keep his word” and “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” I chose “Allow, O God, my reflection of Your revelation in history to become visible in my life" to direct my awareness of the presence of God during this meditation on the Word of Life.

 

 

2. Meditatio (Reflect)

Jesus reminds me here and now of his transcendence over time and space "Ego Eimi" (I am who I am) and the subsequent joy and confidence it gives me as His follower.  My Lord has overcome everything.  He helps me resist the stones of those who do not share His Father’s heart.

The words of Jesus in this passage remind me of the Nicene Creed we profess every Sunday whose 1700th anniversary we celebrate this year.

How is it sometimes difficult for me to understand and explain to myself some concepts of the Creed?

They are not always evident in my mind.

Allow, O God, a reflection of Your own revelation in history to become visible by the lives we lead.

I creatively imagine the divine Kingdom where God the Father and the Son share the same life, and exercise the same power. They act in collegiality and deserve the same honour.

All this is part of their common yet differentiated divine substance because the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father.

I metaphorically imagine the Trinity as a river with a stream flowing through a beautiful green forest.

The Father is the source from which everything springs. He shares His water with the river, His Son, but the Son is not the source.

Together with the Spirit, the Father and the Son fertilize the earth of my life, making me a new creation following Saint Paul’s words.

They want to make me more and more alive, even beyond my biological death.

Allow, O God, a reflection of Your revelation to humans in history to become visible in my life.

 

 

3. Oratorio (Rejoice and Ask)

The new life in Christ in me has an eternal dimension. It does not die as humans do. It also includes love in action and truth which should be lived out daily.

However, this divine life in me encounters obstacles, the first of which is the discrepancy between what I profess and what we do.

What do you want me to understand here oh Lord?

How many times have I failed to practice what I profess?

How many times have I failed to believe and trust God?

How many times have I failed to refresh and reconnect my body to your unchangeable divine network?

Allow, O God, a reflection of Your revelation in history to become visible in my life.

 

Pause

 

Dear Lord,

That inner rift, the veritable abyss into which I can fall or lose myself is real.  Let me be aware of it so that it may not develop into stony ground and thus become an obstacle to God’s action in me.

Allow, O God, a reflection of Your revelation in history to become visible in my life.

 

 

4. Contemplatio (Yield and Pray)

I silently want to meditate and recite the Nicene Creed.

Allow me God to become what I read and to be blessed by the Nicene creed, our profession of Faith.

 

Pray and continue:

 

Dear Lord, As I recite this Creed, let me immerse myself into the consubstantiality between Your Son and You.

 

Silence

 

The grace to ask for: The Holy Spirit helps me fill the gap between my words and actions and enables me to more and more unify my desires to God’s will.

 

Exit meditation
using the Nicene Creed