Lectio Divina Reading
November 4, 2004
Romans 5:5-11
Brothers and sister; Hope does not disappoint, because the love for God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his Blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God though our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
On Centering Prayer
"We cannot completely trust any of The Fathers. Each is conditioned by his times and culture in some degree. ...
"We have to know how to read The Fathers and to bring them into critical relationship with later writers and with modern psychology, exercising some caution in regard to the recommendations of Writers who did not have that knowledge.…
"What the Desert Fathers did was to practice continuous prayer long enough to realize that to persevere required a method. The method that they followed to get to
the inner chamber was the repetition of a particular verse like, ‘O God, come to my assistance.’ The original monks intuited … that a structured life was not enough for growth in prayer. There had to be added an interior practice."
Lectio Divina
for CP Groups
Contemplative Outreach of Dallas