Godly sense

By Nancy Shuman

 

St Peter Consecrates Stephen as Deacon by Fra Angelico
(Wikimedia Commons).

Recently I've been practicing lectio at Mass, praying with the readings before Mass begins.  If possible, I spend some time with these before leaving my house, and again when I get to Church.

And then, I have the most amazing opportunity.  I shudder to think of the times I've taken it for granted.  I can actually be in the physical presence of Christ Himself, and more than that:  I can receive Him.  I think I would faint were I to really grasp the fullness of this Truth.  I believe it is by the grace of God that He has gently veiled this unutterable Reality. 

Once in awhile, however, Our Lord gives us a glimmer of what's actually happening.  "Mass gave me such a joyful feeling," one of you wrote recently.  "I have not had that feeling at Mass in a very long time.  I felt an incredible sense of God's mercy flowing into me.  It made me feel such sorrow for my sins.  It was not a sad sorrow, like 'woe is me, I am so sinful.'  It was more like a sorrow wrapped in the joy of God's mercy.  If that makes sense."


Continue reading at Nancy's blog The Cloistered Heart.

Lectio to go

By Nancy Shuman

 


If I am to live "immersed in lectio" (i.e. in scripture), I must learn to take it with me wherever I go.  This is obviously a process, an "art" that cannot be mastered overnight.   

Years ago, I learned a way of carrying at least a touch of lectio with me... a way to cart chunks of the Bible around as I work and drive and (especially) face into the storms of life.  In recent weeks, I've been re-learning the value of this "portable lectio."  It does not replace time apart with God, for I need time with my Bible open and with my mind as concentrated as possible.  But I am greedy enough to want scripture with me, wherever I go.  I want God's word to shape me.  To mold my attitudes, soothe my worries and calm my fears.  I want scripture to form my thinking.  I want to carry it with me as much as possible.  So, in addition to taking with me parts of scripture that jumped out at me "this morning," I also memorize.  

Someone asked me, years ago, why anyone would bother memorizing verses of scripture when Bibles were so readily available?  Because, I answered, there may come a time when I might not have ready access to one.  I wasn't necessarily referring to anything apocalyptic, but to any times when I might want to "read" the Bible and wouldn't have one right in my hand.  Like once when I spent an hour in an MRI "tube" with nothing to think about but the blangs and clangs swirling around my head.  I was thankful, then, to have memorized a few chapters of scripture.  I practiced lectio right there, holding a mental, silent conversation with God as I lay in my metal enclosure....


Read the rest at Nancy's blog The Cloistered Heart.

God is at work in our prayer

By Nancy Shuman

Jesus Christ in Capernaum by Rodolfo Amoedo (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

As I've been praying, and writing about, and trying to live lectio divina over these last weeks, there is one part I'd almost forgotten.

Lectio is not a one sided activity.  I read, I talk to God, I commit to Him.  And then....

Something happens.

This is not always a "felt" something.  It may not be perceived by me at all.  But when I am speaking with Jesus and reading His Word and committing myself to live for Him, an amazing thing is going on.  Jesus is actually here.  Not just in my imagination, not by an act of wishful thinking, but He is genuinely here.

I can forget this breathtaking reality when my prayer has been dry or weighed down with distractions.  But Jesus is actually here, regardless of how I feel.  AND...

He is doing something.  Sometimes He brushes my spirit with His presence, sometimes He breathes a word of Scripture into my life, sometimes He lets me see a path I might be called to take.  But always He is here, and always He is acting.


Continue reading at Nancy's blog The Cloistered Heart.