A Quick Thought: Cultivating a Spiritual Practice
Lectio Divina
According to Rev. Therese Bimka, One Spirit’s former Director of the Interspiritual Counseling Program (“ISC,” now known as the Interspiritual Counseling and Companioning Program or “ISCC”), the definition of Lectio Divina is:
Lectio Divina: The Contemplative practice of using literature to touch the Divine. Find a book on love, on relationship, on the heart, etc., and use that book as a contemplative teacher. Set up a sitting area where you drop into prayer, ask for healing and guidance, and open the book "randomly" to any page. Read the text, meditate some more and journal.
My Lectio Divina ritual is focused on preparing both the heart and the mind to receive God’s word. Recently, I decided to use A Course In Miracles (New Third Edition) for the sacred text. I chose this book because I had not read much of it since I studied it in seminary. I know Rev. Diane Berke, One Spirit Interfaith Seminary founder, is a scholar of this work. I have heard her speak highly of its teachings on God’s love, forgiveness, and humankind’s relationship to Spirit, and the illusion that we are separate from the Divine. The book, often known by its abbreviation, ACIM, offers much food for thought.
I have practiced Lectio Divina in other forms in the past (from casual nighttime reading of a religious work just before bed, to the more formal reciting of biblical texts recto tono (i.e., chanted or sung on one note) as a form of morning prayer). Before I begin, I prepare my space. I place a pen and a notebook, a glass of water, a candle and a small pillow, on a small table near my comfy chair in my living room. First, using an essential oil (I choose sandalwood for its cleansing properties), I gently anoint my forehead, lips and heart, the doorways to the room I am in, a sacred icon painting of the Madonna and Child in our living room, and if anyone else is present (often my husband Wai), their foreheads as well. As I do so, I pray softly to myself, “Holy Spirit, Giver of Wisdom and Strength, bless us, and open up our hearts and minds to receive the word of God.”
I then light the candle, turn on some soft music (I often use Direct TV’s Satellite Music Streaming Service, Sonic Tap, and tune it to Channel 856, the New Age music channel), sit comfortably in my big chair, and place the pillow on my lap. I then raise the book above my head, praying softly, “Behold the Word of God, may I be open to receive it. Ashe, Ho, ‘So be it,’ Shalom, Peace, Amen.” I gently bring the book down onto the pillow, and open it to a random page. Without looking at the book, I raised my right hand up over the text, palm down, extended a finger, and bring it down onto a page. I then look down and read the passage from the beginning at wherever my finger landed, all the way to the end of that page.
After reading, I pause, close my eyes, and meditate on the words I just read, slowly letting them drift in and out of my conscious mind. After about 15 minutes, I journal for a few minutes in the notebook, trying not to be too intellectual or too deep, but reflecting on the themes in a more “stream of consciousnesses” fashion. Before closing the book and returning it to its place on the shelf, I would extinguish the candle, using my hands in One Spirit tradition to waft the smoke toward the heavens. While doing so praying, “Thank you, God, for your word and wisdom. May I be blessed and enlightened in the days ahead by the meaning and message you have placed in my heart. “Ashe, Ho, ‘So be it,’ Shalom, Peace, Amen.”
The most wonderful thing I have experienced recently about this exercise was that almost every passage I landed on over the course of a week was about forgiveness (Starting with Lesson 46, “God is the Love in Which I Forgive”), specifically about the importance of forgiving one’s self (“Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusion.”), and how doing so prepares one for finding and accepting the path that God has prepared for us (“The Holy Spirit will teach you to perceive beyond your belief,” The Unbelievable Belief, Verse VIII.6). And this: “Each herald of eternity speaks of the end of sin and fear.” (Chapter 20, The Vision of Holiness, V.2). Hark, the herald angels do indeed sing!
Journaling each night, my reflections often relate to the meaning of each passage and how it made sense to my life in the present moment. Sometimes it is more about how I might serve God’s people in ministry in the near future, and at other points it may speak about what the future may hold. I reflected on the gifts God has given me, and the ways I serve his people now, at this moment. My reflections reveal how much I am deserving of forgiveness, and how important it is to love and to forgive oneself.
Most recently, the revealed passage was the middle paragraph on page 529 of ACIM, Third Edition:
The grace of God rests gently on forgiving eyes, and everything they look on speaks of him to the beholder. He can see no evil, nothing in the world to fear, and no one who is different from himself. And as he loves them, so he looks upon himself with love and gentleness. He would no more condemn himself for his mistakes than damn another.
I journaled in response:
May God forgive me as I forgive myself, for all of my shortcomings this past year. This new year, may I look upon all beings with loving kindness, and extend that same loving kindness to myself. May I be patient and listening to my “self”, as I would be patient and listen to others. By holding this sacred space for myself, may God plant a vision, a mission, a journey in my mind and in my heart, so that I may hear. And Oh, I do hear – I hear the Voice of the Divine Mother, saying, “Serve all beings with loving kindness -- all of the rest of your days.”
“Ashe, Ho, ‘So be it,’ Shalom, Peace, Amen.”