:: TEACHING #3 & 4 Summary
For reading the literal voice of the text it is necessary to respectfully
ascertain the objective revelation of the text, nature or experience. We study
what it says, or what happened. We use all the tools of literature and get at
the obvious meaning of the event. Without doing this work we risk missing the
new consciousness it raises and the depth of God’s grace intended for us.
The literal sense of the reader is the normal “reading” skills along with our
ordinary senses. We use our mind’s eye to understand what the writer is trying
to convey. We pause and step out of our patterns of thinking and look
objectively at this in-breaking text or event. We grasp what it is trying to say
to us.
Next month we will consider the second level of lectio divina: the second voice
of the text is the symbolic meaning hidden underneath the literal voice (first
level). We grasp this second level through our esthetical senses that are tuned
to the intuitive symbolic mediums of art, music, poetry, etc.
Take courage. This is a lifetime of wonderful study, reflection, and yes,
contemplation!
Sister Meg |
