:: TEACHING #5 & 6 Summary
The second level of Lectio Divina is the meaning of the text of Scripture,
Nature or Personal Experience. We hear the symbolic voice with our aesthetical
senses.
The literal voice is met with my logical sense of the intellect. The symbolic
voice is met with my intuitive grasp that understands the mythos underneath the
logos level of the text.
To use our Pentecost example: For the literal voice I did exegesis going back to
all the references, footnotes and commentaries on the Pentecost Event. I wanted
to understand what each word meant and what really happened.
When I did the second level of Lectio Divina on Pentecost I meditated on
the references in the Hebrew Scriptures referred by the literal text and entered
into the meaning of Jesus sending his Spirit like the prophets of old and the
significance that now the reign of Christ Jesus had begun in us as now is the
time of fulfillment. I used my intuitive grasp to enter into the mystery of how
the Spirit descended like the wind and fire like great epiphanies or Theophanous
of old, e.g. Moses and the burning bush, Exodus, receiving the Law, Baptism in
the Jordan, Transfiguration.
Like most teachings they are best understood when one has had the personal
experience of doing this themselves. Next month we’ll move on to the Third
Level: Dynamic and moral voice of the text and ascetic sense of the reader.
This takes weeks, but be patient with a long loving look at your Lectio
Divina invitation whether it be a passage of Scripture, an event in nature,
or a personal experience. Stay with it as it has so much to teach some one
listening with the ear of her heart! |
