Listen with the ear of your heart.

Listen with the ear of your heart Benedictine Reflections on Accepting the Embrace of God

Spiritual Guidance for Daily Life

BENEDICTINE TRADITION The Benedictine tradition predates the divisions that continue to afflict Christianity. In the sixth century, the Benedictine emphasis on prayer and community offered hope in a war-torn world. Today people from many Christian denominations are discovering practical wisdom for daily life in the Rule of Saint Benedict. The monastic communities of Saint John’s and Saint Benedict’s provide a prayerful context for training in the ancient and yet modern art of listening to God in our lives.

Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction A program of 12 credits in core theology and 10 credits in the art and skills of spiritual direction, including an 8-month practicum.

Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary Collegeville, Minnesota offered in collaboration with Saint Benedict’s Monastery St. Joseph, Minnesota See inside back cover for more information.

Contents Introduction: Accepting the embrace of God

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In the beginning: God first loved us

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Through loving self-communication, God seeks friendship with us

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God deeply desires that we freely choose to respond to this offer

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God is present in all our human experience

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God’s communication is always loving and for our good

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We are free to either accept or resist God’s invitation

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Grace enables us to grow in inner freedom

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Chapter topics inspired by the work of Mary Ann Scofield, RSM (1926-2012), Mercy Center, Burlingame, CA (Theological Assumptions of Spiritual Direction)

Introduction: Accepting the embrace of God THE ANCIENT ART OF LECTIO DIVINA

by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB

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hoose a text of the Scriptures that you wish to pray.

Many Christians use in their daily lectio divina one of the readings from the Eucharistic liturgy for the day; others prefer to slowly work through a particular book of the Bible. It makes no difference which text is chosen, as long as one has no set goal of “covering” a certain amount of text: the amount of text “covered” is in God’s hands, not yours.

Place yourself in a comfortable position and allow yourself to become silent. Some Christians focus for a few moments on their breathing; other have a beloved “prayer word” or “prayer phrase” they gently recite in order to become interiorly silent. For some the practice known as “centering prayer” makes a good, brief introduction to lectio divina. Use whatever method is best for you and allow yourself to enjoy silence for a few moments.

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LECTIO – READING/LISTENING

Then turn to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the “still, small voice” of a word or phrase that somehow says, “I am for you today.” Do not expect lightning or ecstasies. In lectio divina God is teaching us to listen to Him, to seek Him in silence. He does not reach out and grab us; rather, He softly, gently invites us ever more deeply into His presence.

MEDITATIO – MEDITATION

Next take the word or phrase into yourself. Memorize it and slowly repeat it to yourself, allowing it to interact with your inner world of concerns, memories and ideas. Do not be afraid of “distractions.” Memories or thoughts are simply parts of yourself which, when they rise up during lectio divina, are asking to be given to God along with the rest of your inner self. Allow this inner pondering, this rumination, to invite you into dialogue with God.

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ORATIO – PRAYER

Then, speak to God. Whether you use words or ideas or images or all three is not important. Interact with God as you would with one who you know loves and accepts you. And give to Him what you have discovered in yourself during your experience of meditatio. Experience yourself as the priest that you are.

Experience God using the word or phrase that He has given you as a means of blessing, of transforming the ideas and memories which your pondering on His word has awakened. Give to God what you have found within your heart.

CONTEMPLATIO – CONTEMPLATION

Finally, simply rest in God’s embrace. And when He invites you to return to your pondering of His word or to your inner dialogue with Him, do so. Learn to use words when words are helpful, and to let go of words when they no longer are necessary.

Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.

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Sometimes in lectio divina one will return several times to the printed text, either to savor the literary context of the word or phrase that God has given, or to seek a new word or phrase to ponder. At other times only a single word or phrase will fill the whole time set aside for lectio divina. It is not necessary to anxiously assess the quality of one’s lectio divina as if one were “performing” or seeking some goal: lectio divina has no goal other than that of being in the presence of God by praying the Scriptures.

The author considers this article to be in the Public Domain. This article may therefore be downloaded, reproduced and distributed without special permission from the author. It was first published in the Spring, 1990 (vol.1, no.1) edition of Valyermo Benedictine. http://www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html

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In the beginning: God first loved us PSALM 139

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Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

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If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.

v. 1-18, NRSV

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Through loving self-communication, God seeks friendship with us

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n March 18, 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky, Thomas Merton had a vision of oneness with all people. He called this vision an epiphany.

“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness… “This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud…

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“I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this!

But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.�

Merton, Thomas, OCSO. Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. pp. 153-155

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God deeply desires that we freely choose to respond to this offer SAINT BENEDICT: THIRSTING FOR THE LIVING GOD

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enedict’s desire for God was the primary motivation of his life. This desire is the echo of God’s longing for us. To speak so movingly of God’s desire for us as Benedict does in the Prologue of the Rule, often in the words of the Scriptures, he must have experienced it deeply. He was aware that every day, and every moment of the day, light is coming to us from God; God’s voice is calling out to us in many ways saying: Do not harden yourself, but “listen … with the ear of your heart” (Rule, Prologue 1).God’s light is always showing us and God’s voice is always telling us: “I love you. I long for you. Turn to me. I will give you true and lasting life. Pay attention to the longing for me in your heart. Your longing echoes my desire for you.”

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God’s love, God’s light, God’s voice touch us in many different ways. We hear God speak in Scripture and in liturgy. We see God in another’s eyes, hear God in another’s voice. Whenever we are touched by love, beauty or truth, we are in some way touched by God. Sometimes we are touched by God directly from within.

Benedict responded to God’s loving touch by seeking out solitude in a cave for three years. Though that response is not possible or appropriate for most of us, our interior surrender to God in the solitude of our heart in prayer can be just as complete and effective.

Howard, Katherine, OSB. Praying with Benedict. Winona, Minnesota: Saint Mary’s Press, 1996, p. 33.

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God is present in all our human experience LECTIO DIVINA ON LIFE

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n the ancient tradition lectio divina was understood as being one of the most important ways in which Christians experience God in creation. After all, the Scriptures are part of creation! If one is daily growing in the art of finding Christ in the pages of the Bible, one naturally begins to discover Him more clearly in aspects of the other things He has made. This includes, of course, our own personal history.

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Our own lives are fit matter for lectio divina. Very often our concerns, our relationships, our hopes and aspirations naturally intertwine with our pondering on the Scriptures, as has been described above. But sometimes it is fitting to simply sit down and “read” the experiences of the last few days or weeks in our hearts, much as we might slowly read and savor the words of Scripture in lectio divina. We can attend “with the ear of our hearts” to our own memories, listening for God’s gentle presence in the events of our lives. We thus allow ourselves the joy of experiencing Christ reaching out to us through our own memories. Our own personal story becomes “salvation history.”

Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB The author considers this article to be in the Public Domain. This article may therefore be downloaded, reproduced and distributed without special permission from the author. It was first published in the Spring 1990 (vol.1, no.1) edition of Valyermo Benedictine. http://www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html

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God’s communication is always loving and for our good HUMILITY IS TRUTH

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umility is a beautiful quality to find in a person. It is a characteristic feature of those who have not forgotten their roots. The word humility is related to the word humus and points to a connectedness with the earth and, by extension, with all that inhabits the earthly sphere...

Humble people are down to earth; they are not alienated from their own nature. They accept their origins and are content to be what they are.

Casey, Michael, OCSO. A Guide to Living in the Truth: St. Benedict’s Teaching on Humility. Missouri: Liguori, p. 1.

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Humility is truth. As humble persons we accept both our gifts and our limitations.

The fruit of humility is naturalness, accepting the grace to be ourselves.

We gladly accept our creaturehood in relationship with God. This self-acceptance is expressed particularly in acceptance, forgiveness and patience for others and in readiness to serve others and God.

Adapted from Michael Casey, A Guide to Living in the Truth.

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We are free to either accept or resist God’s invitation CONVERSATIO MORUM (CONVERSION OF LIFE)

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onversatio is about the paschal mystery of death and life as it is lived out daily for a lifetime.

Conversatio is about being broken and renewed, being overwhelmed and being raised up.

It is willingness to suffer and be utterly confused, because we have learned that is one way God leads us into the encounter with brand new life. Conversatio is about being in the hands of the living God, the God who always surprises us, always shatters our expectations, the God who surpasses our imaginations.

If we would see and love the Real, there must first be a rupture, a break, a conversion of the tissues of the heart.1

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Although we know by faith that this rupture is always a response to God’s initiative in our lives, we must still suffer the painful losses involved.

Dare we begin to share… these painful and disrupting fires of our hearts, so that together we begin to discern the shape of the Spirit working among us all?

Quoted from Norvene Vest, OblSB, “Monastics and Oblates: Mutual Blessings,” a talk given at the (Benedictine) North American Oblate Directors’ Meeting, July 1999.

1 Panikkar, Raimundo. Blessed Simplicity. Seabury, 1982.

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Grace enables us to grow in inner freedom

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pause to stay with this moment, to sense the freedom growing within,

As I gaze upon myself as God gazes upon me and loves me, Inviting me to become my own compassionate witness: Pausing to notice, to own, to be with my feelings, intuitions, desires, Reflecting with increasing self-awareness and understanding, Participating in God’s creation-embracing love by choosing self-compassion and compassion for all.

In this place I find the strength to confess my truth to a trusted other,1 The freedom to be known, to rest in the light of God.

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In this place I find the strength to acknowledge my brokenness,2 The freedom to forgive myself and others.

This grace of self-compassion is pure gift, received in gentle gratitude, From the One who embraces all creatures in a never-ending love.

Amen

Becky Van Ness, OblSB Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary Collegeville, Minnesota 1 The Rule of Benedict 4:50 The manifestation of thoughts to another is one of the practices of good works.

2 The Rule of Benedict 7:44 The 5th degree of humility is radical self-honesty.

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Listen with the ear of your heart Let us arise, then, at last, for scripture stirs us up, saying, “Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep.”

(Rom. 13:11)

Let us open our eyes to the deifying light, Let us hear with attentive ears the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us, “Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

(Ps. 94[95]:8)

The Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue 8-10

ABBEY CHURCH BELL TOWER

SACRED HEART CHAPEL

SAINT JOHN’S ABBEY

SAINT BENEDICT’S MONASTERY

Spiritual Direction graduate certificate program

ON-CAMPUS REQUIREMENTS

Three summers of 3‐week sessions

hybrid 1-credit prayer class meets the weekend before first session COURSEWORK OPTIONS • 22 total credits

1 credit on campus or hybrid course prior to first summer Practice of Discernment in Prayer

9 credits online or on campus throughout program Spirituality Prayer Scripture

9 credits on campus

summer or academic year Dynamics of Spiritual Direction Ministry course Integrating Spiritual Direction (summer session only)

3 credits at approved site

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For more information: collegevilleMN.com Becky Van Ness, Director, Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary Saint John’s University Collegeville, MN 56321 (320) 363-3559 | gradschool@csbsju.edu

“We believe that the divine presence is everywhere.”

Rule of Benedict, 19.1

Lectio Divina

Hospitality

prepares us to read life as sacred story

opens us to receiving the other as Christ

Stability

Continual Conversion

teaches us to be present to our experiences

becomes a life-long commitment

Book edited by Becky Van Ness, Director Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction Saint John’s School of Theology Collegeville MN 56321