As you go back for another reading of the text, carry with you any questions you want to ask Jesus as the story progresses. What don’t you understand? Where does this need to speak to you? Again, pay attention to a quiet, interior voice. Again, what comes to you may be surprising. Pay attention, nevertheless. Recently I was contemplatively reading the story of two sons: one who said he would obey his father and didn’t, the other who actually obeyed even when he said he wouldn’t. I entered the exercise knowing that God would likely chastise me for being disobedient. (I don’t have nearly the grace with myself that I generally have with you!) I was completely taken aback with a sentence formed in my head: “You have been obedient.” I actually said to myself, “That can’t be God”! To which the next sentence came: “Yes, it can!” I literally entered into a debate with the Holy Spirit about whether or not I had been obedient. I finally emerged with a recognition that, although my obedience has been far from perfect, God is more accepting of me than I am of myself and He does not judge me nearly so harshly.
St. Ignatius suggested that our encounter with God begins by carrying our mind from our head to our heart. This is not at all the same thing as meditative practices which teach us to get into our heart instead of our head. An encounter with God requires a sharp and attentive intellect informed with the character of God. Our head operates not as a filter but as an interpreter of what comes into the heart. The encounter with God takes place in the heart or, perhaps, better expressed, in the spirit. Our intellect comes along as a companion. If we only ever read the Bible with our head for the purpose of study and understanding, our faith will likely become dry and pedantic. If we only read with the heart, our faith will likely become sentimental and shallow. We need to study. We need inspiration. We need to contemplation and reflection. It’s important to learn all these ways of reading the Bible.
If you are asked to do a group devotional, leading the group through a Divine or Contemplative Reading makes an excellent group exercise. You will need to explain very carefully how to follow these steps. When you have led everyone through all the steps, simply ask what happened. Then listen to each other. Because we are much more used to Bible Study that more reflective reading, commonly people will begin to talk or ask about what the text actually means. It takes some self-discipline to not get distracted by those thoughts, but instead to ask, “What did you hear from God in this exercise?” Everyone needs to listen. This is not a time to explain the text or offer advice. (Why do we always want to fix anyone who tells us about their struggles?) It is a time to simply discern what God is saying and doing in each other’s lives. As with inspirational reading, reflective reading should not be confused with study. That God uses something in a text to speak to me today does not mean I have found the proper interpretation of that text. That is a whole other question. 8
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