Reflecting on today’s gospel (Matthew 21: 28-32) for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, our pastor, Fr. Paul Carlson, spoke of the words of the sons to their father, not matching the deeds. Even though one of the sons didn’t act on the words he spoke, affirming to the father he would follow the request to go work in the vineyard, the words themselves still had value. He, we hope, showed respect and obedience. The son that said he didn’t want to go to the field and work, but changed his mind and went, shows us the value of reflecting on the word or the instruction we hear in the words spoken and letting them impact our behavior. All of the words in scripture point out who Jesus was and what He asks of us, in our own lives. As we reflect on them, and comprehend the words, we allow them impact our behavior, and transform our lives.

How can we integrate this in daily life? As I spent some time reflecting on Fr. Carlson’s homily, I thought about some guided prayers I was recording for work this week. One was a Lectio Divina, another a guided contemplation or imaginative prayer and lastly a prayer using Visio Divina. I am going to talk about two of them, Lectio Divina today and Visio Divina next week, and how these prayer methods of sacred listening or viewing can help us enter into the Word and let the Word enter into us.

Lectio Divina, a common monastic prayer method of praying with Scriptures, means “divine reading”. I learned this almost 30 years ago as I began my formation as an Oblate and it has been, to a greater or lesser degree, a part of my daily prayer. Sometimes I spend more time with Lectio, some days it is a very condensed version. The longer time spent in Lectio is always more fruitful, but life gets in the way. Lectio is simply reading or listening to a particular scripture passage, prayer or poem and letting those words enter our hearts. We read the passage once, and listen for a word or phrase that speaks to us. We read it again and reflect on what God or the Holy Spirit might be trying to say to us in those words. We read it a third time and contemplate the words, or sit in silence with them. Lastly we offer a prayer of gratitude for what we heard or a prayer of intention that rises up as we reflect on what God has asked of us as we have listened to the Word. The fruit of the prayer comes from really listening, with the ear of the heart, to the Word and then letting it impact our thoughts, words and actions.

We all know what it feels like to hear someone say one thing but then behave in a way that is contradictory to what they have spoken. It may not be intentional or malicious, but if the behavior and the action don’t correspond, then it gives us something to consider about the person or our relationship. Seeing this within our own behavior, helps us assess why we aren’t being true to the things that we say are important to us. We can assess, and change, when we see that we aren’t living in alignment with the values we say are important to us.

As our words and actions begin to become one and the same, we become the things we value and that we speak in life. I love the quote that you see on social media posts or in self improvement articles, we become what we think about. Or, another, your mind will believe everything you feed it, so feed it hope, truth and love.

If you have not prayed using Lectio Divina before, try it this week, it only takes a few minutes when praying it alone. Pick a short scripture or poem, it doesn’t have to have a lot of words to be impactful. Ask Spirit to guide your thoughts and speak to you with the words you need to hear. May it bring you peace!

Create joy, Deena

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