Dear Parishioners,

Many of you may have seen the extra dumpster outside of the Parish Center. A staff member brought to my attention how dilapidated the ceiling in the hallway was. I consulted with the Building and Grounds Committee and they looked at it—took some bids, and now a new ceiling is going in that does not have stained tiles nor broken ones that are taped and falling out. I want to thank Clem LaMere for his hard work in re-doing the lighting and some of the electric conduits.

Last week I pointed out the main points of the first video (session) in the Lectio Prayer series. It is titled, “An Intimate Dialogue”. The second one has the name: “Guigo’s Ladder: A Way of Assent”. Dr. Grey sets the tone for this session reminding us of where we left off in the last one, with the two main points of prayer: 1) We “take and read” the scripture and listen to this living word of God as we reflect on it. 2) We respond seeking an encounter with God that becomes a conversation.

He emphasizes the first step and the “listening”. Often times the first thing we do in prayer is speak and we say what we have to say and well, we hear nothing from God, so we are done. There are two problems here. First we speak before we listen, when we look at the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4, 4-29). Jesus speaks to her first and she listens. He wants to speak to us through his living word in scripture and so we have to take and read and listen first.

That is the first step of Guigo the Carthusian’s Ladder of Lectio Divina. “Read” which is the Latin word “Lectio”. The speaking to Christ is actually the third step. It is very difficult to start climbing a ladder at the third step and so we find prayer very hard and we desist. We must start at the first step—READ. The second step is “Meditatio” which is reflection and meditation— LISTENING. The third step is “Oratio” which is praying: our speaking to God about what we have reflected on in His word. This is what makes the conversation interesting and enthralling, as we now with God have a common ground in our reflections which He has guided through the Holy Spirit to have a great conversation. Once we arrive to this wonderful conversation and we are enjoying the presence of God—the fourth step “Contemplatio” or contemplation begins. Hopefully this graphic helps you to understand. Next week we will continue with the third session.