Lectio Divina

BE COMMITTED:
Don't read about lectio or make retreats on lectio...do lectio.
Take time every day to pray.
Be regular about it.
Find a place and a time.
You become a pianist by playing the piano.
You become a writer by writing.
You become a cook by cooking.
You learn to pray by praying.

BE HUMBLE: There is no magic formula for prayer, no easy way, no way on earth that you can force prayer, no "one way fits all" prayer. You can't find God by a method.

BE HONEST: really wrestle with the text. Don't be satisfied with platitudes. Don't settle for the superficial. Don't repeat to yourself what you've learned about this scripture or about God since you were a child. Lectio is meaningless unless you apply the text to your own life. How do you feel, really feel about the text, not how are you supposed to feel. Are you angry, be angry. Are you jealous, admit it. Have you lost your faith, say it.
Are you questioning God, question God. You've got to trust how you feel.

PRAY AS YOU CAN, not as you can't.
Writing is my way of praying. Maybe art is yours or music or dance or chanting or singing or silence or whatever...Again, there is no one size fits all prayer method.

So why do we do lectio?

Well, the ancients give us this answer:

Once upon a time a disciple asked the elder, "Holy One, is there anything I can do to make myself enlightened?"

And the Holy One answered, "As little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning."

"Then of what use," the surprised disciple asked, "are all these spiritual disciplines you prescribe--fasting, lectio, meditation, almsgiving?"

And the Holy One answered, "To make sure that you are not asleep when the sun begins to rise."

From Light Through Stained Glass Windows by Susan Doubet, osb

Background on Lectio Divina