How A 'Lectio Divina' Journaling Practice will Change Your Prayer Life | Dr. Mary Healy

[Music] welcome to mind and heart I'm sister John Dominic a foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Mary and mother of the Eucharist it has been my joy to have been involved in Catholic education for over 30 years one of my privileges for the community has been to create lumen ecclesiae press a publishing organization that develops educational resources used now by over 500 schools around the United States and the world Lumina clays II is are called to magnanimity are called to be a large soul to do something greater for the church so today I invite anyone interested in becoming a saint to join with us as we impact the deep beauty mystery and certainties of our faith to transform our lives so that we can know love and serve God with our mind and heart [Music] [Applause] [Music] in this episode we're going to talk about Lexi Oh Davina the importance of coming to know the person of Jesus Christ through reading Sacred Scripture [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I studied originally at the University of Notre Dame then did master's degrees at Franciscan University and Catholic University eventually finished my doctorate in biblical theology at the Gregorian University in Rome and I now teach Scripture at Sacred Heart major Seminary in Detroit this has been a field of passion for you and I'd like for you to just really just share your thoughts and reflections on that and the importance of Lexia Divina and coming to know Jesus Christ yes well I I thank God especially for Pope Benedict who is one of the greatest Pope biblical scholars we've ever had he himself has a passion for the Word of God and he wrote the Apostolic exhortation verbum domini exhorting Catholics to become familiar with the Word of God and to rediscover the ancient practice of lexie Oh Divina which many Catholics if they have heard of it at all they think of it as something that monks do in monasteries or people who have extra leisure time for prayer but Pope Benedict says no this is something that all Catholics all Christians are called to which is very simply a way of reading scripture in conversation with the Lord because Scripture is unlike any other document the church gives us we have wonderful documents we have the Catechism we have papal encyclicals we have the documents of Vatican 2 and they all teach the truth to us in a trustworthy way scripture alone is the Word of God authored by God and so when we read scripture God speaks to us personally it's a living word it's a word that has power unlike any other word as pope saint gregory the great said it has this amazing quality the bible has this quality that a mouse can wade in it and an elephant can swim in it so an elephant a scholar a brilliant person who has studied scripture all their life they can read the same story that they've already read a hundred times in the gospel and find new depths in it on the other hand the simplest person a new Christian a child can read a story in the gospel and understand it in its simplicity and here God speaking to them as a heavenly father I have a great passion for teaching Catholics like CO Davina I'm so thrilled that you're teaching children how to do Lexi Oh Davina because certainly children are capable of it and called to that intimate relationship with Christ that we're all called to what would you recommend to someone if they were like okay we've got the questions there's the artwork that provides the visual so that you can kind of see and visualize and imagine the scripture but I don't know from your experience your studies anything tips you can offer to someone first of all I would say for a catechist or teacher whose aim is to teach children to do Lexi Oh Davina and to get children to fall in love with the Word of God I would say begin with your own relationship with the Lord in Scripture have your own personal time of Prayer and Lexi Oh Davina every day make it an unbreakable appointment with the Lord your Creator the one who loves you do it on your own and really you know dig into one book of just start with one book of the Bible and to take a little bit every day and meditate on it go through the steps of Lexi Oh Davina and then you really have a personal witness to share with the children and then regarding the children I would say have a very high level of confidence in their ability to have a personal encounter with Jesus and to hear him speak to them in prayer and I've heard even out of the lips of children amazing pearls of wisdom because they actually are going to the Lord in prayer they actually they're better at listening than we are they don't have as much intellectual noise going on there's a more purity and so they're able to hear the Lord better make sure you're giving children an opportunity to have that quiet time with the Lord whether it means lighting candles is soft music each child in their own space in some way freeing them from distractions as much as possible after you lead them through like Co Divina teach them how to do it ask them to share whatever they're comfortable willing to share about what the Lord has spoken to the and you might be amazed my name is Mary Stoller and I'm an art teacher at st. Michael's School in Worthington OHIO educating the young in virtue is very important it has to do with them being a human person and how to excel as a human person and it's their highest potential through art we can do that by them reflecting on images that have to do with daily life or with life experiences that they too can at some point in their life experience my role in st. Michael's school is to present to them how the virtues come alive in art I use lectio Divina a life on Christ and we look at that artwork that has been chosen for us to reflect on from the angle of the virtue and from the angle also of why is it a sacred art item why is it a masterpiece what's great about it and from the angle of art as well so the Lexi o Divina life in Christ is a wonderful book that we also read together and there's some wonderful questions in the book and every chapter for the for the students to reflect on that makes them think about why is it important to keep alive sacred art God creates beauty when you look at around you and you see beauty in nature or you see beauty in a painting it was inspired divinely to some degree Beauty truth and goodness as is all tied together so when the experienced Beauty they are at a state of goodness because beauty is God goodness is God the truth that we know that God brings us to us about who he is and what he did for us and of his love his truth so it always tied together our hope our goal is that each child who was being taught through your series would be a lifelong like we would love the Lord would be a person of virtue and good character and would frequent the sacraments throughout their whole life and of course there are many Catholics who go to Mass and receive Jesus in Holy Communion week after week and yet they don't really know him they don't really know him personally as Saint Jerome said ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ many Catholics are kind of there on a starvation diet of the Word of God and so they don't know Christ the way they need to and in particularly with children they have Minds like sponges as I'm sure you know better than I do they they have a tremendous capacity to memorize and and to help retain what they've learned and I just think of my nephew Max who was when he was five years old memorized Psalm 100 and he would recite it for the family his face just beaming that he was able to recite God's Word and children when they begin to learn passages of scripture by heart from an early age get the Word of God in their bones and when the word of God is in your bones and you've devoured it and you continue to through your life it remains there and then it has a way of coming into your mind when you most need it a scripture will just float into your mind in a situation of distress of anxiety or of not knowing what to do or trying to counsel somebody who needs help needs advice prayer the Word of God comes into your mind just when you need it and you're able to build somebody up or build yourself up with the Word of God and that begins in childhood jesus said let the little children you know come to me and there was a reason because he knew that he could teach them because they were the freshest ones to be able to teach us if more children throughout the country will will use these resources that these beautiful resources that you've developed my job teaching adults and seminarians will be so much better we'll be able to go so much deeper with the Word of God because of the foundation you're laying well thank you very much thank you if you liked this episode of the mind and heart podcast I invite you to click on the next available podcast and continue to enrich your mind heart and soul [Music] you

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Keywords: Catholic, Christian, Self-help, faith, Dominican, Education, RCIA, Bible, Gospel, Religious Sisters, Catholic podcast, Jesus, GOD, LOVE, FAITH, NUNS, Dominican order, religion, evangelization, Christ, Catechism, catholicism, christianity, church, prayer, order of preachers, Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, sister, sisters, truth, blessed, mass, religious life, rosary, Mary, vocation, education, discerning, Dominican sisters, spiritual guidance, lectio divina, journaling, Life of Christ Lectio Divina Journal

Id: hUCOlOnrIts

Length: 11min 57sec (717 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 13 2020