Adapting Lectio Divina as a method of Biblical prayer for adolescents

Abstract

The human body needs different types of nutrition - food, fruit, and even exercise to grow healthily. The same holds for spiritual life. Along the journey the Christian needs basic spiritual food that gives one the strength to go on in the midst of obstacles and uncertainties. The Fathers of the Church believed that of the many forms that nourished their spiritual life, Lectio Divina proved to be eminently useful. Praying with the Scriptures was considered as one of the means that supports, nurtures, transforms, and guides their spiritual life. Guigo II, a Carthusian monk, during the twelfth century articulated "The Ladder of the Four Rungs." This foundational practice was a structured approach to Biblical prayer consisting of four integrated stages (Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio) that moved the person in prayer to come in touch with God's inspired word, as a living and active text. For the person following the four stages, praying with the Scriptures becomes the means by which to enter into communication and a healthy relationship with God. Lectio Divina leads the person into a deep experience of God through His Word. Through Lectio Divina, the person is moved to interpret God's ways, his truth, and love according to one's own life experience. The benefit of this method is that in the contemporary frenetic life we live, this structured way of prayer can guide one to stop and listen, question, reflect, dialogue and surrender to the embrace of God's love.