Lectio Divina

By Rev. Amari Magdalena

Lectio Divina, Latin for Divine Reading, can be an important adjunct to staying centered and in touch with one’s spirit in a disruptive world. Benedictines used spiritual readings to promote knowledge of God.  While we may not prefer biblical readings to stay in touch with our spirit, any inspirational reading can be a source of nourishment.

One of the wonders of the internet, is the ability to access such inspiration at the touch of a keyboard. We can type in “Quotations about …...” and a world of wise words are available. Perhaps we have a favorite wisdom keeper of recent or ancient times.  For some it may be Hafez or Rumi; for others, Thoreau, Emerson, or Florence Scovel Shinn.  Many metaphysical centers have magazines with daily inspiration.

What would your day begin or end like, if you chose to each day access an inspirational thought to awaken or sleep with?  Instead of the morning or evening news, you might choose to fill your consciousness with positive, life-affirming, and hopeful content over fear and evidence of man’s inhumanity to humankind.  I believe that what first enters our awareness each morning, set’s a tone for that day.  Similarly, the last thought you have before sleeping can aid or disrupt your time of rest.

Following is a week’s worth of inspirations for dawn and dusk.  Try them out and see how they affect your outlook and, perhaps, renewed faith in the basic goodness of our human race.

Sunday Morning: “Love is the soul’s light, the taste of morning, no me, no we, no claim of being.” Rumi

Sunday Evening: “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.  It will not lead you astray.” Rumi

Monday Morning: “Today you are you that is truer than true.”  Dr. Suess

Monday Evening: “From here on Earth, from my small place, I ask of you way out in Space, please tell all men in every land, what you and I both understand.  Please tell all men, peace is good, that’s all that need be understood, in every world in your great sky. (We understood, you and I.)”  Dr. Suess

Tuesday Morning: "In the sweetness of friendship let here be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds it's morning and is refreshed. Khalil Gibran 

Tuesday Evening: “Love is trembling happiness.”  Khalil Gibran

Wednesday Morning: "For each new morning with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything They goodness sends." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Wednesday Evening: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Thursday Morning: "You must form the habit of living in the fourth dimension, The World of the Wondrous. It is the world where you do no judge by appearances." Florence Scovel Shinn 

Thursday Evening: “There is not there, there is only here.” Florence Scovel Shinn

Friday Morning: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.  Now put the foundations under them."  Henry David Thoreau 

Friday Evening: “The world is but a canvas to our imagination.” Henry David Thoreau

Saturday Morning: “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Buddha

Saturday Evening: “You, yourself, as much as anyone in the entire Universe, deserve your love and affection.”  Buddha

May your lives be blessed in myriad ways and may your days have abundant sun and rain, dark and light, and other contrasts sufficient for you appreciate all that this amazing human experience offers.

"Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive.  I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.  I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.  I am going to have kind thoughts towards others.  I am not going to get angry or think badly about others.  I am going to benefit others as much as I can."  Dalai Lama