Otium Sanctum

Otium Sanctum

Otium Sanctum. Holy Leisure. This is to the monk what later on non-Catholic Christians would call "Quiet Time". It was synonymous with the phrase "vacare Deo", "take a break for God." To take a break does not mean to cease from any activity. Rather, it means to change activity.

In olden times, "taking a break for God" meant almost exclusively, lectio divina, "divine reading of Scriptures." It meant for the monk an immersion into the mysteries through an intelligent and affective reading of the Inspired Word. The "mysteries" are of course the events through which God has made himself felt in the sphere of human history, opening a door through which every man and woman can experience the life He reserves to those who love Him. As such, the lectio was a programme for a personal appropriation of the saving mysteries. This is the programme I set before myself. It is the project I share with you.

This website will be dedicated to the Lectio Divina. I will, as time permits me, share with you my thoughts on the Sunday Gospels and other Scriptural passages that happen to occupy my attention at a given time or season of my life. I have no business to transact, no free stuff to offer, and no products to sell ... All I can give you are the fruits of my wanderings in the realm of the Spirit.

The passages from the Gospels are here discussed following a pattern that has been dictated by the Scala Claustralium of Guy the Carthusian: Lectio (reading) -- Meditatio (Meditatio)-- Oratio (Prayer)-- Contemplatio (Contemplation).

Seek in reading and you will find in meditation Knock in prayer and it shall be opened to you in contemplation.

Under Lectio, the intelligent reading of the text, I discuss general considerations regarding the passage: genre, narrative flow, and other considerations (like historical background) that help to get a better grasp of the text. The section dedicated to Meditation (I and II) relates the passage under consideration to its context (smaller and the larger) with some notes on the way certain words are used (Meditatio I) and how I understand that passage to be speaking to the present historical situation of the Church or of my life (Meditatio II). Sometimes, I end my discussions with a prayer (Oratio). The last ladder in Guy's Scala Claustralium -- Contemplatio -- has no textual correspondence in these pages. Contemplation cannot be verbalized ... it is the heart's gaze on the mystery propounded by the Scripture text. Contemplation "happens" as something given -- "... and it shall be opened to you in contemplation"

The Lectio Divina has always been practiced as a preparation for and extension of the Eucharistic Liturgy of the Word. This grounding of the Lectio to the Mass has influenced my choice of the passages to be discussed. I began these readings during the season of Advent 1999. Passages from the Gospels (and later on from the other books of Scriptures) will be discussed in these pages as they occur during the Sunday Mass. Updates therefore will be made on a weekly basis, unless work prevents me from spending more time in my readings.