Scripture Reading

A friend from a Catholic group shared the following:

A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who use Sacred Scripture for spiritual reading with the veneration due the word of God.

A plenary indulgence is granted if the reading continues for at least one half-hour
Another friend from the same group also shared a Protestant film on YouTube on Lectio Divina.

The video contained information on actually meditating instead of simply reading the words from the Holy Bible. This idea intrigued me so I looked for a Catholic video on YouTube. I found one but it is not permitted to be used. If you have a chance, go watch it by searching Lectio Divina. It is the one by monks.

I did find more information at the Fish Eaters site. The following is from there:

Lectio Divina (pronounced "Lec-tsee-oh Di-vee-nah") means "Divine Reading" and
refers specifically to a method of Scripture reading practiced by monastics
since the beginning of the Church.

The early centrality of reading of Sacred Scripture, and then meditating and praying over its meaning, is evident in the 48th chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict (A.D. 480-453), a book written by the Great Saint to guide monastic life.

But it was an 11th c. Carthusian prior named Guigo 1 who formalized Lectio Divina, describing the method in a letter written to a fellow religious. This letter, which has become known as Scala Paradisi -- the Stairway to Heaven -- describes a 4-runged ladder to Heaven, each rung being one of the four steps in his method of Bible reading. Those steps, and Guigo's brief descriptions of them, are:


lectio
(reading): "looking on Holy Scripture with all one's will and wit"

meditatio (meditation): "a studious insearching with the mind to know
what was before concealed through desiring proper skill"

oratio
(prayer): "a devout desiring of the heart to get what is good and avoid what is
evil"

contemplatio (contemplation): "the lifting up of the heart to God
tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness and savour"

Through the practice of Lectio Divina by monastics in group settings, three other steps are sometimes added to the four above such that the steps become:


statio
(position)

lectio (reading)

meditatio (meditation)

oratio (prayer)

contemplatio (contemplation)

collatio
(discussion)

actio (action)