Being Accessed and Receiving

Being Accessed

Contemplation (Lectio Divina) is not listening with the mind’s ear. It is receiving with and listening from the heart.

It is to listen with a sustained receptivity to a beauty not yet thought about.

It is listening with a meditative state of attentiveness.

Contemplation isn’t about mastering what is said (or read), it is about being mastered, by what mastered, what is said (or read). It is being accessed by the incomprehensible in a deeper resonance; it is spiritual espousal.

We often rush too soon to the conclusion and don’t rest long enough in the sustained humility of allowing ourselves to be interiorly accessed by that which we yearn for deepest. 

We can’t make it happen. We can only assume the posture of least resistance so that we might be accessed.

Receiving

Contemplative practice is a receptive practice. We make ourselves available for grace to break in; we open ourselves to listen and ponder. What we are endeavoring to do is to receive the gifts around us, to be present enough so that, when the moment arrives, we are able to receive it fully, with our whole hearts. Bring a new awareness to how words and phrases can shape our experience and practices.

For example, we receive the images of artists. Practice “receiving” images as gift. Stand in a posture of receiving and see what actually shows up in the image. When we are receptive we let go of our agendas and expectations. We allow ourselves to see beneath preconceived ideas. Cultivate a contentment with what actually is. Stay awake and alert, participating fully in life’s messiness and we keep our eyes open for the holy presence in its midst. One of the gifts of art in general is that the artist can offer others this vision of the graced ordinary moment.

Lectio Divina, in one sense, can be thought of as receiving a gift from The Artist.