Thursday 5th February 2026
Lectio Divina
Introduction
Make whatever preparations you need to leave the shadow world behind and encounter the fire of the Spirit and the light of God.
If you have chosen a specific bodily position, adopt it. If you have chosen to prepare the space and the place in some way (perhaps drawing a curtain or lighting a candle), make that preparation.
Eliminate distractions and the possibility of interruption.
Sign of the Cross
We invoke God, in whose name we act and to whom we are about to open ourselves.
In the name of the Father, ✠
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Invocation of the Holy Spirit
We invoke the Holy Spirit, who will speak to us and listen in us.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Act of Contrition
By acknowledging our sinfulness and admitting that by ourselves we can do nothing that is not flawed, we ask God to take the initiative in this encounter.
Have mercy on us, O Lord:
For we have sinned against you.
Show us, O Lord, your mercy:
And grant us your salvation.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
The Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to St Mark.
The Gospel should be read slowly, meditatively, with pauses between sentences or whenever the sense requires it. The aim is not to tell the text to God, who knows it already, but to let God tell it to us. For this, there have to be silences so that what God is telling us can be heard.
When a group is doing Lectio Divina, it is usually best to take turns in reading the words of the Gospel, since for many people speaking will bring the words to mind better than hearing does. But do not let this become a distraction in itself: have a clear order known in advance, and a simple signal for handing over the baton from one person to the next.
Mark 6:7-13
‘He began to send them out.’
At that time:
7 Jesus called the Twelve and began to send them out two by two,
and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey
except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts —
9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.
10 And he said to them,
‘Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.
11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you,
when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet
as a testimony against them.’
12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.
13 And they cast out many demons
and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
The Response
Meditatio (reflection)
What does the Gospel say to me?
God has willed me to be here, now, today, for a reason. Now is the time to reflect, and find that reason, and hear what God has chosen to tell me.
A good pattern is this:
– What has drawn my attention or struck me in some way?
– Why? Was it a person? A word? A situation? A gesture?
– What, therefore, is God saying to me through these words, here and now, today?
The “I” and the “me” are important. To say “we” or “us” is to evade the encounter by softening the focus and hiding behind membership of a group. The meeting with Jesus is face to face, one to one.
The shared echo
When several people are doing Lectio together, especially if they do so regularly, then there is the opportunity for each person to share the words that have had the most impact in today’s passage, or the message it has conveyed.
There is no obligation to share an echo, and some members may take many meetings before sharing one, or may even never do so.
An echo is what struck me – not “you” or “us”. It is not a mini-sermon or a carefully crafted uplifting thought. Echoes do not have echoes. The sharing of echoes and the listening to echoes are not a discussion aiming at a conclusion, but the opening of one heart to another.
The experience of sharing echoes brings the group closer together. Over time, its power grows.
Oratio (prayer)
God has spoken to me. What do I reply?
Silently, each of us responds to what God has said to him through the passage we have read and even through the echoes we have heard.
As a matter of human practicality, one person should be responsible for deciding the time taken for silent prayer. Even better, a timer or hourglass can be used. Otherwise “Are we nearly there yet?” can be a potent distraction.
Contemplatio (contemplation)
Sometimes we may be led beyond prayer into a quiet and attentive resting in the presence of God.
Conclusion
We prepare to return to the everyday world, carrying with us what we have received in our minds and our hearts today.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom
the power and the glory forever and ever
Amen
________
May the Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.