Abstract

The lectio divina is a kind of prayer through the Bible, which started in the Old Testament. In the Christianity it was practiced by the old desert fathers and by the monks. S. Benedict prescribed it, by his Rule, for every monk at the start of the day. Since then it became a characteristic of the benedictine monastic spirituality and today, it seems to be as well a peculiarity of Christian spirituality. That is why we have the title lectio divina as the ground of Christian spirituality. The article is in two parts: lectio divina from a theoretical point of view, which, by definition is the exercise of personal listening to the Word of God, hence its place in the Church monastic tradition. Then it shows the lectio model according to the scheme: lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio. The second part is the instrument to cure the lectio in the daily life; however it just the first step (reading), as the three further steps are absolutely individual. So the second part is the lectio on the existential point of view. In Marc’s Gospel 2:1–12 the miracle of the man sick of the palsy, does not seem to be Jesus answer to the requested recovery: it’s rather the unexpected effect of a process initially moved by the wish to listen to Jesus preach, regardless of the palsy limits. The point puts a strong accent on the symbolic value of the tale: moving towards, even when it’s had moving, Jesus Word, one makes the experience of the sin remission first, then of the physical recovery, becoming a witness of the „new man”. We can see here a possible way of lectio divina: from one existence to the Word, from the Word to one life.