Tag: lectio divina

Posted in Photography/Photographer, Poems/Poetry, Rumi, Spiritual Practice, Terri Stewart

Doors

Posted on by Terri

bar_doorsConsider doors. We enter or exit through doors. Sometimes we just look at doors. They lead towards something or away from something.

“As long as you are performing prayer, you are knocking on Allah’s door. And whoever knocks on Allah’s door [constantly], He will open it.” -Ibn Al-Qayyim Al-Jawzi

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” -Flora Whittemore

“A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door” -Confucius

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7, Christian Scripture

“In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.” -Jiddu Krishnamurti

“Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.” -Albert Einstein

Lots of thought has been given to doors! Now it is our turn to consider doors. I would like to offer up a lectio divina experience. Lectio divina is an ancient way of “being present
to a text in a heart-centered way.” (Christine Valters Paintner) It is a way of meditating or praying. When we use the lectio divina technique, we see the words we read as living, breathing essence. It becomes an encounter with the sacred. There are four primary movements of lectio (and sorry if this is repeat news!)…

Read (lectio): Read and listen for a word or phrase that creates energy within your body

Reflect (meditatio): Read again and savor the words, delve into them, use your senses to experience them

Respond (oratio): Read again and listen for the invitation coming from the text

Rest (contemplatio): Rest, be still.

Go slowly and be present. I offer you a poem from Rumi.

Lectio:

The bfirehouse_doorreeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks

…

Meditatio:

weird_doorThe breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.


…

Oratio:

lots_of_doorsThe breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

…

Rest:

forboding_door

…

Shalom and Amen.

~Chaplain Terri

© 2013, post and photos, Terri Stewart, all rights reserved

Terri StewartTERRI STEWART is Into the Bardo’s  Sunday Chaplain, Senior Content Editor, and Site Co-administrator. She comes from an eclectic background and considers herself to be grounded in contemplation and justice. She is the Director and Founder of the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition that serves youth affected by the justice system. As a recent graduate of Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry, she earned her Master’s of Divinity and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Spiritual Direction with honors and is a rare United Methodist student in the Jesuit Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Nu. She is a contributing author to the Abingdon Worship Annual.

Her online presence is “Cloaked Monk.” This speaks to her grounding in contemplative arts (photography, mandala, poetry) and the need to live it out in the world. The cloak is the disguise of normalcy as she advocates for justice and peace. You can find her at www.cloakedmonk.com, www.twitter.com/cloakedmonk,  www.flickr.com/cloakedmonk and  www.facebook.com/cloakedmonk.  To reach her for conversation, send a note to cloakedmonk@outlook.com.
Posted in Spiritual Practice, Terri Stewart

Listen with the Ear of Your Heart

Posted on by Terri

The phrase “listen with the ear of your heart” comes to us from St. Benedict and the Rule that he developed for his monks. He begins the prologue this way,

“Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”

Summarizing Jane Tomaine, author of St. Benedict’s Toolbox: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living, the divine is before us and within us waiting to be seen. Our challenge is that our busy lives leave us hurrying from task to task. Is it possible to do our work and connect to our heart, mind, and awareness of eternal transcendence? Is it possible to allow ordinary, every-day tasks to reveal to us the divine?

Yes! It is possible

Today, I am offering to you a journey with the idea of listening with the ear of the heart and apply it to an adaptation of lectio divina. Lectio divina is a way of reading that is sacred. It involves four movements. (1) lectio (read), (2) meditation (meditate), (3) oratio (pray), and (4) contemplation (contemplate). However, I am offering a practice with music.  Audio divina, if you will.

This is a piece of music called “Shadows” from the “Diaspora” album by Ibrahim Maalouf. Ibrahim Maalouf is a trumpet player and teacher, composer and arranger. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and now lives in Paris, France. His style is uniquely his own. A blend of Arabic tonality and jazz.

The complete movement of audio divina should take approximately 30 minutes to an hour. Feel free to adapt the practice to suit your busy lifestyle (allow the ordinary to be infused with the extraordinary!)

Audio

Please listen.

Now, take a moment to pause. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. (allow time for the music to echo within you)

What is echoing?

Meditatio

Please play the video again.

Again, take a moment to pause. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. (allow time for the music to begin resonating within you)

What part is pulling you? What part is pushing you? Is there a particular movement or instrument that is creating energy within?

Oratio

Please play the video again.

Again, take a moment to pause. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. (allow time for the music to begin pulling you)

Often, prayer is about opening up to possibilities. Do you hear new possibilities? Is there an invitation? Is the energy beginning to coalesce?

Contemplatio

Please play the video again.

Again, take a moment to pause. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. (allow time for the music to energize you)

Contemplation should lead to action. You have heard the music, entered it’s space, begun to feel it’s pull, now, where is that pull leading you? What is your response?

Shalom,

Terri

© 2013, post and photographs, Terri Stewart, All rights reserved

mailTERRI STEWART is Into the Bardo’s ne Sunday evening chaplain. You can expect a special post from her each week. She comes from an eclectic background and considers herself to be grounded in contemplation and justice. She is the Director and Founder of the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition that serves youth affected by the justice system. As a recent graduate of Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry, she earned her Master’s of Divinity and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Spiritual Direction with honors and is a rare United Methodist student in the Jesuit Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Nu. She is a contributing author to the Abingdon Worship Annual.
Her online presence is “Cloaked Monk.” This speaks to her grounding in contemplative arts (photography, mandala, poetry) and the need to live it out in the world. The cloak is the disguise of normalcy as she advocates for justice and peace. You can find her at www.cloakedmonk.com,www.twitter.com/cloakedmonk, and www.facebook.com/cloakedmonk.  To reach her for conversation, send a note to cloakedmonk@outlook.com.