(... continuation)
- Is there a “Common Lectio divina” for couples?
These
previous indications on “Common Lectio
divina”
apply also for couples: it helps them live their life as a couple
under the light of the Lord, supporting each other, understanding
each other, growing and helping each other in that growth. They will
then actuate the Sacrament of Marriage everyday by taking time to
find a “common ground”: the Word of God, the received light,
agreed, with free will by both together.
The
Sacrament doesn't end
on the
day of Marriage. It is an
open Spring,
capable of nourishing each member of the couple, and nourishing them
together, in their choices, and their dialogue.
God
wanted the power of two, that are different, but gathered “under
the Name of God” to be the fulcrum of a New Divine Life (the life
of the Children, their spiritual life as well). The quality of that
fulcrum depends on the quality of the dialogue and the communion
between the two of them.
The
challenge of their differences, and the Grace of belonging to the
same Faith, the God, the Same Grace, are two elements that one has to
put together.
I
would like really to stress on the difference between doing a
“personal
lectio divina”,
and a “couple lectio
divina”.
They are both important and fruitful. I would think that if the
“personal LD” is to be done everyday, the “couple LD” doesn't
have to be done everyday (mostly for the lack of time and the
priority, in general, of “Personal LD”). I tend to think that a
“common LD” requires another type of effort that can tire or,
worse, take the place of the “personal” one. The “personal
Lectio divina”
is and should remain the centre of gravity of the couple, because the
progress of the couple relies on the progress of each other. It is
true as well that they are a community, and much
more than a community,
they are : one flesh, one soul and one spirit. What one feels (as
says saint Paul about Jesus' body) the other feels as well. If one
suffers the other suffer, if one is happy, the other is happy. But
one helps the other, by prayer and not only by word and by example.
If one grows, the other is happy, and is “dragged” to a higher
realm.
Let
us remember the mission of the Couple, their finality: they are here
for a work of fecundity, they are supposed, together, to bare fruits.
Children are fruits, but not the only ones. They take their share in
the Mission of the Church in expanding the kingdom of God. Therefore,
it is not a selfish finality, the one of “couple lectio divina”,
it has in its centre not only the spiritual life of the two members
of the couple (and later their children's one), but the life of their
Community and the life of the Church. Their prayer, their communion,
capacity to agree, to converge, to help each other, is a very
powerful lever in the Church and for the World.
It
is very important as well to understand that the “personal lectio
divina”
of each member of the couple is not something too distant from the
couple or from the dynamics of the couple. The “couple”, the
family, is born in the heart of each one of its members. The more
they are in tune with God, and grow spiritually, the more the couple
is better, stronger, and can bare more fruits.
But
this “sharing”
(Common LD) what
each one hears from God, for the Couple,
is a different activity: it is situated on the level of the couple
(and not the individual's journey) and its common search for the will
of God.
God
wants us to help each other, sacramentally, seeing in the other the
image of Christ, or His Church to love, inspired by His Word.
It
is true as well that husband and wife are not anymore two persons
united, but one.
They are one body, but also, one soul, one spirit. The Soul is what
works essentially during Lectio
divina,
therefore, if they are one,
it is normal for them to unite their faculties (Mind, Will, Freedom)
in order to grow as one. Not only it is good not to stop the couple
from doing lectio
divina,
but we should encourage the Couples to do lectio
divina
together. (One has still to remember their intellectual, spiritual
and marian level.)
It
is fundamental for the couple to open themselves, in front of each
other, as a couple would do with his bodies, totally naked in front
of each other. Loving
the Truth more than themselves,
praying for that primacy, knowing that the Truth frees the Couple and
brings it to newer heights, every day.
As
they are invited daily to actuate the Sacrament of Marriage in their
common heart,
through the Prayer
of the heart,
they are invited to actuate it in their common
mind and
common
will, in
order to grow in the quality of their Union (with each other) through
the “couple lectio
divina”.
(The
cement of their union is God himself, who knows each one of them, and
who is their guide and Pastor. The more each one gets closer to the
union with God, the more they are united between each other.)
The
closer their mind and will (not plural minds and wills but singular,
they are united)) are, the more they realise the Plan of God on them,
uniting them, and making them capable of baring much greater fruits.
(to be continued...)
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