On Friday 8 April, Father Luciano Sandrin, a Camillian religious (and a lecturer at the Camillianum and the Pontifical Gregorian University) will offer his reflections in a lectio divina starting with the suggestion offered by Psalm 30/29 1,-13: ‘I cried out and you healed me’.

This meditation will take place at the Church of the Carmelite Religious of St. Mary in Traspontina, Via della Conciliazione 14C, near to St. Peter’s Square, starting at 18.30. Entrance is free and those who can, should bring a Bible with them.

This meeting forms a part of the cycle of readings promoted and organised by Fr. Bruno Secondin, a Carmelite and lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Amongst the animators of this cycle of meditations are Br. Enzo Bianchi, a Biblical theologian and the Prior of the monastic community of Bose, who gave the lecture on 11 March (see link), and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a Biblical scholar and the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture who will give the lecture on 6 May.

The lectio divina has Biblical roots and has for long been practised within the monastic tradition. Today it is understood as a ‘reading with belief’ – a pause for reflection and prayerful listening, alone or in a group – of a passage from the Bible, listened to as the Word of God. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in an experience of meditation and silence, of contemplation and sharing, the Word becomes a source of grace, prayerful dialogue, an appeal to conversion, a prophetic proposal and a horizon of hope. It is not, therefore, technical study but obedient listening and an impassioned response.

Visit the site www.lectiodivina.it to know about the programme of the other meetings.

Here is an abstract of the next Lectio