ecclesiastical license and getting
contaminated during an epidemic which
lead to his death. Palau invites us to an
incarnated kind of love, with feet on the
ground aware of the risk that being disciples
of the Crucified could bring. Because the
Church keeps drowning and counts on our
help to save her.
To augment our love and decision to serve
this way, we have the next step of Lectio
Divina which is contemplation. It is
simple savoring, enjoying the presence of
have it all". Sometimes we limit our Lectio to
get some interesting point, something to
share in the community. But Lectio, when
done correctly, serves to build our life on a
firm rock, a solid fundament, an immovable
stone. That nothing may make us doubt the
presence of the Church, that we may always
be sure of her companionship, her
sustaining us in the service to her members.
For this, we need to get used to believing.
Faith is grace, but it is also a discipline of
mind and heart. That is why we put the
Word as a shield, or even better, as a sword
of a spirit, to receive strength and courage
from God alone (cf. Letter of a director 12).
Let us contemplate the Word, let us believe
in the Word. "To believe is to see", this way
believing in it we will see great things,
unthinkable. We will see what God can do
with such imperfect instruments as Palau
and ourselves.
Here is the scheme of our friend Guigo to
whom we are very thankful for helping us to
understand the process of Lectio Divina. Yet, “The Word of God
Palau doesn't stop here. He adds one more will save me
step, and we also should follow this
dynamic. Contemplation ought to be and will encourage
followed by action. "Love is deeds", the and strengthen me”
Church instructs Palau. From this time of
Letter 54,2
intimacy with the Church, children should
be born, life should flow. If now, we would
be facing the danger of empty
sentimentalism, a sterile kind of
relationship. "I love you, you love me, and
PALAUTIAN WAY: LECTIO DIVINA
love is deeds". Lectio Divina doesn't end
with communitarian sharing, nor with Lectio Divina is an old Christian exercise. It
making good resolutions that are never describes a way of reading the Holy
fulfilled. The thing is not in what we say but Scriptures. What for? Well, to get gradually
in what we live daily, in our concrete options detached from our schemes and to open to
and decision and attitudes, in the testimony what God wants to communicate to us.
of our life. The one who said that for some
There are many ways of practicing Lectio
people our lives might be the only Bible they
Divina. In the XII century, a Carthusian
would ever read was right. We need this
monk called Guigo described the steps he
"decided determination" to put into action
considered essential to practice Lectio
what we experience during Lectio. Francisco
Divina. Today, as we celebrate Bible Sunday,
Palau confessed that when he was preaching
we will try to adapt his scheme to what
the Word, he was the first one to benefit
Francisco Palau experienced and taught.
from it. The Word was changing him,
making him new so that "changed and First of all, let's make some preliminary
renewed" this way he could announce to the notes.
nations the infinite beauty of the Church.
For Francisco Palau, Bible is the Word of
Maybe this is the greatest challenge of our
God living and efficient. It is not something
existence: to allow ourselves to be changed
said or done centuries ago without special
by the Word to be able to be its witnesses
importance for modern men. For him, to
with strength and clarity.
believe means "to apply the ear of the soul
and to pay attention in silence to hear the
Word of God" (MR 4,9). When he finds
himself in situations of doubt, of not
knowing how to explain himself, it is in the
Bible where he searches for explication, and
light to understand what is happening to
him. From the Bible, he gets adequate words
to put a name to his experience of his
relationship with the Church. Without it, he
feels lost, filled with fear and doubt. The
Word lives in him and he dwells in it; it's his
compass and the secure way to discover the
will of God.
We have already said that the purpose of
making Lectio Divina is to open ourselves to
what God wants to communicate. For sure
instantly we will remember ghost words of
Palau that so often we repeat while speaking
about prayer: "To enter in prayer, for
preparation use a gesture of love, something
simple: it is to will what God wills, not to will
what he doesn't will; it's to open our heart to
him and offer oneself to whatever He may
demand and dispose of us" (Letter 42.1).
Now, Lectio Divina is also a form of prayer.
Therefore, if we want to enter well and do it
most beneficially, this has to be the first and
the most fundamental movement of our
heart: "Here I am, Lord, I come to do your
will". It means to remain in yoga availability
before God so that His Word may illumine
our lives with its light. Even if we feel
uncomfortable, we remain open allowing
God's Word to operate in us according to His
will.
The proper first step is to read the Word,
slowly, pausing, several times if needed, so it
may soak into our mind and heart,
impregnate everything like the rain that
makes the soil fertile. This way, the Word
will spontaneously flow and illumine every
moment of our life becoming the air we
breathe in and breathe out in relationships
with others. This is exactly what happened
to Palau who was citing the Word without
even noticing it because it was his daily
bread.
Then, the second step, is meditation,
meaning to say, to go discover what the
Word tells me here and now. Sometimes
there is this one sentence, one word, or one
particular situation in the Bible that touches
something in our interior. It is the time to
ask ourselves in total openness why exactly
today this Word strikes me. I have read it so
many times, why today it seems different,
unsettling, questioning... For what
situations I live here and now this Word can
result relevant? What is it inviting me to?
We may feel certain resistance when
welcoming this Word means to make
changes, to admit an error, to recognize
something dark and imperfect in us. This
also has been the experience of Francisco
Palau: the more he was entering into a
relationship with the Church, the more
sinner and unworthy of it he was discovering
himself. But the love he was experiencing
was greater than any sin. Therefore, let us
not be afraid to enter deeply, let us never
forget that the Spirit who guides us is the
Love of God for His beloved Daughter, the
Church.
From this meditation, prayer is born. It
means to let our heart speak to its Creator
who made it to love and to be loved. Let us
remember that we are beings in a
relationship, we are the Church that is a
relationship. A sincere conversation is the
base of every relationship, especially with
God. The great surprise for Palau was to
discover that the Church was a living being,
she was a person with whom he could have a
relationship, speak to, and communicate. To
this Church, Palau gave his heart in
possession. Let us do as well, let us give our
entire hearts to the Church each time we do
the Lectio, let us open it widely so that God
may continue writing in it with His finger the
greatest commandment of all: "You shall
love..."
Palautian meditation and prayer have
peculiar characteristics. Palau invites us to
meditate looking always at Jesus in his
Body, his Church, wounded and naked, in
need. Our love is love for the last. When we
pray to offer to the Church our heart, we take
the risk that she will take advantage of our
availability to send us "where the glory of
God calls". Are we aware of that? For Palau,
when God was calling, there was no obstacle
he wouldn't overcome to fulfill His will. This
lead him to situations rather uncomfortable,
as a way of saying, including prison, loss of