The first step involves the reading of the sacred text and the discerning or choosing of a word that will remain with us throughout the day, transforming us and reminding us of God’s message to us. (Remember, “taking a word” can mean simply one word, or it can mean a phrase or sentence. It may be more appropriately understood as “taking a morsel.”)
Having received a word, we repeat and reflect on that word, allowing it to transform us and eventually lead us to a response of prayer. Although the Spirit may lead us to ideas and insights during this time, we are careful to avoid being so caught up in our own reflections that we fail to be open to the transforming power of the Word. In the first millennium of Christian life, “... meditation meant that, having received a word of life from one’s lectio or from a spiritual Father or Mother, we carried that word with us, repeating it, perhaps even on the lips but certainly in the mind, until it formed the heart and called forth the response of prayer. The Fathers spoke of the mind descending into the heart. The word was to be received not only mentally but also affectively, expanding the listening that we are, opening us to allow the fullness of Reality to come in, to see things as God sees them, forming in us the mind of Christ. Meditation was not so much an active process whereby we worked with what we had received until it fitted into the conceptual framework we already had – rather, it was a more receptive process allowing the Word to break open and reform us.” (61)
This step involves prayer as a response to our meditation. Our response may be praise and adoration, thanksgiving, repentance, petition, intercession, or any form of communication with God that is called forth as a response to our ongoing transformation.
This final step is one of simply resting in the presence of God.In summation, “As we listen to the Word (lectio), a word, a phrase, a sentence may well strike us, and we let it reverberate within, opening and expanding, forming and shaping (meditatio), calling forth varied responses (oratio) until finally we simply rest in the Reality to which it all leads (contemplatio).” (66)