With September we return to our monthly invitations for contemplation. Our focus for this month is harvest. In the northern hemisphere it is the season for gathering the fruits of our labors. What are you called to harvest in your own spiritual garden?
I invite you into a lectio divina practice with some words from the Gospel of Mark.
How Community Lectio Divina works:
Each month there will be a passage selected from scripture, poetry, or other sacred texts (and occasionallyvisio and audio divina as well with art and music).
How amazing it would be to discern together the movements of the Spirit at work in the hearts of monks around the world.
I invite you to set aside some time this week to pray with the text below. Here is a handout with a brief overview (feel free to reproduce this handout and share with others as long as you leave in the attribution at the bottom – thank you!)
Lean into silence, pray the text, listen to what shimmers, allow the images and memories to unfold, tend to the invitation, and then sit in stillness.
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” — Mark 4:26-29
After you have prayed with the text (and feel free to pray with it more than once – St. Ignatius wrote about the deep value of repetition in prayer, especially when something feels particularly rich) spend some time journaling what insights arise for you.
How is this text calling to your dancing monk heart in this moment of your life?
What does this text have to offer to your discernment journey of listening moment by moment to the invitation from the Holy?
What wisdom emerged that may be just for you, but may also be for the wider community?
Sharing Your Responses
Please share the fruits of your lectio divina practice in the comments below (at the bottom of the page) or at our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group which you can join here. There are over 2200 members and it is a wonderful place to find connection and community with others on this path.
You might share the word or phrase that shimmered, the invitation that arose from your prayer, or artwork you created in response. There is something powerful about naming your experience in community and then seeing what threads are woven between all of our responses.
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18 Responses
This scripture calls to me in the planting of seed and the reality that –
“Autumn is a necessary transition between summer’s fruitfulness and spring’s new life. No new growth will come unless autumn agrees to let go of what has been. The same is true of our lives.”
~ October by Joyce Rupp in May I Have This Dance
Scatter
This text is calling me to know and trust that God is holding me a ever so gently in this time of transitioning in to retirement. The word scatter jumped out at me as it depicts such a random way of sowing the seed. There doesn’t have to be holes in rows for the seeds to be placed and then covered with the soil. There is a sense of freedom in scattering and a trusting that they will grow. It is time for me to trust and scatter my seeds and embrace the freedom of being able to take time and be present to the precious moments of life.
God of many names.
You hold me close and you know every part of me.
You know how scattered my thoughts and emotions are at this present time.
Give me the strength and clarity of thought so that I can make the decision I am faced with
Help me to name and face my fears and trust that the seeds I will scatter will sprout and grow.
I know you are with me and in me and for me.
Amen
Scatter. And, sleep and rise night and day. Scatter. I feel like I am scattering and scattered. That word gives me company and comfort in this state. Sleep and rise…..says, God is with me patiently, lovingly holding and nurturing me as I grow.
What beautiful reflections on this passage! Thank you dear dancing monks for your heartfelt sharings!