As we enter into the Season of Stewardship together we are posting our Lectio Divina guide for this week. The scripture reading is from the gospel of Luke and will be our scripture reading for worship this Sunday. Take time to connect with this reading during the week. Consider how God might be calling you to support the church with your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness in the coming year.
We begin our prayer...
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Enlighten, O God of compassion,
the hearts of your children, sanctified by penance, and in your kindness grant those you stir to a sense of devotion a gracious hearing when they cry out to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Reading (Lectio)
Read the following Scripture two or three times. Luke 12:13-21
13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But he saidto him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, bemerry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Meditation (Meditatio)
After the reading, take some time to reflect in silence on one or more of the following questions:
- What word or words in this passage caught your attention?
- What in this passage comforted you?
- What in this passage challenged you?
Contemplation (Contemplatio)
Read the scripture passage again, followed by this reflection:
How does this passage connect with the experience of your daily life?
“So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
What treasures have you tried to store up for yourself? Were you successful?
What does it mean to be “rich toward God”?
Is it possible to store up treasures for yourself AND be rich toward God?
Prayer (Oratio)
Read the scripture passage one more time. Bring to the Lord the praise, petition, or thanksgiving that the Word inspires in you.
Complete this time by reciting the Lord’s Prayer and the following Closing Prayer:
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn”
Psalm 37:4-6