Daily Archives: February 12, 2009

Living Lexio Divina

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Living with a charged bit of Holy Scripture playing in the background of my day sets me up for some animated discussions in my car, at the sink, wherever my day may take me.  Occasionally the conversation turns to Presence.  How we hunger for this Presence, this awareness of God, even though we may be flying in all directions.  Perhaps, the more the activity, the more the hunger.  It’s akin to searching for the car keys.  We begin thinking we know where to find them.  As they remain hidden, our pursuit turns to frustration and then to frenzy.  Relief comes only when we hold the keys in our hot little hands.

What does searching for car keys have to do with Lexio Divina, ruminating on Holy Scripture?  It’s simply that we are always on the go.  Getting to our destination depends on something as ordinary and necessary as the car keys.  Holy Scripture is such a key, however,  it is not inanimate but living and active.  When the Word, Lexio, comes to fruition, it is the listener who becomes the Word, in essence, and so reaches his destination.

Rattling-On

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Blogging, I’ve concluded, is more about talking to me than you (Sorry!)  Thinking, out loud, in writing, makes me consider what I’ve been rattling-on about in my head.  For instance, this morning’s,  “Appointment with a King”, did more to prepared me for that visit than my usual rushed charge out the door.

Appointment with a King

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Hurrying off to work?  Hurrying to classes?  In a hurry to feed the baby?  That’s how days begin, in a hurry.  Why the rush?  Who waits for you?

If you only knew who waits for you.  The Fathers of the Church knew.  He waited upon them.  They learned of Him from those who walked with the King of Kings in all His humanity and divinity.  These, the Pillar of the Early Church, left for us their understanding of how,  and Who gives Himself and waits.

Ignatius of Antioch- writing  A.D. 110

“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible” (Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).

Justin Martyr- writing  A.D. 151

“We call this food Eucharist,…. not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” ( Justin Martyr: First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).

Irenaeus-writing A.D. 189

“He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?” (Against Heresies , 5:2).

So off with you to work or class or family!  Turn, though, for an instant.  Throw a kiss from the heart to the One who waits.  His delight is to return your simply regard with abundant life and love.

I’m out of  here.  I have an appointment with the King.