Meditation #5: Visio Divina
Very similar to lectio divina or sacred reading, visio divina mediates and prays using images rather than words. In this practice works of art, icons, sculptures, movies, nature, or other forms of visual expression help us see and attend to how God speaks to us. A specific aspect of the art or a scene in a movie may give rise to a word or impression that you want to receive as a prayer tool within the context of your current season of life. How does it touch you, challenge you, move you closer to the heart of God? What do you notice in the foreground, mid-ground, background? Where do you stand in relation to each position? What are the colors, tones, or textures telling you or inviting you to consider? What question does the image evoke within you?
I’ve recently begun collecting images and other objects, along with minimal words from magazines, cards, wrapping paper, etc… when I am feeling the need to change my prayer routine, I lay out all the images and words on a table and look at what captures my attention. I choose three to six images and begin arranging them on a sheet of sketch paper or cardboard. As I work with the images, they begin to coalesce into an expression of my heart. I really am unconcerned about artistic achievement. I am not trained in the arts, but I am long on experience in matters of my own heart, and I know what feels right about what I’m creating and offering. Sometimes I add my own colors or doodles. After creating several collages over the course of weeks or months, I gather them together to reflect on where I’ve been and how I’ve known God in the midst of it all. It’s a great way to prepare for conversation with my spiritual director.
This week’s prayer collage I share in the image at the top of this post. This was an expression of gratitude and bounty and feeling in the flow of the ultimate creative source, the Giver of Every Good Gift, the first Creator of color and tone, texture and beauty. He shows up every day in all creation, in the spoken and written words, in the things I see and touch, in the acts of kindness and service I give and I receive and he’s in the face of every human being who crosses my path.
Why use this method of prayer and meditation? It’s said best here by one of the followers of Jesus in scripture:
From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! …The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:1-3 - The Message)
