The meditatio
The meditatio is the second point and is the moment of the for me and the for us of the Word, the today. Its here and now.
a) For me
The Word is not only the communication of a message that indicates a path to follow, but the communication of a life. That’s the confronting of my daily life with the Word, so that I might be transformed by it. And my transformation is the first task: “Be converted and believe the good news.”
The Word is a transforming power of God. It reaches me to transform me. It comes from the mouth of God and does not return there without having produced its effects.(cf. Is. 55)
From Origen to St. Bernard, from Karl Barth to Vatican II, there is a whole confirmed and experienced tradition that records this transforming power of the Word. Letting oneself be transformed by the Word means letting goodness and the Reign increase in me.
There where the power of good causes the retreat/withdrawal of ever-seductive forces of evil, the Reign becomes present. This is the great perennially valid intuition of the Fathers of the desert: the Kingdom of God advances where evil, (it’s good to repeat) always alluring, is defeated by good. Goodness that receives its light and power from the Word and the Spirit, that is from the Word welcomed as God’s power.
Confronting myself daily with this word so that I can be transformed and therefore am able to act well, is the first and more secure service for the Reign; it is the first and surest mission. The results of our apostolic and missionary plans are always uncertain, but making the forces of good prevail in me and in my action is the surest and most secure contribution to help the Kingdom of God advance; it is to be in the height of (fully engaged in) mission
The “for me” of the meditatio is relevant, then, not only for my sanctification, but also for the advancement of the Kingdom in the world.
The personal, constant confronting of my life with the Word, the “for me”, in fact pulls me out of the story of death and places me within a story of life, or, as the Fathers of the Church said, makes me an actor in the story of salvation. Unmasking in myself the seduction of evil, and acting according to the Word places me into the channel of God’s action in the world.
The confronting ought to be so habitual as to feel, and therefore, make felt, the seduction and beauty of good above and beyond the passions and drives that normally guide human action, even the most reasonable action.
If I improve myself, the whole world improves. If I let myself be seduced by God, I defeat in myself the seduction of evil. If I opt for the good, the Kingdom advances.
In more mystical terms, Madeleine Delbrel, a contemplative in action, stated: “When we hold the Gospel in our hands, we should think that the Word lives there, who wants to become flesh in us, take possession of us, because with his heart grafted into ours, with his Spirit communicating with our spirit, we give new beginning to his life, in another place, in another time, in another human society.”
b) For us
Beside the “for me”, there comes also the community, ecclesial and planetary “for us”: the
meditatio can embrace the whole gamut of the mystery of Christian life, mystery that derives from placing oneself in the logic of God’s Word, right in the midst of the logic of human problems.
The “for us” can assume a dimension of community examination in light of the Word, which is a great help for the building of fraternal communities. When we place ourselves around the Word and let ourselves be called upon by it, no longer as individuals but as communities, with a simple soul unencumbered by polemic intents or a spirit of revenge, then it is easier for our convictions to become fraternal/sisterly/community.
The experience of these years proves that community meditation of the Word has given a notable contribution to renewal, in the fraternal sense of communities.
If it is true that fraternity is the most convincing sign of the presence of the Reign and if it is true that examining ourselves periodically on the “for us” of the Word is the surest way toward fraternity, then it is worth the effort to face the difficulties that such a community practice often involves.
The difference in mentality, in cultural and spiritual formation, the presence of a tenacious individualism in the concept of spirituality, the difficulty in mutual acceptance, the consciousness of the too-well-known personal limitations of our sisters/brothers, and the fear of comparing my saying with my doing: are all real difficulties for reaching a sincere sharing, difficulties that must be overcome anyway, with patiently focusing on long times, in view of goals that are difficult to reach in any other way.
c) For today
The “for me” and the “for us” naturally must be put into context; that is, set into present
times, the historical moment that we are living with its challenges, possibilities and poverties, its hopes and anxieties. It is a reading of the signs of the times that must be combined with the meditation of the Word: “Bible and newspaper” Karl Barth used to say.
An alive and vivacious community can help give ecclesial, historical and missionary depth to the meditatio. If however, the community is not in a position to sustain this reflection--and the communities able to do so really do not seem to be in the majority-- then the “for me, today, here and now, in the ecclesial and historical moment that I am living”, is done personally, keeping in mind the directions of the Church and the Institute.
It’s a question of not robbing the Word of its ability to enter critically and constructively into the fabric of history and of not making the meditatio an occasion to evade a responsibility to our time and to our specific mission.
d) Conditionings
We have to be aware, too of the conditioning elements that influence our reflection. It’s
one thing to meditate in a Brazilian “favela” (slum) or in a “bidonville” of the most squalid outskirts of big third-world cities, and another thing to meditate in total tranquillity, in a quiet place protected from various filters, that is, without many big problems. This condition can lead to illusory and “middle-class” conclusions, as we used to say.
Moreover, St. Teresa used to say that a comfortable life and prayer do not agree too well. In these years we have also had examples of ideologized readings, or pre-understandings of various kinds, which can be re-dimensioned by a serious “communitarian we”.
It is good to know about these because certain occasions of sterility come from a
satiety that has become a “handy” and imperceptible diaphragm between me and the Word.
The Oratio or the need for the presence of the Holy Spirit
With the oratio the Word becomes prayer and becomes a personal response to God.
We need to say that in these years the exegetical study of the Word, on more than one occasion, has absorbed time and attention in such a way as to replace the prayerful reading of the Word. Study is indispensable, (it is helpful to repeat this), but not sufficient.
Approaching the Word demands silence, respect, humble openness to let oneself be called upon, an awareness of being in the presence of God, a sense of veneration for the immense God who is speaking to me in order to transform me, to make me more a son/daughter in the Son, an acute awareness of the priority that the Word deserves.
The oratio and the invocation of the Spirit start off from a becoming aware of the distance between what the Word tells me and what I really am, between its demands and my poor energies, between the radicalness of its requirements and my frail determination, between what I have glimpsed and what I find myself being, with my conditioning, my urges, my closed-ness and my habits.
The Word which expresses God’s will for me is often cutting, like a two-edged sword: the temptation to tame it and remove it is always lying in ambush. Also for this reason the Word must be prayed: so that the Spirit who is always given to those who ask for Her/Him, might work in me to overcome obstacles, and that I will let myself be formed and molded, like the divine Potter formed the first man “in his image and likeness.”
Sometimes the Word can reveal the great distance that there is between God’s thinking and mine, between his evaluations and mine, between his requests and my resistance. But when prayer humbly asks the Spirit to “bend” my rebellious will, when the cry for help rises from the abyss (“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord hear my voice”), then the Word, with the power of the Spirit, helps to overcome the trench that otherwise can appear impassable.
Since the Spirit him/herself has to express in moaning her/his requests in me and for me, what is necessary, most useful and convenient for me as a response to the Word read and meditated, a trusting and persevering prayer is required.
It happens that on some occasions the Word does not really want to say anything. An insistent invocation of the Spirit still allows the Spirit to make us ask what we cannot even imagine, which She/He knows and which escapes us.
Certain dry meditations, when they are prayed, often reveal themselves the most fruitful because they permit the Spirit‘s own expression..
From this comes a practical observation: aridity must not leave the field wide open for the invasion of daily occupations and preoccupations so as to fill the available imagination and time, but rather it has to be an occasion to move to prayer, to leave space for the Spirit to take the initiative.
When the Word seems mute, it is then that the heart must invoke, beg, entrust itself confidently; this prayer is the space left to the Spirit for a deeper and renewed understanding of the Lord’s will.
When the Word is quiet to the senses, it can be a sign that It desires to act in the depths, there where only the Spirit can reach in order to work the most radical transformations.