A large, good heart

When someone whose heart has been purified, focused and made whole celebrates lectio divina, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will come and make their dwelling place with that single-hearted person (Jn 14:23 and 15:4).

The human heart was made for the Word and the Word for the heart. The lyrics of Psalm 119:111 describe this marriage, in which God's Word becomes your own and your heart sings out the joy of belonging to God.
This is the heart of a disciple, a heart so receptive to God's intentions that it can experience the Word with little or no explanation, a heart truly seated at Christ's feet and ready to listen like Mary of Bethany (Lk 10:39), a heart capable of storing the biblical words and reflecting on them as Mary the Mother of Jesus did (Lk 2:19 and 51).

This kind of heart can be yours. 'Lift up your hearts!' the liturgy cries out ut the beginning of the Eucharist. 'Lift up your hearts!' is also the invitation call to lectio divina.

 

From: ENZO BIANCHI, Praying the Word, An Introduction to «Lectio Divina»,
Cistercian Publication, Kalamazoo 1998
, pp. 89-91.