The Practice of the Week Week 4
One Line, Four Times
Sit with the Great Commandment — one phrase a day, the slow way.
One simple thing. Keep it small, keep it doable, and do it with them first.
Take the Great Commandment — ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself’ — and meditate on one phrase a day: with all your heart … with all your soul … with all your mind … your neighbor as yourself. Each day, read the line slowly, four times. First, just read it, out loud. Second, notice which word snags you. Third, tell God why. Fourth, read it once more and be quiet with it. This is the ancient practice the monks called lectio divina — you’re not getting through it, you’re letting it get into you.
On ‘your neighbor as yourself’ day, carry the phrase and look for one real chance to live it.
READ — say the phrase out loud, slowly.
REFLECT — which word snags you? Sit on it.
RESPOND — tell God why it stuck.
REST — read once more; be quiet with it.
May the Word you take in when no one is watching make you a man who loves when no one is watching.