Reading the Sacred by Richard Fitzgerarld

“When brothers live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks,” so says the Rule of Benedict which continues, “Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading.” (1)

Reading is understood but omitted in the motto “ora et labora.” Six centuries after Benedict, Guigo 2, a Carthusian prior of Grand Chartreuse in 1180 wrote a treatise of methodical prayer entitled “Scala Claustralium” or “A ladder of four rungs by which we may well climb to heaven” in which he envisioned a ladder that “might lift monks from earth to heaven by resting its lower end on earth but its topmost piercing the clouds to touch the heavenly secrets.” His manner of sacred reading became an instructive template for contemplative reading of scripture. (2)

To paraphrase Guigo: reading is an exercise of the outward senses which if done without reflection or meditation is sterile. On the other hand, meditation is concerned with an inward understanding but if done without reading to clarify one’s meditation, is liable to error. To him, meditation digs for treasure which, when found and revealed, leads to prayer which, when fervent, leads to contemplation which rewards the other three steps: reading, meditation upon the reading, and prayer about the meditation. To Guigo: reading seeks; meditation finds; prayer asks; and contemplation feels. Nowadays, eight hundred years after Guigo we find value in his template for lectio divina, the sacred reading encouraged by Benedict, a prayerful exercise entered with the intention to dissect deeper, personal, dynamic meaning. It goes beyond information. It is part of spiritual formation. The Rule stresses the importance of reading prescribing differing reading times based on seasonal daylight. It instructs us to listen carefully to holy reading, study of the psalter, inspired new and old testaments works, and orthodox catholic fathers. Furthermore, it states a reading that will benefit the hearers will always accompany the meal of brothers.

Sacred reading by the entire Church, religious and lay persons, was a recommendation of the second Vatican Council. “…prayer should accompany the reading of sacred scripture, so that God and people may talk together for we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying.” (3)

However, the wrinkle in historical consideration of the Rule is that for centuries few could read the printed word. Monasteries were repositories of books and became famous for their libraries. Otherwise, few books were available until Gutenberg invented movable type in the mid fifteenth century, a thousand years after Benedict! How then did monks read? Famously, fourth century desert father Abba Moses is remembered for saying “Go sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything.” Bernard of Clairveaux in the twelfth century said, “Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.” Didactic discussions of prayer often highlight lectio to the exclusion of the possibility of visio divina – applying Guigo’s ladder of lectio to what we see, then consider, and reflect upon. Earlier contemplatives most certainly dwelt on God’s revelation as well as his word. So can we all, now. God’s word is all around. In addition to the printed word, it is possible to contemplatively “read” what we see, really see.

RSB ch. 48

Cistercian Publications, study series 48, Ladder of Monks

Dei Verbum n. 25, 1965 Vatican 2

Richard Fitzgerald