DOS

Yesterday I participated in a Day of Solitude at Lakeland. We learned several ways of praying and meditating on God.

The first prayer technique we learned is called Lectio Divina (Divine Reading). The idea is that we enter into a time of prayer and in this prayer mode, we read a passage of scripture from the Daily Lectionary. We take turns reading the passage until several people have read and we become very familiar with what it says.

Next, a few more people read the passage while we look for a word or phrase God wants to impress upon us, this is called reflection. In the third step, we respond by journaling about the word or phrase we selected. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind. Writing forces us to slow down because the mind can move much more quickly then the pen.

In between reading and reflection we are given an opportunity to share the word or phrase by speaking it to the group. Speaking is another way of slowing down our thoughts. We are reminded however, that we are still in prayer and it is not a time to get preachy or comment on someone's thoughts - we are not there to fix others.

The last step is contemplation and in this step we are encourage to consider how the insight God has given, might play out in the next 24 - 72 hours. Again, we are encouraged to journal to capture any actions we feel we need to take.

After Lectio Divina we moved into two exercises in which we get quiet and Listen to God. Dan said that the monks use to say you need to get quiet long enough to where the monkeys in the trees get quiet and the demons in your head stop speaking. We learned that there are two modes used to move into this quiet time. The first is Kataphatic where you use something to help you focus. It might be worship music, written prayers, a book, the bible or a candle.

The other mode is Apaphatic where you use nothing, you simply close your eyes and focus your thoughts on God. This is also referred to as "Centering Prayer". Because our thoughts have a tendency to wonder, you should have a word to use when you need to refocus. My word was "mercy" from Luke 18 where the tax collector's prayer is simply "God, have mercy on me a sinner".

We spent about 90 minutes in Kataphatic prayer and 20 minutes in Apaphatic or Centering Prayer. In between these two times of listening to God, we performed an act of service for about 45 minutes. In this activity, we did some act of manual labor, cleaning, sweeping, etc. During this time we were encouraged to pray for those who would be using the tables, chairs and other things in the facility over the next days and weeks.

The last activity was a type of prayer time in which we spent time drawing or doodling and coloring on a piece of construction paper. During this time of drawing or doodling, we were encouraged to intercede on behalf of others for whom we wished to pray.

It was a good day not only for the solitude but for the instruction in various ways to connect with God in prayer.