Lectio Divina is Central to Ecumenism, Says Pope
Two paragraphs later, Zenit News Service explains in the Pope’s own words what he means by “listening to the word of God.”
The Holy Father suggested that to proceed on the path to Christian unity it is necessary to “listen together to the word of God; to practice ‘lectio divina’ of the Bible,” and to “allow oneself to be surprised by the novelty, which never grows old and is never exhausted, of the word of God.
The article is a very short one and you can read it for yourself by
CLICKING HERE.
So? What’s the big deal? Well, to answer that we have to define two things. First we have to define ecumenism. Second, we have to define lectio divina.
Wikipedia defines ecumenism in this way:
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice. Within this particular context, the term ecumenism refers to the idea of a Christian unity in the literal meaning: that there should be a single Christian Church.
Further reading in Wikipedia, under “Contemporary developments,” and “Issues within Protestantism” section under that, and you will read this in the second to the last paragraph of that subheading:
With regard to Christian Churches Together (CCT), check out
this link to Christian Research Net to read what Bishop Blaire has to say about the ultimate goal of the Roman Catholic Church and the role of CCT as an “interim process” to reach that goal. You can also read all about it on the CCT website by
CLICKING HERE. The quote from the CCT news article said:
Bishop Blaire emphasized that for the Catholic Church the ultimate goal of ecumenism is the full, visible unity of all Christian churches in the one apostolic faith.
In an article entitled, “
The Alignment of New Evangelicals with Apostasy“, Richard Bennet, president and founder of
Berean Beacon, and a former Catholic Priest himself, provides excellent insights into this ecumenical apostasy that has invaded the church in these last days.
Now, how is lectio divina used to perpetuate this ecumenism?
Once again,
Wikipedia is informative enough to tell us all about lectio divina:
Lectio Divina is Latin for divine reading, spiritual reading, or “holy reading,” and represents a traditional Catholic practice of prayer and scriptural reading intended to promote communion with God and to increase in the knowledge of God’s Word. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and, finally, pray and even sing and rejoice from God’s Word, within the soul.
http://thelordteachesprayer.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/lectio-divina/