Today's Lectio Divina

Reading. Matthew 25:1-13

Meditation.
Be awake
for the hour has come,
the wedding party knocks at the door.
Be awake
for your life is worth
more than oil.
Be awake for your heart is the door
and your heart
is wiser than a clock.
Be awake
for flowers bloom
where you step.
Be awake
for your fingertips
teach a finer sermon
than your lips.
Even as you lie in your bed
be awake
for your dreams are filled
with the divine presence.

Prayer.
Divine Physician
open my eyes
to see your face
in every face I meet.
Open my ears
to hear your voice
in early morning birdsong.
Open the pores
of my fingertips to feel you
in a stranger's touch.
Open my mouth
that I may savor
your presence among the tea leaves.
Open my nostrils
that the celestial rose
overwhelm my sinuses.
Open the secret eye
which dwells above my nose
and between my brows;
I will see you in dying as well as the fog.
Open the door of my heart:
this is where you live;
this is your rightful home.
   So be it.

Contemplation. Always troubled by the 'unChristian' attitude of wise virgins. They're like proto-Republicans who would say, "We've got ours. If you weren't smart enough to get yours, you deserve to freeze and be excluded from the banquet." I can master all the intellectual resolutions of this — Jesus is teaching by hyperbole. Obviously, we are being cautioned to avoid the behavior of the foolish virgins, rather being instructed to emulate the greed of the wise virgins. And so on.

Yet, every time I read this parable I have to confront that central conflict: those wise virgins are not behaving as Christ tells us to act. That is, elsewhere in the gospel, Christ tells us to share our coat. In fact, he tells us that when we help another, we are serving Him. Clearly, this parable is not intended to be read at the same time as the parable about Lazarus and the rich man. For the rich man in that parable had an attitude much like the wise virgins: I've got mine, too bad for you.

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You may wonder where I get these readings. The Book of Common Prayer for the Episcopal Church has a section called "Daily Lectionary", which runs on a cycle of two years. If one follows the suggested readings, s/he will have read the "high points" of the Old Testament in two years, the New Testament twice in those same two years, and the Psalms several times over. I have followed this method, off and on in my life, and have found it to be rewarding. For the purpose of this Lectio Divina exercise, I am focusing on the gospel. Ironically, the current readings are from the Gospel According to Matthew, which has to rate as my least favorite.

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Here's a shout-out to Steve & Debra. They gave me the "everything" book in which I am recording these Lectio Divina. The cover has pressed leaves in it; it is autumnal colors (dark greens, and some browns); and fits well on my nightstand. This is a book they gave me for Christmas in 1999 — when I traveled to their home near Lexington, KY to celebrate the faux millennium. Don't know if Debra would necessarily approve of this usage, since she is an atheist. Might be more accurate to say she is a virulent anti-Christian, so much so she makes the Rt Rev Very Venerable Dr. Omed look like a piker. But, there it is.

The book is, as they say, a commonplace book. It may soon see more secular writing in the near future — I no longer try to predict such things. I now dedicate myself to the direction of the muse and the guidance of the Spirit.