I’ve received a few emails alerting me that my copy/paste of the Gospel passage went awry, and that there are no spaces between the words. I assure all of you, nothing is amiss! It’s all quite intentional. I’m trying to recreate an experience, namely the experience monks and nuns would have had when they encountered manuscripts at the time lectio divina came to be. Back then, say, 1500 or 1600 years ago, manuscripts employed a form of writing known as scriptio continua (continuous script). The text wasn’t adorned with all the “helps” we offer readers today: punctuation, wide margins, spaces, subtitles, and so on. Manuscript reading was hard work. You had to go slow and sound it out. It was a whole-body experience. We’re not used to this. For most of us, reading is something done silently and in our minds. It involves our eyes and our brains and that’s about it. In our fast-paced culture, I’ve found the continuous script approach helpful. It slows me down, while sounding out the words incarnates the text. The experience can bring Scripture to life in a new way. I read the text over and over and pause for meditation and prayer as I “bump” into words or phrases that catch my attention or trip me up. It really is an encounter with the text and a way of becoming more present to the Word who is present to us in the words of Scripture.
For more on all of this, please read the intro to this presentation of the Gospel from a few weeks ago, or this article.
Next week, I may try to film a short video further explaining continuous script and some of my experience with it. In the meantime, here is Sunday’s Gospel. Enjoy!
BUTHOWDOESITSEEMTOYOUACERTAINMANHADTWOSONSANDAPPROACHINGTHEFIRSTHESAIDSONGOOUTTODAYTOWORKINMYVINEYARDANDRESPONDINGHESAIDIAMNOTWILLINGBUTAFTERWARDSBEINGMOVEDBYREPENTANCEHEWENTANDAPPROACHINGTHEOTHERHESPOKESIMILARLYANDANSWERINGHESAIDIAMGOINGLORDANDHEDIDNOTGOWHICHOFTHETWODIDTHEWILLOFTHEFATHERTHEYSAIDTOHIMTHEFIRSTJESUSSAIDTOTHEMAMENISAYTOYOUTHATTAXCOLLECTORSANDPROSTITUTESSHALLPRECEDEYOUINTOTHEKINGDOMOFGODFORJOHNCAMETOYOUINTHEWAYOFJUSTICEANDYOUDIDNOTBELIEVEHIMBUTTHETAXCOLLECTORSANDTHEPROSTITUTESBELIEVEDHIMYETEVENAFTERSEEINGTHISYOUDIDNOTREPENTSOASTOBELIEVEHIM
This text comes from the Catholic Public Domain Version. You can find the official lectionary readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time here. You could also look up the passage in your own Bible. It is from Matthew 21:28–32.
On Saturday, I’ll offer some of my own reflections on this passage, and hopefully some of my readers will share their own in the comments section.
I know this is not àt all in keeping with the praçtice of lectio, but I sometimes use a lectio hack. I will slow down the speed of a biblical audio waaay down..to maybe 50%..and listen while doing a chore or mundane task or while walking. Sometimes the distortion of the super slow speed is too much so I speed it up some..maybe 75%..and if I hear a word or phrase that captures me, I will pause the audio & reflect. Its high tech lectio not sanctioned by anyone!😃