Lectio Divina

The Religion Teacher's Basic Lectio Divina Steps

The best way to teach children to read the Bible is to teach them how to do Lectio Divina. Don’t let the Latin word scare you. Lectio Divina simply means Sacred Reading. It is a practice of reading the Bible prayerfully. The process is pretty simple and it follows five basic steps:

1. Read
2. Meditate
3. Pray
4. Contemplate
5. Act

Watch this video explanation to understand and guide young people through each of these steps:

Lectio divina is a powerful way to encounter God in Sacred Scripture. Through the ancient practice of lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio we encounter a personal God by praying with his sacred word.

One of our most important tasks as religious educators is teaching this important skill of reading the Bible in order to prayerfully encounter the living God.

The Religion Teacher’s Lectio Divina Worksheets enable teachers, catechists, and home-schooling parents to guide their youth through a lectio divina process with very little instruction required.

The simple, easy-to-use format of each handout invites students and young people to engage personally with the word of God. After introducing and practicing each activity, students will be able to come back their favorite handouts again and again for many different Bible passages throughout the year.

Each handout focuses on certain skills necessary to do a prayerful reading with the Scriptures and connects with each phase of lectio divina:

• lectio (reading)
• meditation (meditation)
• oratio (prayer)
• contemplatio (contemplation)
• and actio (action)

With familiar activities and exercises that young people already do in their everyday lives, students will enter into God’s Word in creative and new ways leading them to a a life-changing encounter with God. Anyone can practice lectio divina and this practical set of activities will help teacher and student alike in meditating on the Sacred Scriptures.