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Broken Body, Healing Spirit: Lectio Divina and Living with Illness

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Reflecting on her own experience of serious physical illness, and using her long experience with the Benedictine practice of "lectio divina" (slow prayerful reading of scripture as a way of encountering God), author Mary Earle provides in this book an excellent guide, both compassionate and practical, for anyone living with serious illness.

In fact, this book presents a clear and thoughtful way for any of us, presently ill or not, to learn the language of our bodies, to see all experience (even when it is initially frightening and unwelcome) as sacred text full of meaning, to "read" our lives as ongoing gifts from God.

The tradition of Lectio Divina as a spiritual practice and the tradition of working through one's illness in a spiritual way are time honoured in Christian history. Many visionaries such as Julian of Norwich and Teresa of Avila have had physical ailments and diseases that rather than debilitate them instead inspired them on to new heights of awareness of God, humanity and creation. Mary C. Earle taps into that same kind of spiritual awareness in her brief text, 'Broken Body, Healing Spirit.'

Do not let the size of this text deceive - it has just over 100 pages of text, and relatively small pages at that, but this is a book that calls to be read in a slow, deliberate fashion, as one meditates on the points that are highlighted and lets them become part of one's body, mind and soul. She uses the practice of Lectio Divina as a principal way 'to listen to God through Scripture' and lets it become 'a regular way of praying'.

Lectio is a slow practice - in a fast-food culture, Earle states, we are not as accustomed to savouring food; in a fast-media culture, we have a drive to do and get through many things, often neglecting to take in deeper meanings that can only become present with focus and pondering, things which can not be done quickly. We also as a culture tend to neglect our bodies in different ways, and the practice of 'reading' our bodies, particularly in their illnesses, is something we can recover. Earle combines the more traditional practice of lectio with the idea of letting this become a practical exercise with application to one's own physical being.

Earle presents the five steps of lectio (silence, reading, meditating, praying, contemplating) as ways to work through one's practice - the first practical exercise she presents involves Psalm 139 ('Lord, you have searched me out and known me...') as one that can be helpful in both early and experienced lectio devotions. This then leads into a expanded conversation that deepens the practice.

Earle has written this text with the person suffering the illness in mind, but it is also useful for those who live with persons in illness (there is a section near the end for considering chronic and progressive illnesses). It is also a good text for those who are relatively healthy, as many of us fall into periods of sickness at different times in our lives, and being prepared can help both with coping and with recovery.

This is a small gem of a book, rooted in personal experience and spiritual depth.

Mary Earle writes from her heart and experience with chronic illness. The text leads one deeper into lextio divina and its benefits for those struggling with pain and chronic illness. Even the beginner will find what he or she needs to begin a beneficial journey into dialog with God.