A Walk in the Desert with Amma Syncletia

There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his (or her) own thoughts.   ~Amma Syncletia

Eagle Eyrie Retreat Center, Virginia, USA

In the deserts of Egypt around the 3rd to the 6th centuries, various forms of monasticism arose led by the desert mothers and fathers.  In this vast wilderness you would find hermit, cenobite and ascetic monks.    Ammas (mothers) and Abbas (fathers) dispensed wisdom to those who followed them, fleeing a world that looked much like our world today.  They found themselves stripped of all of the excess that dulled their senses and their sense of God's presence.   They found an increasing awareness of God in the silence and solitude of the desert, much like Jesus in his own wilderness wanderings.   The desert is a place of deep encounter, not superficial escape ... much like lectio divina is a deep encounter with God within a passage scripture, not a surface reading.


I invite you to encounter God within Psalm 121, a classic ode to the spiritual journey.   There are 4 movements to lectio divina.  Move with me ...

 Psalm 121

 I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?

My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!

God will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, the God who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord watches over you!

The Lord stands beside you 
as your protective shade.  

The sun will not harm you by day, 
nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.

The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.

Movement 1:  Read and Receive.  Read through the text slowly and meditatively, line by line, noticing where there is energy arising for you in a word or a phrase.  Receive the word or phrase through which God is calling you.


Movement 2:  Read and Reflect.  Read through the text again.  Perhaps the same word will continue to attract you and yet on this reading it may be another word or phrase.  Go with it, wherever it leads you.  Spend time, turning it over and over in your mind until it sinks into your heart.  What invitation do you hear from God through your word or your phrase?


Movement 3:  Read and Respond.  Read through the text a final time, with God's invitation in your awareness.  How is God calling you to respond to what you are hearing, feeling and knowing?    Respond with prayers and commitment to action if you feel so called.


Movement 4:  Rest.  Spend time in silence, allowing all of your thoughts and feelings to settle.  When it is time to move on, create a breath prayer to close your time of praying with scripture through lectio divina. 


If you desire, use this one:

Breathing in ... my Lord, my helper
Breathing out ... keep watch over me

Amen.