lectio divina

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

I’ve just… filled myself with those words of Jesus.
I’m reading this book, “The God of Intimacy and Action” by Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling. The book is, among other things, a primer on spiritual disciplines. I blogged several days ago about the first of these, the prayer of examen.
It’s both silly and arrogant to gush about the impact things like this have after only a few days. But the prayer of examen has been an exciting discovery for me. And tonight, as I continue the section of lectio divina, a second discipline, I feel equally excited.
Lectio divina is a perscription for meditating on small chunks of scripture. It begins with the reading, then calls us to reflect (not analyze) the passage, and then, to take what God has been doing through the scriptures, out into our world.
It reccomended beginning with Mathew 5.
Yesterday I spent some time with “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
Tonight, It was the verse mentioned above:
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

I’m getting all emotional as a reflect on those words, even now. (If my wife were reading this she’d be telling me, lovingly, that I am such a chick.)
Some of the things that struck me, as I spent time in those words, was the strength and surety of those words… Blessed… will… comforted.
We’re all mourning something. And rationally we know that someday we’ll be beyond it. But it’s hard to live in that reality. God granted me a few minutes of living in that truth, not just believing it, but being penetrated by it: someday, I– we– will be comforted.
Will: there are no maybe’s here. There’s no: God’s-hoping-to, but-as-the-creator-of-the-universe-he-is-pretty-busy, so we’ll have to wait and see.
There’s nothing wishy washy or hesitant here. If we mourn, we ARE blessed, we WILL be comforted.
Isn’t that amazing?