Visio Divina: Seeing as Prayer

This method of prayer is called visio divina—holy seeing. Here are weekly pairings of a brief text from scripture and an image. The texts are taken from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for Sunday liturgies. The images might be taken by our sisters or communications office staff, or they might be something we find and use with permission.

If you'd like to practice visio divina, here are a few tips. (HINT: Click on an image to enlarge it.)

Sit before the offered text and image and quiet yourself. Settle in and take a few breathes to bring yourself into the present moment.
Read the brief text and let it settle in your heart.
Gaze on the image and open yourself to what it offers you. What do you notice about the image? Color? Texture? Light? The look of a person's face? Look with loving gaze and let the image speak to you.
Contemplate on what you notice, in the text, in the image, or on what is rising in your own heart.
Pray into what you see and read, and welcome a word from God.
Move from this moment of holy seeing into the rest of your day, aware of the gift it has been for you.

Try it yourself

As enriching as practicing visio divina is, so is the act of taking a photo that might lead you or others to an experience of holy seeing.

Head out with your phone or camera.
See what you see. Enter into your looking with a contemplative heart.
Let what you see draw you toward it.
When you are aware that the object of your seeing is suggesting itself to you, snap a photo or two.

Share your contemplation

If you'd like to share the image you make—the fruit of your holy seeing—use this form to send it to us. We will be happy to add it to this page when appropriate.

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Please share your sense of the image you are sending us, by suggesting a scripture text pairing or other text to accompany it.

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By sending this photo to the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Ill., I acknowledged that it is my own work and does not belong to anyone else. My contribution of this photo to the VIsio Divina project gives the Dominican Sisters the right to use this photo on this page and for other purposes on their website.

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