By Ingrid Forsberg
St. Paul, Minnesota
(reprinted with permission from Ingrid and Contemplative Outreach of Chicago)
“Within my darkest times, you kindled an awakening in me”
-Taizé Community
In the Bible, we encounter God’s teachings through the dreams and visions of prophets and followers of Jesus. To paraphrase Ephesian 1:18, “As we read scripture, the eyes of our heart experience spiritual or unseen realities beyond what the physical eyes can perceive. This interpretation of scripture gave rise to the practice in the monastery of Lectio Divina. Through Lectio Divina monks listen to scripture with the “ear of their hearts.” Listening and seeing with the heart, which is “the physical center of God’s love,” brings new understanding.
Lectio Divina has been used in Centering Prayer practice since its inception. Visio Divina, however, has not been used as much. It is slowly emerging at retreats and individual prayer practice. Lectio Divina and Visio Divina can be used together or separately.
The practice of Visio Divina began when Saint Benedict, a monk who lived around 500 AD, brought forth the idea of visualizing the meaning of scripture through icons, paintings, or holy objects. This is now known as “seeing with the eye of the heart.”
In her book Visio Divina: A New Prayer Practice for Encountering God, Karen Kuchan notes that Visio Divina “reveals unconscious places within our soul that need to be understood, felt, and healed.” Kuchan also notes that Visio Divina “is about a relationship. It is a relationship based on trust.”
Some websites about the practice of Visio Divina have posted pages devoted to exact steps on how to do it. However, Visio Divina was not meant to be a rigid, step-by-step process. Instead, it is meant to utilize freedom of thought and spontaneous connections based on what you are visually experiencing in the moment. Utilizing a “required steps” approach could be a hindrance to the intentionally free flowing nature of Visio Divina, meant to carry a mystical quality, beyond words and structure. Nevertheless, a few general steps can help beginners get started with the practice of Visio Divina.
Begin by approaching the painting, photograph, icon, or religious symbol you have chosen, with no restriction on time or process, but with an attitude of acceptance and wonderment.
Notice what you set your vision on immediately. Do you look first at colors or shapes?
Do you recall memories or encounter feelings new to you? What comes to you from the “eye of the heart”? The setting in which you engage in Visio Divina can influence your response and what emerges from your experience. If you are sensitive to noise or are in a space of disorder, this setting may influence what you focus on when viewing a painting or object. If viewing the same painting or object when in a familiar place of worship, you may notice your focus has changed. Notice the feelings and memories that arise based on your physical surroundings.
If you are beginning to use Vision Divina in your own prayer time, I encourage you to find a photo or piece of art you already have, instead of searching for the “perfect” picture. … Gaze at it until you find your eyes resting on a specific part of the image. Spend as much time as you need looking at the photo, painting, or art object you have chosen.
You can write your thoughts or impressions but it is often better to begin by not writing. Give yourself the time to see what comes to you. What colors, details, or other aspects of the image were you first drawn to? What emotions were stirred up or brought you peace. What initially captured your attention? Or, you may look at an image and find nothing. Do not worry. Perhaps after a few days of practice, you will recall a connection.
If you are in a Centering Prayer group, you may want to suggest using Visio Divina prior to Centering monthly, or less often depending upon your group’s input. When used in a group, time might be offered to you to write your response to the image you have used. Perhaps Visio Divina helped you gain a better understanding of a scripture reading or your dismantling of the false self. Writing your responses is not necessary, however.
Some groups may ask everyone to share what you saw, felt, and understood. However, you can always pass without comment. I stress this because writing or verbalizing your response is not a mandatory part of the process. What is more important is that the eye of your heart brings new insights to you. What memories arose? What visual message came to you from connection with the voice of your heart?
In group Visio Divina, you can always remain silent and just savor the memory of your thoughts and visions. Feeling obligated to say something may not be from your true reality but from your “false reality.”
After some reading and thinking about Visio Divina, you may begin to understand how Visio Divina can bring healing from past trauma, hurts, or other misunderstandings that can block your ability to receive the healing growth of understanding in your daily Centering Prayer practice or block your joy of daily life.
Above all, approach your Visio Divina practice openly and without feeling you must “follow the rules.” There is no right or wrong way. Open yourself to what you see and discover how to deepen your contemplative practice.
Resources
The Word of the Week program engages both visio and lectio divina as part of the weekly email reflection, and as part of the weekly Zoom prayer groups. Each weekly reflection includes an image, Scripture and a contemplative reflection, as well as meditations and practices. The program is free and donation based and all are welcome; subscribe here. You can view samples of past reflections here in the archive.
Kuchan, Karen. Visio Divina: A New Prayer Practice for Encountering God. Cross Road Publishing, 2005
Whitney, Marcia. Cloud of Witnesses: A Documentation of Spirituality in Art and Photographs 2025
Related articles:
- “Praying with the Eyes of the Heart”, which you can find here.
- “Art as Prayer”, which you can find here.
