What it is. Visio Divina is Lectio Divina through the portal of sight. We gaze at an image slowly and without agenda, and let it become a thin place. We live among images we consume rather than contemplate; this practice teaches us to behold rather than glance.

Where it comes from. Visual contemplation has deep roots in the Christian tradition of icons. Visio Divina as a named practice grew in contemporary contemplative communities in the late twentieth century, as an adaptation of Lectio Divina.

Before you begin

  • Choose one image: an icon, a photograph, a painting, or a scene in nature in front of you.
  • Allow 15 to 20 minutes. Put the phone away unless the image is on it.
  • Settle with a few breaths. Ask God to open the eyes of your heart.

The movements

The movements of Lectio, now through the eyes.

  1. Prepare. Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter this time of prayer with you. Ask God to speak to you through this image.
  2. Visio (Gaze). Open your eyes and scan the image. Take it in gently, as long as you like: its colors, its shapes. What draws your eye? What do you want to look away from? Move on only when you feel drawn to.
  3. Meditatio (Meditate). Let your eyes be led. Focus on just the part of the image that caught you, and name the feelings it stirs.
  4. Oratio (Pray). Look again at the part, or the whole, that draws you in. Let it bring forth a word, an image or an emotion. Then close and rest your eyes.
  5. Contemplatio (Contemplate). Open your eyes and gaze at the whole image. What is God speaking to you today through it? How will you respond? Spend time with that, in prayer or in a journal.

Gentle reminders

  • There is no correct way to see an image. Your eye goes where it goes.
  • What you want to look away from is often worth a second look.
  • Some people like to respond in writing afterward: a line, a few words, a short poem.
  • Over time this seeing carries into the day. It becomes the first movement of Sacred Noticing: not glancing, but beholding.

Try it: an example

The image: a closed field gate, with open fields all around it.

A closed field gate standing between two posts in an open field
The Open Gate, Michael J. Cunningham
  1. Prepare. Eyes closed, three breaths. Lord, speak to me through what I am about to see.
  2. Gaze. The eye goes straight to the gate: the bars, the latch, the posts. Only slowly does it take in the grass on either side.
  3. Meditate. Staying with the gate brings a small tightness, a feeling of being kept out.
  4. Pray. Then the realization: there is no fence. The gate stands alone. A response arrives as a short poem; eyes close and rest with it.

Sometimes we see a gate where there is no barrier,
A closed entrance in our mind,
Drawing our focus,
And attention.

When all around are open fields and vistas.

The Gate, Michael J. Cunningham
  1. Contemplate. Eyes open on the whole image. What is God saying? Perhaps: the barrier was in how I was looking. My response: name one “gate” in my week that may not be a barrier at all.

Pray it now

A guided meditation. Pray with The Open Gate, one movement at a time, with a time of silence after each and Michael’s own prayer with the image beside you as you go.

Your own session. Pray with today’s image, an image chosen for what you are carrying, a surprise, or one you pick yourself, alone or leading a group. Leaders see a line of guidance at each movement, can show the image full screen, and can print the whole session as a script.

Begin the guided meditation
Create your own session

Going deeper

Keep going

Michael J. Cunningham OFS