About Seeing The Word

What is Seeing The Word?

Seeing the Word combines Scripture passages and sacred artwork from The Saint John's Bible with the powerful prayer process of visio divina.

What does Seeing The Word accomplish?

Participants are guided through a powerful prayer experience rooted in Scripture and supported with sacred art.

What is involved in Seeing The Word?

Participants LISTEN and MEDITATE on Scripture, SEE with eyes of faith as they gaze on illuminations, PRAY to God, CONTEMPLATE the Spirit's movements, and reflect how they might further BECOME CHRIST-LIKE: the 6 steps of visio divina.

Who is Seeing the Word for?

The program is simple and affordable. It can be used in a number of settings: small faith-sharing groups, Liturgy of the Word services, catechesis, pastoral visits and church programs. Diverse ministry settings, from chaplaincies to retreat centers, will also greatly benefit from the program.

Want to learn more?

Head over to the “Video” page to hear first-hand accounts, watch a guided tour of the Reflection Guides, and learn about the history of The Saint John's Bible.

Vision for Seeing the Word

The Seeing the Word project provides people with an opportunity to pray with the Illuminated Word of The Saint John’s Bible - the first illuminated Scripture commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey in more than five hundred years. This practice of praying with visual images is called visio divina or divine seeing. It is adapted from the sixth-century Benedictine practice of Bible reading called lectio divina.

The project provides resources for all those engaged in Scripture study, catechesis, and homiletics and all other servants of the Word of God. The power of the Illuminated Word, seen with the eyes of faith, carries the possibility of evangelization and igniting people’s imagination with spiritual, theological, and artistic wisdom.