Visio Divina nurtures the art of seeing, helping us to recognize God’s beauty which is all around us. Seeing becomes an art when we move beyond looking to recognizing glimpses of grace. An artist weaves different realities towards a new creation. A composer of music brings together notes, harmonies, rythyms, instruments and words to create a new work of art. When we see artfully, we integrate the outward forms, the origin story (who, when, where, how and why it was created), the symbolism of what we see, glimpses of grace, and our own self-awareness of the flow of these streams of seeing. So we can talk about Audio Divina, Video Divina, Natura Divina, Poetica Divina and so forth.

Visio Divina of sacred art is a wonderful training ground for nurturing the art of seeing. We gaze on a  sacred scene and weave together our insights with those of our colleagues and experts on the art. We enter into the realm of the artist and take home deeper insight into our relationship with Christ. Visio Divina is a conversation with artists: God, the original creative artist; the inspired writer of scripture; the painter; the interpreters and oneself as an artist viewer.

Visio Divina can be seen as spiritual curation. A museum curator investigates, displays and interprets exhibits to help viewers learn. In Visio Divina we curate the traces of grace so that participants can draw closer to the divine. However, these items and events are not restricted to sacred art.

Visio Divina can be employed beyond sacred art to sacred architecture, creation, secular art and even to the people and scenes of everyday life. The flow is the similar.

• We open ourselves to the sacred
• We experience music, film, poetry, art, drama, landscape, garden, nature, moments of daily life
• We imagine ourselves in the situation and look for the sacred
• We consider why the situation is the way it is, perhaps dialoguing with colleagues
• We rest in the situation, abiding in God’s love, expressing gratitude
• We imitate Christ in moving to service

Sacred seeing as taught in Visio Divina helps us pray with the daily glimpses of grace. Perhaps it is looking at face of a family member, seeing a work project completed, or looking at a sparrow on a bird feeder. It is also recognizing the sacred in small acts of everyday living, the Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux.

Pope Francis wrote about his vision of the Transfiguration in this way:

Brothers and sisters, this Gospel (Mt 17:1-9) traces a path for us too. It teaches us how important it is to remain with Jesus even when it is not easy to understand everything he says and does for us. In fact, it is by staying with him that we learn to recognize on his face the luminous beauty of love he gives us, even when it bears the marks of the cross. And it is in his school that we learn to glimpse the same beauty on the faces of the people who walk beside us every day — family, friends, colleagues who take care of us in the most varied ways. How many bright faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us! Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out in order to bring the light we have received to others as well, through concrete acts of love (cf. 1 Jn 3:18), diving into our daily affairs more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness. The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.

We can ask ourselves: Do we know how to recognize the light of God’s love in our lives? Do we recognize it with joy and gratitude on the faces of the people who love us? Do we look around us for the signs of this light that fills our heart and opens it to love and service? Or do we prefer the straw fires of idols that alienate us and lead us to withdraw into ourselves? The great light of the Lord and the false, artificial light of idols. Which do I prefer? https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2023/documents/20230305-angelus.html

Raphael, The Transfiguration