Chapter 12: The celebration of solemn Lauds

Then come the hundred and seventeenth psalm and the sixty second followed by the Benedicite and Laudate psalms, a reading from the book of the Apocalypse recited by heart, the responsory, an Ambrosian hymn, a versicle, the Benedictus, litany and conclusion. (From Ch. 12 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB,1997.)

Perhaps all of these prayers, and not just the reading from Apocalypse, were once memorized -- held -- in the mind and heart. For me, lectio is a form, not of memorization, but of holding the Word in my heart. In perhaps a kindred way, the mantra is held in my heart, holds my heart in reality.