Reading for Transformation through the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins

With this essay I took another sojourn into the wonderful world of lectio divina. The auther, Francis X. McAloon, told his inspiring story of using lectio for the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English Jesuit
priest of the nineteenth century. McAloon explains that during his year-long engagement with Hopkins' poetry he was able, through both lectio divina and other intellectual means,  to interact with the texts on a spiritual  level. By doing so, McAloon utilized the practice of "reading for transformation," which, according
to Sandra Schneiders goes "beyond simply discovering what the text says to asking if what it says is true, and if so in what sense, and what the personal consequences for the reader and others might be."
This pratice can apply to a number of texts from the Bible to the Qu'ran, from Hopkins' poetry to science fiction. No matter the literary text, reading for transformation is very important. You shouldn't just read the text, you should really think about and consider whether or the not the text is true and if so how, and what you, as the reader, might be required to do about it. This kind of reading can be very difficult. It requires you to step away from your comfort zone and explore thoughts and ideas that you may have never considered before. Those new thoughts and ideas will challenge how you viewed the world previous to uncovering this new knowledge. Then you have to make a decision: Will you accept these concepts as truth and act on them accordingly or will you turn your back on them and go back to the safe and familar worldview?
But "reading for transformation" can also be very exciting. Discovering new ideas or realizing the existence of
ones you were previously unaware is stimulating a event. It expands your understanding of the world around you, compels you to interact with it ways you never did before, and, most importantly, allows you to experience God in ways you could never have imagined.