"Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world." - Psalm 46:10
Last Saturday I went on a Jesuit retreat with my sister called "Hearts on Fire." It was a wonderful experience! I learned so much about St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, and met so many wonderful people. During the retreat the priests talked about Ignatian Contemplation. This is a very reflective type of prayer that allows you to focus on God, alone, in silence, and using your imagination to do so. It is similar to meditation, because it is not a vocal prayer, but at the same time it is different because you are not necessarily thinking of prayers while you contemplate.
To begin you might start with meditating on a decade of the rosary. After the meditation, follow up with reading a scripture verse from the bible. When I did this at the retreat I contemplated on the verses Matthew 8:23-27, The Calming of the Storm at Sea. By thinking about this scene you begin to place yourself in it with the disciples on the boat. Imagining the waves of the water crashing up violently against the boat you slowly think about how the surroundings would feel like, smell like, and taste like. Then you begin to think to yourself, "Where am I in relation to Jesus? ...Am I close? Far? Am I with the other disciples?" Maybe where you picture yourself to be in the scene could be a sign of how close you are getting to God in your prayer life. Nevertheless, it is truly just learning to be still in the presence of God.
Using your imagination can be wonderful! It allows our creativity to be integrated in prayer form. Father Jim Martin, author of My Life With the Saints, explains Ignatian Contemplation very well in the video below.
However, when you are in prayer, it is important to know that your imagination is not trailing away from God in self-refection. If you find yourself distracted maybe meditate on the rosary again or just try to empty yourself of all other thoughts. Just learning to be still and free from any thought all together is another great way of contemplating. It gives God the opportunity to answer your prayers in the peace and quiet of your heart.
This brings me to my next point...distractions. We all seem to have so many distractions in our lives! From school, work, relationships, social media, music, sports, finances, politics, injuries, illnesses, ...etc. All of these things have the potential to pull us away from God if we let them. By finding more time for prayer, mediation, and contemplation we are more likely to find ourselves seeking God's Will actively in our lives. Even in C.S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters, he points out that the devil tries to create so much noise in the world so that we can no longer hear the voice of God.
In this video Ashley, a very well spoken young woman, offers her wisdom on "distractions" that lead us away from God. It is important to find some quiet time in your day and go to church on Sundays. Doing these small things will help increase your relationship with God in the long run. When people slowly move away from such things as prayer they become more distracted and tend to wander aimlessly without God's guidance. If you want to know what God wants from you, give God your time. He wants to talk to you too! If we can empty ourselves from this world and try to focus on Him--and Him alone--we will slowly, but surely, find His Holy Will.
