In the last issue of Harvest, I wrote about the ways that Ignatian spirituality can help a person understand that deep dimension of relationship to which God calls each of us. Ignatian prayer is solidly incarnational, Christocentric, and is rooted in the very real experiences of a person of faith. In our faith, we are to develop a personal relationship with our loving God by presenting our genuine authentic self to God in a way in which we allow God to respond to us. We have to remember that “being” always precedes “doing” so our first step is merely to acknowledge that we are in the presence of the God who made us and continues to form us.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and author of the Spiritual Exercises, gives us a series of prayer activities that helps us become aware of God’s movements and initiatives in our lives. He uses such prayer techniques as contemplations, meditations, fasting and rules for eating, repetitions, and an application of the senses to help us get to a centrally important way of praying: conversing with God the way we would speak with a friend. Ignatius says that such colloquies will help a person bring his or her own desires and one’s real self to God in an honest and forthright way. As easy as this conversational style of praying seems, most people find it very difficult to do.

Place is an important element to prayer. One has to locate a special place in one’s home or workplace that is comfortable and is reserved for special private moments. A person can make any place special by lighting a candle, playing soft music, burning incense or creating a reflective environment. Ignatius asks each person to ground his or her prayer with a reading from Sacred Scripture or some inspirational writing from our faith tradition.

Place in imaginative prayer is also crucial to open one’s heart and mind to God’s promptings. Ignatius calls this “composition of place” where the person imaginatively sees the surrounding environment of a Scripture passage. Engaging one’s real senses like smell, touch, vision, taste, and sound make the composition of place real. Imagine tasting the cool, refreshing wine at the wedding feast in Cana, noticing the rich colors of the Pharisees’ tunics, smelling the stench of Lazarus’ body as Jesus unwraps his cloths, hearing the deaf mute speak his first words, or touching the painful, open wounds of the leper. Our senses help us to feel deep emotions, which lead us to examine our desires and resistances in the presence of the Lord.

Once we begin to safely examine our emotions, we can move deeper to a place where we can discover what we fundamentally desire. The beautiful aspect of this approach is that we learn to trust our minds. The Lord will bring us to a place where he wants us to be. We can allow our imagination to enhance Scripture because God is active in our desires. Scripture and the composition of place are aids that help get us to a place of real conversation. The conversation that happens between us and God is ultimately the grace that we seek, and we have to build trust in the One with whom we converse.

However, be patient with yourself. Learning how to really engage in a conversation in a mutually enriching way takes practice and patience. We have to learn to push away the other voices and distractions and to listen to the one that really matters. We have to become comfortable with the silence. We also have to learn that we cannot control what the other has to say. A conversation can take place over a matter of months and years and it is not a one-shot quick pouring forth of words. Conversation involves respectfully sharing oneself with another and graciously receiving the other. It means we have an opportunity to speak, but we must also learn to listen more effectively. Only then can we both respond healthily to what the other says. And sometimes conversation simply means that we faithfully show up and sit quietly in the presence of another.

Fr. John Predmore, S.J. is the faculty chaplain and Director of Ignatian Programs at Cheverus High School.

Additional Essays on Ignatian Spirituality

A Spirituality of Desire - The purpose of St. Ignatius’ The Spiritual Exercises is to free us from our worldly attachments in order to help us to find where God will best be served by our actions. [click to read more]

Prayer as Relationship - Our loving and gracious God wants to enter into a deep and fruitful relationship with each and every person. [click to read more]

Spiritual Direction - Outside of traditional prayers like the “Our Father,” “Hail Mary,” the “Glory be” and the traditional intercessory prayer in times of need, many people do not have a well-developed understanding of how to pray or the purpose of prayer. [click here to read more]