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This way of praying the life of
Christ stresses the humanity of Jesus,
the use of the imagination and feelings to enter
into an intimate relationship with him. Here we
encounter God in the midst of our own
experiences and in this particular
moment in our lives.
The immediate reaction of many
people to this suggestion is, ‘But I have no
imagination’, meaning usually, ‘I am not a
creative or artistic person’. But if you are
capable of recalling even one event of your past
life and reliving it in memory, however blurred
the details, then you have the ability to pray
imaginatively!
Peoples’ imaginative ability
varies.
Some can imagine with clear pictorial detail and
are able to see the size and furnishings of a
room, the colour of walls or the sky, the nature
of the lighting, the expressions in people’s
faces, etc., while others will not see any of
these details, the picture being very blurred
and indefinite.
The details are not important.
What is important is that, through the use of
our imagination, we should come to know the
reality of God and of the Risen Jesus, as real
today as on the days of his life, death and
resurrection, and that we might deepen our
relationship with God.
In general, in this method of
prayer you let imagination lead, but keep
focus on your attention on Christ, so that
the imagining does not degenerate into a type of
fantasy, in which the focus of attention becomes
yourself!
There should be nothing
hurried in this or any other form of prayer.
It may take quite a long time to let the scene
build up. Here it is important to remember that
there are layers upon layers of consciousness
within us. Very frequently the preliminary
state before reaching a deeper layer is a
feeling of inner emptiness, dryness and
boredom. But if we abandon the prayer every
time we feel bored, we never reach the deep
layers.
We may also experience
distractions and because of this we might think
that our prayer has failed. But it has not
failed! Our imagination is revealing an
aspect of our own reality, and what are termed
‘distractions’ can become the substance and
subject matter of our prayer—it is in these
distractions that we in fact might find God, who
is present in every aspect of our lives!
Give it a try!
Try this one first! (Zacchaeus)
Other guided texts for
Imaginative Contemplation
My desire: Save me, Lord -
being with Jesus as saviour
My desire: Heal me, Lord -
being with Jesus as healer
My desire: Forgive me, Lord
- being with Jesus as forgiver
My desire: Free me, Lord -
being with Jesus as liberator
My desire: Love me, Father
- being with Jesus as unconditional lover
And a few more biblical texts for
Imaginative Contemplation...
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