St. Christopher's Episcopal Church
  • Home
  • Visit Us
  • About
    • Contact
    • Clergy
    • Staff
    • Vestry Members
    • Map & Directions
    • The Episcopal Church
  • News
    • Calendar
    • Emails & Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • Christopher's Concerts
    • Arts-Crafts Vendor Information
    • Upcoming
  • Children & Youth
    • Nursery Care
    • Children's Sunday School
    • Sweet Studies
    • EYC - Episcopal Youth Community
  • MINISTRIES
  • Life Events
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
    • Baptism
  • Give
    • Regular Giving
    • Legacy Giving
  • Sermons

Faith Spotlight - Three Ways to Pray Ignatian

8/15/2017

 
Picture
There’s no great mystery to Ignatian prayer, but this week is a good time to review. If you want to pray in the Ignatian way, here are three ways to do it—not an exhaustive list but a good start.
 
1. Do the Examen.
At the end of the day, ask the Holy Spirit to guide your memory over the day’s events and conversations. Give thanks for the blessings of the day. Ask God’s forgiveness if you have wandered from Jesus’ path of truth, compassion, and kindness. Ask God’s help with any negative patterns you see in your life, or for strength and wisdom to deal with upcoming events or issues. You can do this prayer once a day, twice a day, three times a day; the important thing is to develop a pattern that’s best for you. For more about the Examen – go to the Ignatian Spirituality website:
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/
 
 
2. Put yourself in a Gospel story.
Just choose which character you’re going to be, and walk right into the scene where Jesus heals someone, delivers a teaching, or feeds thousands. You can be a main character in the story, or you can be a bystander or friend that you simply invent for this prayer. Don’t get distracted by trying to be historically accurate—this is not about you interpreting Scripture in a scholarly way. The point is to encounter Jesus. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide this very spiritual function, the human imagination, to where you need to go.
 
3. Pray as though you are having a conversation across the dinner table or in your living room.
In the Spiritual Exercises, this is called a colloquy, but it’s just conversational prayer. You speak to Jesus as you would a close friend. You speak to Mary, his mother, or to God the Father/Creator, or to the Holy Spirit who is comforter, or to one of the saints, who can be part of this conversation with the Divine. Sometimes, when we pray the way we talk, it can enable us to be more honest. Probably the only danger is that we become flippant or casual, but this isn’t much of a temptation when we remember who it is we’re talking to.

by Vinita Hampton Wright
​

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017

    RSS Feed

Picture
St. Christopher's Episcopal Church
3200 N 12th Ave, Pensacola FL 32503
Phone: 850-433-0074
Office hours: 8 am - 4 pm Monday to Thursday​
© Copyright 2017, St Christopher's Episcopal Church. All rights reserved. 
  • Home
  • Visit Us
  • About
    • Contact
    • Clergy
    • Staff
    • Vestry Members
    • Map & Directions
    • The Episcopal Church
  • News
    • Calendar
    • Emails & Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • Christopher's Concerts
    • Arts-Crafts Vendor Information
    • Upcoming
  • Children & Youth
    • Nursery Care
    • Children's Sunday School
    • Sweet Studies
    • EYC - Episcopal Youth Community
  • MINISTRIES
  • Life Events
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
    • Baptism
  • Give
    • Regular Giving
    • Legacy Giving
  • Sermons