| C oncerning G ospel C ontemplation Table Of Contents
Some Technical Language
Gospel Contemplation And Our Power Of Imagination
| Importance Of Imagination
| Some material for your study, discussion and reflection .....
| Different Kinds Of Imagination When The Imagination Does Not Seem To Work Imagination Is A Gateway To The Less-Than-Conscious Psyche
Some Observations On The Ignatian Text
| Model is not method
| Preludes point to a natural flow
| Now is NOW in one's present culture
| Now is NOW with my total self
| Fruit is there during the imagining:
| Almost methodless when one uses the method
| Not as a spectator, but as an active participant
| Entering ever more deeply into the mystery
| An excellent help in discerning
In Summary
| Some material for your study, reflection, discussion .....
| First Hypothetical Review:
| Second Hypothetical Review:
| Third Hypothetical Review:
Endnotes
Some Technical Language In literature about prayer, the word 'contemplation' continues to be used with a variety of meanings. Therefore, at the outset, I describe some different ways this word can be used. After this, I specify how I am using this word in this chapter. First of all, the term 'contemplation' in spiritual literature can refer to a stage in one's inward journey. One has reached this stage when, during the time of prayer, there are few images, little reflection and very little fluctuation of one's affectivity. At the same time there is total involvement with God. This is called the stage of contemplation by writers following the traditions that stress the transcendence and unknowability of God.1 At this stage, a person is so in union with God through stillness that it becomes disharmonious to attempt to be with God in any other way. God has put one there in spite of one's own activity. In other words, it is not just momentary experiences during prayer where there is such an absence of one's activities (many experience moments like this); it is a prayer state in which a person finds oneself this way most of the time. Then there is the phrase, the Contemplative Attitude. One can have the Contemplative Attitude without being in the stage of contemplation as above. A person with a Contemplative Attitude has an openness toward life, a sense of wonder, a capacity to experience life as mystery. By this phrase, I mean that one has the ability to allow God into one's interior reactions in prayer. The phrase itself has nothing to do with any one method of prayer. It simply has to do with one's attitude or ability to listen in prayer. One allows God's word to penetrate and affect one's hidden self -- God's mystery is allowed to touch one's own mystery. In one translation of the letter to the Hebrews, the author speaks of God's word as being alive and active like a two-edged sword, revealing the secret emotions of the heart.2 This is the Contemplative Attitude. There is a certain free-flow between a person and God. Since discernment, in the strict sense of the word, is dependent on noticing one's own interior reactions, one must have the Contemplative Attitude in order, first of all to allow, and secondly to notice, one's key interior reactions. The word 'contemplative' can be used as a noun. Thus, a contemplative is a person who belongs to a contemplative religious congregation such as the Carthusians or Carmelites. It does not mean that the members of these respective congregations have reached the stage of contemplation or even have the Contemplative Attitude. It simply means that they are "removed from the world" and are leading a life devoted explicitly and regularly to prayer. But this noun, contemplative, is also used to identify any person who is approaching or has reached the stage of contemplation as described above. 'Contemplative' can also be used as an adjective. Many writers use it this way today as Ignatius of Loyola did. For example, today, when a spiritual guide comments to his directee, "Judy, I think that your prayer is becoming contemplative," he means that Judy's prayer is becoming affective and she is approaching, or has reached, what we referred to above as the Contemplative Attitude. Ignatius even used the term in this way for those reflective moments that become affective. In notation [64], he instructs a directee to return to those points where one's reflectivity has become "contemplative. " The word 'contemplation' can also refer to a variety of Contemplative Prayer Forms such as the Jesus Prayer, Centering Prayer, and the Christian Meditation made popular through the teachings of John Main. Such Contemplative Prayer Forms show some similarities to the characteristics of the prayer of one in the stage of contemplation -- little fluctuation of feelings, thinking, or imaging during the time of private prayer. With these Contemplative Prayer Forms, a person is just there with God, in faith. Therefore, like one who is in the stage of contemplation, a person who is practised in the Contemplative Prayer Forms may come out of the prayer experience with little or no awareness of the fluctuation of feelings or thinking or imaging. There may be some thinking or images at the beginning of the prayer time to get oneself settled into the prayer, and some fluctuations of images, feelings and thoughts as one is coming out of this prayer experience. But once the breathing of the Jesus Prayer or the repetitive mantra of Christian Meditation takes over, one enters into a kind of being with God in deep faith. I believe that after the reception of the eucharist such as in the Lutheran, Anglican, and Roman Catholic traditions, many people experience moments of this. Contemplative Prayer Forms are just that -- prayer forms. They do not necessarily mean that a person is in the stage of contemplation because such ways of praying and some of the consequent experiences can be achieved more or less by a person's own efforts.3 That is why the older authors on prayer tend to call these Contemplative Prayer Forms 'acquired contemplation.' Then there is the technical Latin phrase, Contemplatio, used to describe the normal outcome of the traditional method known as Lectio Divina.4 The first phase of this method, Lectio, sometimes referred to as meditative reading or listening with the heart, leads one by a natural process to Meditatio (reflection with one's heart), leading one to Oratio (responding from one's heart), moving one toward Contemplatio which implies, at least, those special quiet moments or still points described in the above paragraph. Most traditions advocate the use of Lectio Divina, and they indicate that the practice of Lectio Divina may ultimately dispose one for the gift of contemplation as a stage of growth. Finally, and this is what we are dealing with during the Exercises, there is Gospel Contemplation.5 I use this term to denote what Ignatius names simply as 'contemplation' in the Second Week and what many people refer to as Ignatian contemplation. In the Carmelite tradition of spirituality, Gospel Contemplation is considered to be a form of meditation, for like Meditatio which is the second phase flowing out of the Lectio of Lectio Divina, it is simply another human way of pondering that follows automatically from any form of listening to God's word. If one listens to God's word with love, one automatically reflects with one's heart through one's cognitive powers which include imaging and remembering. (return to top) Gospel Contemplation And Our Power Of Imagination How then does Gospel Contemplation differ from the Meditation Using the Three Powers of the Soul (often called 'meditation') featured in the prayer exercises of the First Week? It differs primarily in the point of departure.6 In meditation, the point of departure is the activity of pondering and reflection with the heart. Ignatius understood meditation to be more in the nature of pondering a love letter and thus developing the understanding of the heart. Much of the material that Ignatius proposed in the so-called Ignatian 'key' meditations of the Exercises is made up of images, archetypes, and parables. He did not intend the meditation technique to be the work of a disembodied, focused intellect found in the meditation manuals of the first half of this century.7 For Ignatius, 'meditation' was never intended to be an analytical, discursive exercise. The point of departure in Gospel Contemplation is the imagination. With this method, one primarily uses the active imagination upon a particular event in Jesus' life. The gospel story is the guided imagery context for the imagination. Gospel Contemplation differs from our present-day, psychological, guided imagery techniques in that the person at prayer actively keeps oneself more or less within the gospel framework. In Gospel Contemplation, a directee does not let her imagination roam as freely as she might do with guided imagery techniques.8 Secondly, Gospel Contemplation differs from Contemplative Prayer Forms precisely because it involves images, feelings, and thoughts. Therefore, a rule of thumb is this: To the extent that images, feelings, and thoughts are absent, the prayer more closely approximates the Contemplative Prayer Forms explained above than it does Gospel Contemplation. Certainly as one makes use of Gospel Contemplation, as with many other methods, one is frequently led into moments of prolonged imageless, wordless, faith-filled experiences of God. (return to top) Importance Of Imagination Since the point of departure in Gospel Contemplation is the imagination, it is important to consider the difference between the words imaginary and imagination. When we use the word imaginary about anything, we generally mean that it is not real, not true, and that there is no objectivity in it. In our Western culture people tend to confuse these two words and so they consider the work and activity of imagination with suspicion. Nineteenth-century rationalism and our twentieth-century scientific method with its penchant for attempting to achieve objective knowledge contributed to a separation between the work of imagination and the work of reason. As a result, we often fail to appreciate that imagination is very "rational," though not necessarily analytical. Great inventions of human history and discoveries of science owe their initial inspiration to the work of imagination. Without imagination, we would not be able to understand what another person is saying to us. For instance, if I asked you to list and describe for me the things that you did during the past two weeks and you began to tell me, the key way you would be able to access them from your memory bank would be through the function of your imagination. Furthermore, the only way I could truly appreciate and adequately take in your descriptions would be through the function of my imagination. Imagination, just as much as analytical thinking, is rational. Even though imagination primarily functions through narrative discourse with a logic different from analytical logic, it deals with the understanding and communication of meaning. Let me give this working description of the word imagination: Imagination is that power within each of us which equips us to make present what is not present. Imagination is intimately connected with our senses which take in the data coming to us from our environment. Imagination is linked intimately also with our memory by helping the memory access data from within us. Enmeshed with our cognitive powers, imagination is essential to our grasp of meaning and to the communication of the same.9 With our power of memory, imagination can be a gateway to the unconscious and to deep feelings. The imagination is key to our ability to use and to create symbols that are so important to us as rational beings. (return to top) Some material for your study, discussion and reflection .....
Below is a quotation from the book, Vita Christi, written by the fourteenth-century Carthusian monk, Ludolph of Saxony.10 Ignatius based his use of imagination in Gospel Contemplation on this book. Read the quotation and note how this medieval text takes for granted that the imagination is interwoven with other cognitive powers:
| If you want to draw fruit from these scenes (of the mysteries of Christ's life), you must offer yourself as present to what was said or done through our Lord Jesus Christ with the whole affective power of your mind, with loving care, with lingering delight; thus laying aside all other worries and cares. (Hear and see) these things being narrated, as though you were hearing with your own ears and seeing with your own eyes, for these things are most sweet to him who thinks on them with desire (cogitanti ex desiderio), and even more so to him who tastes them (gustanti). And though many of these are narrated as past events, you must meditate (mediteris) them all as though they were happening in the present moment; because in this way you will certainly taste a greater sweetness (suavitatem gustabis). Read (lege) then of what has been done as though they were happening now. Bring before your eyes past actions as though they were present. Then you will feel (senties) how full of wisdom and delight they are.
Later, after you have finished reading the rest this chapter, you might want to return to this quotation and compare it with my explanation of Gospel Contemplation. (return to top) Different Kinds Of Imagination
Every person has an imagination. It is through the function of the imagination that we can remember, take in, describe, think about the events of our lives. If a directee says, "I can't use Gospel Contemplation because I do not have an imagination," don't believe her! She might mean that she does not have a visual imagination; that is, she is not able to make pictures in her mind, or if she can, she does not see these pictures as clearly as she would in a photograph. But this, I suspect, is true of most of us. Studies in educational and neurolinguistic psychology11 indicate that we have at least three major ways of accessing data through our imagination:
Kinesthetic imagination, through feelings, and inner sensations;
Visual imagination, through seeing pictures, through composing pictures from a variety of symbols in the psyche;
Auditory imagination, through hearing sounds.
It is unfortunate that the word imagination comes from the word image, the root word of which represents only one aspect of our imaginations. Even though a directee may make use of only one or two of these aspects, what is essential is presence. Whether a directee becomes present by way of seeing or by way of feeling or by way of hearing, what is important is presence.12 Thus when one reads a novel and loses oneself in the story and relives what the author is describing, that experience takes place with any one mode of the above or with any combination of them. Some people may fall asleep during a long lecture because their auditory imagination is not their dominant mode of processing information and the energy it takes to process what is being heard is too draining. They either cannot use their power of auditory imagination well or have not sufficiently trained it. Mozart had such auditory powers that he could hear and compose, through his imagination, the full score for a symphony without the use of any musical instrument. Joan of Arc heard voices and discerned through them because she had auditory imagination. When her interrogators asked whether she heard voices, she answered in the affirmative. When they probed further and asked her how, she replied, "Through my imagination, of course!"
Some people's imagination is predominantly kinesthetic. Because their kinesthetic imagination is dominant, they feel and enter into the activity of a past event as they remember it.13 Such persons, without using visual imagination, will access a past incident and have no trouble describing it. Such a person might say, "Wow, you should have been there for the baseball game. It was euphoric and the large crowd jumped up and down continuously as they supported their team!" But for you, the listener, as you listen to these words:
a) | If you have a dominant visual imagination, you may actually see a large crowd jumping up and down and perhaps visualize the ball players throwing their hats in the air, under a brilliant sunny sky; or
b) | If you have a dominant auditory imagination, you may hear the crowd yelling, the baseball players slapping each other on the back, the ball being hit for the final run, and even the whirring blades of a helicopter hovering above the field.
When proposing Gospel Contemplation, Ignatius suggests that we use one, two, or three 'points':
See the different persons [106],
Listen to what those persons are saying [107],
Consider what the persons are doing [108].
Let me suggest the following three phrases to replace his 'points' and express what he probably means:
See -- look at the persons (visual),
Listen -- hear what they are saying (auditory);
Feel -- enter their actions (kinesthetic)!
I wonder if this third phrase reflects more accurately what Ignatius intends in notation [108] when he writes, "Consider what the persons are doing. " It certainly reflects more accurately what happens when a person, less skilled in the use of visual and auditory imagination, is immersed in the event of the gospel story through his imaginative powers.14
(return to top) When The Imagination Does Not Seem To Work When a directee says, "I can't pray with my imagination because I don't have an imagination," what she might mean is that she is afraid to use her imagination. Every time she does use it, strange things emerge or there are distractions or she cannot settle down. Such experiences may point out a need for her to be open to God in some area of her life, an area that she perhaps does not want to face, an area tied into something that is threatening and that the less-than-conscious part of her psyche is blocking. Here is a good example of a directee who had been unable to pray for years. She tried to use her imagination on a directed retreat by imagining herself in Bethlehem near the place where Jesus was born. She found herself blocked. She could not enter the cave. Feelings of unworthiness and of not being welcome blocked her fantasy in her imagination at that point. With the help of her prayer guide, she interpreted this not as an inability to make the Gospel Contemplation but as a sign that she was praying. In her Repetitions of the Gospel Contemplation, she continued to imagine herself barred at the entrance to the cave. After about eight periods of prayer during which resentments and hopes of her whole past life welled up within her, she reported that she was invited to go into the cave. The use of imagination on the story of Jesus' birth, with the blockage and its resolution, was the carrier for a deep, personal encounter with God and meant the turning point of her spiritual life.15
The so-called inability to use the imagination in prayer can mean different things but never that a directee does not have an imagination. For instance, it can mean that she:
| Is being challenged in her life and that when she uses her imagination, a resistance to this challenge emerges.
| Has a faulty understanding of what it means to use her imagination because she:
|  | is expecting to be so totally immersed in the story with her imagination that no reflection at all should take place. For a directee using Gospel Contemplation properly, this total immersion may or may not take place.
|  | believes that the use imagination in prayer is not as good as the use of analytical thinking.
|  | believes she has too many distractions or that she should have no struggles.
| Is afraid to use her imagination because it may be connected to unwanted rage, sexual imagery, or uncomfortable past memories. Such a directee may not be able to use her imagination easily unless she is helped to become conscious of her need for control and come to appreciate whether it is now time to let go of this control.
| Has a false assumption about what she receives in prayer. Often a directee will say something like, "I am not sure whether Jesus really sat with me and said such-and-such or whether it was my imagination!" -- the false assumption being that what is received in prayer has to come directly from God and cannot come from her own psyche.
Many directees express this false assumption. What they do not appreciate is that most of our religious experiences come from both ourselves and God; namely, from God's influences and from our conscious and less-than-conscious self at the same time. These would come under the category of Consolation With Cause described in notation [331] -- our psyche, our own imagination, our history, our culture, our memory, some event that influences us, etc., all being part of the cause.16 Sometimes we receive a more direct Consolation Without Cause, an influence from God which is out of proportion to the causes involved [330].
> Closely connected to this assumption is the belief that our ability to induce or deduce trends of reflection with our analytical powers is more trustworthy than our ability to develop trends of reflection through our powers of imagination. I have often listened to directees discount the trustworthiness of prayer which developed through their powers of imagination with a comment such as this: "I don't know if I should trust what I heard Jesus say to me in those Gospel Contemplations. " On the other hand, I have hardly ever heard directees say the same about their analytically reflective prayer. If we can trust our analytical rationality, why can we not trust our "imaginal" or narrative rationality! Another reason for the inability to use this method may be a call to pray more passively as one is being led towards the stage of contemplation. There are three signs which indicate this invitation of God: The person lacks the desire to use the imagination. The intellect, imagination, and senses no longer have the energy to deal with specific things. Thinking or imaging in prayer has become rather burdensome. It's like the woman who has been praying the rosary for years. One day she says to you, "I don't know what is wrong, but I can't get past the first decade and a whole hour has slipped by!" The person desires to remain still, directed towards God alone. One desires inner peace, quiet and repose; and no longer feels the need to use one's human "faculties. " One simply craves to remain alone and motionless and silent, empty of thought, with one's loving God. (return to top) Imagination Is A Gateway To The Less-Than-Conscious Psyche As you can see from the earlier example of the directee blocked at the entrance to the cave, the imagination is connected to our affective experiences much more so than is our logical thinking. The imagination touches off many less-than-conscious parts of ourselves, such as memories linked to past experiences, and makes them available to God. Inner motivations are revealed, both the false and the true self become known, our real desires surface, capacity for change occurs, and our personal relationship with Jesus is nurtured. (click here) (click here) Figure 5: Memory And Imagination -- Doors To The Deeper Self Spiritual growth, like so many other aspects of the maturing process, takes place primarily when our human affectivity is engaged. The science or art of psychology has brought to light this principle: There is no real growth or change in human behaviour unless there is a shift in one's deeper emotions and feelings. We see this in teaching and in counselling. A person is not ready to grow, change or learn unless there is a felt-need. For example, you hear it expressed of an alcoholic that she will first have to hit the bottom of the barrel before she will admit to alcoholism. For the most part, these deeper levels can be reached only through metaphor, image and symbol -- the work of the imagination. People express love and their deeper selves through symbols. If one is unable to deal with symbols, one can not relate intimately to others or to self or to God. Narrative discourse, which depends on the work of the imagination, is essential for a person to be affected effectively. (click here) (click here) Figure 6: Gospel Contemplation Helps Us To Be Affected Effectively Both analytical discourse, such as in a scientific statement, and narrative discourse, such as in a drama, are vehicles of communication. Each approach can communicates truth. A researcher's scientific account of the "historical" Macbeth for the most part makes use of the logic of analytical discourse only. The story of Macbeth, as a play, communicates as much or more truth than an analytic presentation of the same material.17 Abstract expression of some truth affects only a small part of the person whereas a dramatic expression of that same truth touches the whole person. Drama works through the imagination evoking the less-than-conscious, the intuitive, and the affective parts of a person. This leads to a deep-felt understanding. Because of its use of narrative discourse which primarily uses the imagination, Gospel Contemplation puts one in a position of being more totally affected. There is something about a statement of truth which gives us the impression that it is forever valid and relevant; however, it is never forever new. The attempt to be exact belongs to a definite time and place; it purports to have the quality of the definition. In contrast, the story expresses its truth through the ambiguous, the metaphor, the experiential, the heart. There is something in a story that is forever new. It is not just once and for all. Let me illustrate this. Below, I propose a truth two ways: one by an abstract statement and the other by a story. Read each one separately, and each time reflect on your interior reactions.
> Statement of truth (analytical discourse) -----
> | Often people become resentful and irritable because they feel rejected and need love.
> Story (narrative discourse) -----
> | Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She had parents, naturally! But one day when she was nine, they went away. So someone from an orphanage took her and brought her to a large building and put her there with many other little girls. She was very lonely. She had big eyes. She often would stare at people. Sometimes she would even get mad at the other little girls and spit on them. She became a real nuisance in the orphanage. So the administrators tried to find some way to get rid of her. One day, one of the attendants saw the little girl putting a note inside a hollow of a large tree that stood just outside the orphanage. No one was allowed to communicate to anyone on the outside of the orphanage. So this was the needed excuse to dismiss her. The attendant brought the note to the administrator and explained what he saw. The administrator smiled smugly. He took the note and read it. The note said: I LOVE YOU.18
Now ask yourself, "Which of the above two presentations of the truth is more effective?" Sacred scripture is basically a story, the story of salvation. As a whole, the bible is made up of many different kinds and styles of literature, like an anthology of readings -- some poetry, some parables, some proverbs, some history. Only a small portion of it is history in the way we have been taught to think of history. If the bible contained only this type of history, it would not be very helpful for touching the lives of all peoples of all cultures. God's revealed truth is recorded for us, for the most part, in story form. The early church kept remembering the events of Jesus' life through preaching and their gatherings for worship. It was only after the apostles began to die that these remembered events were recorded for us in the four gospels. But the recording of them was done with detail, colour, concreteness, and metaphor in the light of the resurrection experience. The authors wrote into their "histories" a theological point of view expressed in story form. Often this can only be grasped if we allow ourselves to be influenced by the more imaginative aspects of the stories; for example, the three wise men and the moving star -- a concrete expression of the universality of Jesus's salvation. It is this concreteness that we use for Gospel Contemplation. When our memory, through the vehicle of our imagination, is in contact with the memory of the early church as expressed in these gospel stories, we make contact with the memory of Jesus. Since the events of Jesus' life are all present to him NOW in his memory, these events become present to us. Gospel Contemplation becomes like the remembrance or `anamnesis' of a eucharistic liturgy in which the THEN of Jesus' death and resurrection become NOW -- time and place are transcended.19 Thus we do not use Gospel Contemplation on an historical event as past, but we use this method through a story to give us contact with Jesus, the risen Lord, who is present NOW. Therefore, all the events of Jesus' life can influence my life now; they can affect my mystery, my being. They are `mysteries' -- they transcend the historical and are present NOW in the risen Lord. (click here) (click here) Figure 7: Our Memory In Union With Christ's Memory (return to top) Some Observations On The Ignatian Text Before considering the following comments on what Ignatius means by Gospel Contemplation, it may be helpful to re-read the text of the Nativity [110]-[117] which contains one of the key places where he demonstrates this method. Model is not method -- What Ignatius uses in his description of Gospel Contemplation is a model. He uses the example of the Nativity. Each time he asks us to "contemplate," he is referring back to this basic model [159]. If we treat the model as a method and follow it slavishly with a series of steps, we are liable to get into trouble and turn our prayer into a mechanical reflection rather than a Gospel Contemplation. The method is not the 'preludes' and steps; it is prayer primarily using one's imagination on a gospel story of Jesus life. Ignatius' model suggests one way of going about it. No doubt, his model is a concise outline of how Ignatius himself made use of this method.
In order to appreciate my point, transport yourself with your imagination to the days after Ignatius' conversion. As he began to set down his reflections in the notebook we now call the Exercises, he no doubt spent time reflecting upon his own experiences. He did this to help us to be disposed for God's personal communication with us. He wanted to share the same richness of God that he himself had experienced. He remembered his personal experiences in much the same way we would remember our personal experiences....
" ... Oh, yes, what did I do now? ... Oh, I remember. I first began to read the life of Jesus. I read it slowly. I even underlined significant parts! [HISTORY] ... What did I do then? ... Oh, yes, sometimes I got into prayer right away, but often I needed time to compose my being and settle myself. It takes time to settle down and compose oneself for a prayer exercise. How did I do that? ... In most instances, I allowed my imagination to focus here and there on some aspects of the gospel story. I have always been interested in the details of geographical location. So that's probably what most other people would do too. [COMPOSITION] ... Sometimes I moved into prayer right from there, but other times I had to keep asking God to help me get into the contemplation. ... Oh yes, asking for what I desire was really important. It opened up my soul and focused my imagination and it further settled me. [GRACE TO PRAY FOR] ... "
You can continue to imagine Ignatius writing out the phases he went through when he was led into Gospel Contemplation. It makes more sense to me and is more in keeping with people's experience of making Gospel Contemplation to think of Ignatius' structured presentations in the Exercises as one of many possible dynamic models that could be used for the same purpose. The Exercises contain the model of the method that Ignatius probably used. The method of Gospel Contemplation is primarily the use of one's imagination on a gospel story of Jesus life -- it is as simple as that!
I believe that, among other things, the structure Ignatius gives to explain Gospel Contemplation -- three 'preludes' followed by three 'points' followed by the Colloquy -- is a memory device to help directees who could neither read nor write. Remember that many directees in Ignatius' time could not read nor did they own a bible. Paperback editions of the bible are a relatively new invention! His structure -- prelude, prelude, point, point, point, Colloquy, etc. -- is not only a simple way to explain things, but it is basically a simple way for the directee to remember the prayer exercises without reference to a book afterwards.20 Notice how notations [261]-[312] usually break up the stories of Jesus' life into three segments -- again an easy way to remember the 'history' and 'points'! Preludes point to a natural flow -- A good rendition for 'prelude' would be "phase" rather than "step. " A step is something that is done mechanically; a phase is something that points to a more or less natural process. A phase does not always have to be done in the right order but a step does. The first phase or First Prelude of this model is the 'history' -- the story. If there is anything that a directee should do first, it would be this. Note how almost immediately Ignatius' 'history' of the First Prelude [111] moves from the past tense to the present in the Second Prelude [112] -- the Composition. In the very reading of and giving oneself to the 'history' of the First Prelude, the story is connected to the realm of the imagination. Through the Composition one becomes more present as the past becomes NOW. Now is NOW in one's present culture -- Note, too, how Ignatius, who grew up in the Basque country of the early 16th century in a castle home with servants and who often saw peasants with oxen, is now projecting his cultural imagery on the scene. Ignatius is giving a record of his own use of Gospel Contemplation. As the story is being read and prayed over, the person at prayer allows the imagination to grasp the details and so the past becomes present. When a twentieth-century directee is praying this story, she might even see a jeep or two with soldiers pass by as she journeys with Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. The function of the 'history' is to make the past, present. A good way to understand 'history' and to do it, as one begins Gospel Contemplation, is contained in the following illustration describing the practice of monks in the eighth century: It happened one morning in an Italian monastery. On waking, the monks all dressed in their cells and then filed down the corridors to a central meeting room. There they sat quietly until a monk, standing at a lectern, began to read a passage from the second chapter of the Gospel of John. He read clearly in a leisurely manner the eight or so verses describing the marriage feast at Cana. He paused for thirty or forty seconds. Then he reread the same passage in the same clear, leisurely manner. Again, he paused for half a minute, then read the same passage a third time. When he paused this time, some of the monks began to return to their cells in order to pray over the passage. Others waited for the fourth reading and even the fifth before they, too, left for their cells. What was happening? These repetitive readings saturated their imaginations with a gospel scene of particular energy and colour. This saturation would, of course, minimize distractions and encourage a frame of mind and heart conducive to prayer. Perhaps it would enable a monk to identify with some particular person in the gospel episode, and even to discover the inner feelings of Jesus. The mystery of the gospel event would so take hold of the person at prayer that the past would become present through the instrument of the imagination and memory. The memory of the person at prayer would be influenced by the memory of Jesus present now to the person praying.21 That is 'history' and that is a way one can settle into Gospel Contemplation -- read out loud . . . pause . . read again . . . pause . . . until the story takes hold of the imagination. Now is NOW with my total self -- The Second Prelude means that the past not only becomes present, but that the present becomes part of me. Often the Second Prelude is translated "this is a mental representation of the place. " But a more literal translation is "the second, a composition, seeing the place. " Composition means that as I enter into prayer, I become composed by imagining the place. As I become composed with the scriptural passage, not only does the past become present, but I become part of it.22 By the time I settle into the Third Prelude, the story is becoming present to me and I to it. Over and over again, Ignatius asks us to pray for the Grace, "This is to ask for what I desire.... " This focuses me. It expresses the particular need I have. It places me in the attitude that all is gift. I am the receiver in prayer, and any growth in prayer comes from God. But no growth is possible unless I make my life available to God's action. This phase makes available to God that particular area of my life where I need to be affected by God's mystery. Sometimes it is helpful to particularize the Grace even more than Ignatius does. Often in the course of Gospel Contemplation, I begin my prayer by asking for what I think I need, but as I am praying, God begins to reveal to me my real need and what I should be asking for. Then I find myself, especially in the Colloquies, specifying more exactly what my heart desires. Fruit is there during the imagining: "I will reflect upon myself and draw some fruit." For many years until the early 1960s, this phrase was often misunderstood. Taken literally as it was in the more rationalistic eras after Ignatius wrote the Exercises, it seems to say that I will stop the flow of the Gospel Contemplation, and I will draw a lesson from it. This is not what it means at all. Rather, it means that as I become more and more involved in the event, my life and my choices are affected. The fruit emerges from the very dynamic; I find myself changing and desiring to change. Without any added mental gymnastic on my part, I begin to know and follow Jesus more in a particular way.
A good example of this natural emergence of the fruit that takes place in Gospel Contemplation happened to me on one of my retreats. I was worried as to whether I should be the middle man in my work relations with my associates. One part of me always wanted to be on top; another part of me always wanted to be a follower. But over and over again in my life, I found myself being in the middle -- not completely in charge, not completely a follower. I had been resenting this role. So when I went to prayer during this retreat, I asked Jesus what he desired for me because I really didn't know even though I had been trying to work through this issue over a long period of time. I decided to use Gospel Contemplation upon the event of Palm Sunday. The following was part of my Review:
At the beginning of this period of prayer, I began to think about the scene and prayed for light. Then as I went over the history again, I began to locate myself with the crowd that was crying, "Hosanna!" and throwing their cloaks and palms on the road. By the end of the prayer, I found myself as the donkey. I was filled with consolation as I stayed there. My confusion about always being the middle man began to evaporate.
During this period of Gospel Contemplation, I came to recognize that I could serve God best in the middle-man position. The issue in this illustration is not that the fruit usually emerges this easily. Rather it is this: if this type of surfacing-within-the-process fruit is not there, something is wrong with the way a directee is using the method of Gospel Contemplation.
Almost methodless when one uses the method -- Except for the 'history' which usually comes first both naturally and practically, all the other aspects of Gospel Contemplation usually take place in any order. Giving oneself to a passage by using one's imagination, a person finds that all of the other aspects can happen automatically. A person may move to the Composition or Second Prelude and that becomes the whole prayer. Or one may focus on the Grace to pray for and a dialogue with Jesus becomes the whole prayer. Or one may start to imagine the place and look into the cave and one is just there with Jesus for the whole prayer. Or one may move through the three first phases and then focus on the words and is there for the whole time as one of the participants in the story. Not as a spectator, but as an active participant -- In using this method, it is important to allow oneself to become part of the story-event. In other words, it is not like watching a movie screen; nor is it like remembering an historical event; nor is it like reading a novel with an involving plot. With each of these examples, one is there as a participant in an event that always remains the same. There is a kind of objectivity to it. The involvement that Gospel Contemplation intends, however, goes beyond all these examples. With Gospel Contemplation, the details of the event shift each time one "contemplates" the event. I am invited to project into the story my present and subjective self, with its ups and downs, with the here-and-now struggles of my real life. I allow myself to become involved in the story, to interact with my unique style. This is the experience that Ignatius expresses in the First Point of the Nativity exercise [114]: "I will make myself a poor little unworthy slave, and as though present, look upon them ... and serve them in their needs.... " Once again, the "I will make myself" is not a voluntaristic "I will make myself."23 Rather, it means something like this: I will allow myself to become so involved in the gospel story (now present in the mystery of Jesus, the risen Lord) that the story becomes present to me and I to it. The story touches my mystery, and my mystery affects the story. In the process, I become involved in the mystery of Jesus. It may happen that I become a little unworthy slave, or that I become one of the shepherds, or that I become myself as a small child, or that I remain myself at my present age. The key is to let the event of Jesus' life take hold of me so much through my imagination that I am actively part of the event. If I find that this is not happening, then I should ask Jesus to show me why. Entering ever more deeply into the mystery-- With Gospel Contemplation, there are many levels of entering into prayer. One usually experiences these deepening levels through Repetition -- by repeating or returning, in later prayer periods, to the same part of the scripture text and to the same images through which one has been moved. There are times when all of these levels can be experienced in the one period of prayer as in the example about the donkey. Typically I begin by reading the scripture text with pauses. Perhaps I need to read the text several times as I settle into prayer. During the pauses, I muse with my imagination the persons, the words, the actions. Then, right away or somewhat later, this begins to involve me a little more deeply; that is, there are certain moments, here and there, when I hear and/or see and/or feel. During these moments, I am more deeply involved, but there still may be some pondering elements. Then as I enter the mystery of the story more deeply, I begin to see and/or to hear and/or to touch; there is much interaction, with conversation, with activity, etc. At this level, I am totally present to the mystery and the mystery is totally present to me. It is at this level that I am open to being affected deeply by Jesus' Spirit at both the conscious and less-than-conscious levels of my being.
For some directees, this deep involvement, which often results from Repetitions, moves through deepening levels to stillness. The great amount of activity and interaction that took place in the initial prayer exercises begins to move towards less activity and less dialogue. One is just there, totally involved -- seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting. It is almost as if the experience has gone into slow motion, and time passes as one is present to the Beloved and the Beloved to oneself. One is there; Jesus is there. The mystery is there. No words are necessary, and no great thoughts need surface. This is the experience of "O taste and see the goodness of our God. " In the Second Week, Ignatius assumes that this experience "should" occur by the Fifth Exercise and names this experience the Application of Senses [121]-[126]. To a beginner, this would appear to be a separate activity of prayer. Rather, it is the expected outcome of the series of Repetitions.24 As suggested above, it can occur at any time during the earlier Gospel Contemplations, and a director ought to encourage this natural occurrence. I might summarize these levels in this way:
1. | Initially | — imaginatively consider persons, words, actions, etc.
2. | A little deeper | — moments in which I see, I hear, etc.
3. | Deeper yet | — prolonged moments of involved imagination, much activity
4. | More deeply | — prolonged moments of involved imagination, little activity, plenty of passivity
5. | Deepest | — moments of involved `spiritual senses' -- an experience of "O taste and see the goodness of our God. "
Hopefully, this discussion of these theoretical levels communicates that Gospel Contemplation, with the subsequent Repetitions, can lead to a deep stillness. In practice, during the Exercises journey according to notation [20], God often gifts a directee with the experience of level 4 or level 5 during the first or second period of a day's prayer. In such a retreat, these gifts are given to many directees whether they are in the Call Mode or the Healing Mode. During the Exercises journey according to notation [19], the atmosphere of daily life, for some directees, may not be as conducive for the kind of passive receptivity the Application of Senses presumes. However, continue to invite directees to enter into that receptivity. (click here) (click here) Figure 8: Repetition Deepens Into Application Of Senses It seems to me that it is more helpful not to teach the Application of Senses as a separate method but to encourage its reality by encouraging greater and greater passivity during the Repetitions of the Gospel Contemplation: "When you return to that moment of being with Jesus at prayer, drink in his silence.... Taste the anguish of his concern.... " or "Stay with the awe you experienced.... " If such suggestions do not seem to help your directee be disposed for the experience of the Application of Senses, you will have to decide whether or not it would be helpful to suggest the method as a separate method. In Gospel Contemplation, a directee attempts to grasp something of Jesus' human existence; as she does this, the Spirit begins to grasp her in her existence. The more time she spends in attempting to grasp something of Jesus' human existence, the more she is engaged in Gospel Contemplation; the more the Spirit grasps her in her existence, the more she is engaged in the Application of Senses! An excellent help in discerning -- The Exercises text is written from the perspective of discerning a decision involving a life commitment. Gospel Contemplation is an excellent instrument for this in the Exercises journey or for any prayerful decision-making, discernment process in other contexts. It definitely helps a directee to put on the mind and heart of Christ Jesus because through it she learns to think and feel with the attitude of Jesus. In addition, through Gospel Contemplation, as her hidden thoughts and feelings are surfaced, the level of her freedom is revealed and she comes to recognize her deepest desires. Gospel Contemplation puts a directee in a position in which discernment becomes possible because the very method enables the "spirits" to act. It leads a directee into that kind of passivity whereby she can be affected by various interior movements. Fantasy and imagination are linked to our deeper feelings and Affectivity and to the less-than-conscious realms of our psyches. From these areas, spring desires, attachments, hopes, dreams, myths, unfreedoms, inspirations, motivations, intentions, love, energy, etc. -- all of which coalesce in our choices. Thus, Gospel Contemplation makes a better instrument for decision-making than more reflective and meditative methods. Gospel Contemplation is also better for decision-making than Contemplative Prayer Forms which are characterized by the absence of thoughts and images and by very little feeling. Because there is an absence of interior and affective fluctuations, it is more difficult to judge any movements that are present. It is hard to discern the quality of the Consolation from one prayer period to another and its relationship to the matter of the decision-making. ( return to top) In Summary Gospel Contemplation is one of the essential instruments used in the Exercises. This prayer method is basically the use of the imagination on a gospel event in Jesus' life. Our imagination is linked to our deeper feelings and values which influence our choices and decisions. The imagination is rational, and it is often more valuable for arriving at our inner truth than are our analytical powers. It is through the imagination, particularly as affected by the story, that the whole person becomes involved. For this reason, the scriptures communicate God's revelation in story form. When one uses this method, one is in contact with the memory of the risen Lord Jesus now and one's whole being is affected by the life of Jesus. No doubt, Ignatius' model, which probably outlines his own experience of Gospel Contemplation, captures the various facets of anyone praying with one's imagination on a gospel event. But what naturally happens in prayer when one uses the imagination can also be explained in less mechanical ways. Through the use of Repetition, one enters into the mystery of Jesus at ever-deepening levels. Because Gospel Contemplation facilitates the movement of spirits to take place and opens one to the mind and heart of Jesus, it is a particularly good instrument for decision-making, discernment processes. (return to top) Some material for your study, reflection, discussion ..... Here are three hypothetical examples of a Review of the same prayer exercise on the Presentation in the Temple (Lk 2:22-39). Our hypothetical directee is a forty-five-year-old single lawyer who, earlier in the Exercises journey, had become aware of burnout because she volunteered her skills in a variety of good tasks particularly with refugees. What aspects dealt with in this chapter are reflected in these examples?
First Hypothetical Review:
I entered into this period of prayer much as I did the other Repetitions. I was conscious of allowing myself to be more passive. I went back to the points where I experienced Consolation in the other Repetitions of the week. I let them take hold of me. I asked that I could be wise and faithful like Simeon. I spent much time being absorbed by Simeon's faithfulness. His face looked so wise, I sensed God's presence in Simeon's wisdom as I drank it in. Time passed by quickly. Desires surfaced in my heart. I told Jesus how I want to be more intentional and careful about prioritizing my responsibilities in my volunteer work. I continued to be impressed by Joseph's constancy in doing ordinary tasks without fanfare.
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Second Hypothetical Review:
I entered into this period of prayer much as I did the other Repetitions. I was a friend of Mary and Joseph and felt privileged to carry the two turtle doves. This reminded me of my work with the refugees in Toronto. As we went into the temple and stood in line, I prayed for them. Simeon came out and held Jesus. I became silent and I experienced a sense of awe before this offering of Jesus to his Father. I remembered that ultimately this offering would lead to the cross. I was filled with gratitude. I asked that I could be wise and faithful like Simeon. Simeon gave the baby Jesus back to Mary who let me carry him for a while. Time passed by quickly. I sensed God's presence. I told Jesus how I want to be more intentional and careful about prioritizing my responsibilities in my volunteer work. I recalled how impressed I was by Joseph's constancy in doing ordinary tasks without fanfare.
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Third Hypothetical Review:
I entered into this period of prayer much as I did the other Repetitions. I was a friend of Mary and Joseph and felt privileged to carry the two turtle doves. This reminded me of my work with the refugees in Toronto. As we went into the temple and stood in line, I prayed for them. I began to figure out ways by which I could not fall into burnout and still work with the refugees. I watched Simeon come forward and take the baby. He offered Jesus and I was moved to offer my work with the refugees even if God called me to give it up. I would find this very difficult at this time. I asked that I could be wise and faithful like Simeon. Simeon gave the baby Jesus back to Mary who let me carry Jesus as we went back home. I dialogued with them about the issues of my over-involvement with refugees and my experience of burnout. I knew that the offering they had made in the temple would culminate in Jesus' offering on the cross. I wondered how the cross would be involved in my decision around the volunteer work. I ended by saying the prayer of Simeon and offering my uncertainty to God.
Are they examples of Gospel Contemplation? of the Application of Senses? or of both? Are there moments of the Application of Senses in them? What are the differences between them? (return to top)
Endnotes 1 Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, both of the 16th century, represent this tradition. They were outstanding members of the Roman Catholic religious order called the Order of Carmel. (return to text) 2 Heb 4:12-13, from the first English translation of the Jerusalem Bible. (return to text) 3 This is certainly true with the disciplines that belong under the category of transcendental meditation. The altered states of consciousness that are achieved in these disciplines have characteristics similar to what happens in those using some Contemplative Prayer Forms. However, transcendental meditation has little to do with the personal relationship with a personal God which is fundamental to Contemplative Prayer Forms. (return to text)
4 Lectio Divina (Latin, lek-see-o de-vee-na) is the one method of prayer fostered by all traditions of Christian spirituality. Sometimes this method is translated as `meditative reading' or as `spiritual reading.' This method would better be called `Prayer of the Listening Heart' because many people, including the monks who first used this method in early Christian times, could not read! The Lectio of Lectio Divina is a listening with the heart, as one does quite naturally and spontaneously while appreciating a sunset, or when pondering with fondness any touching human experience. One also listens with the heart when one reads slowly, with pauses, and relishes or drinks in the words of scripture or any other special writing. Thus, by listening with the heart, one is led automatically to reflection upon the experience, or writing, or event. From this reflection, one is led automatically to respond, and in time, one becomes more and more open to the influence of God's Spirit.
When you do Lectio Divina while reading, read the material slowly, pausing periodically to allow the words and phrases to enter your heart. When a thought resonates deeply, stay with it, allowing the fullness of it to penetrate your being. Relish the word received. Respond authentically and spontaneously as in a dialogue.
When you do Lectio Divina while remembering a special event, recall the experience and stay with it before God. Let the feelings and thoughts associated with the experience well up in your heart as you ponder to find deeper meaning or understanding or a different way of seeing things. Respond authentically and spontaneously as in a dialogue. (return to text)
5 In the 1970s, I began to use the phrase "method of contemplation" in order to distinguish this method from the classical use of the word contemplation. I have always disliked the phrase "Ignatian contemplation" because it may give some people the idea that Ignatius did not believe in or know about the classical meaning of contemplation. However, the phrase, "method of contemplation," never caught on. Hopefully, the phrase, Gospel Contemplation, may have more chance of being used to denote what Ignatius means. (return to text) 6 A long time ago, during one of our team meetings in Guelph, John English, S.J., shared this insight. (return to text) 7 Consult John Wickham, S.J., The Communal Spiritual Exercises, Volume B, Directory (Montreal: The Ignatian Centre, 1988), p.21ff. (return to text) 8 The relationship between passivity and the active keeping of oneself within the ambience of the gospel event is sometimes confusing for directees who are just beginning to learn Gospel Contemplation. (return to text) 9 I am grateful to Marc Muldoon, Ph.D., for many conversations around how our powers of imagination are enmeshed with our powers of intellect. (return to text) 10 The quotation is taken from Godfrey O'Donnell, "Contemplation," The Way Supplement 27 (Spring 1976), p.28 (return to text) 11 John Grinder and Richard Bandler, The Structure Of Magic, Vol. 2 (Palo Alto: Science and Behavior Books Inc., 1976), "Part 1 — Representational Systems," pp.3-26. (return to text) 12 I am grateful to John English, S.J.(confer http://spritualorientations/english.html), for this insight. (return to text) 13 Thus, metaphorically or by analogy, they may be thought of as "seeing" the event. (return to text) 14 All this -- seeing, hearing, feeling -- coincides with the experiences flowing from the guided imagery techniques used in many psychological approaches such as Gestalt, Jungian Dream Therapy, Psychosynthesis, etc. (return to text) 15 This story is adapted slightly from Robert Ochs, S.J., God Is More Present Than You Think: Experiments For Closing The Gap In Prayer (New York: Paulist Press, 1970), p.62. (return to text) 16 Hence the need for the Guidelines for Discerning Spirits. (return to text) 17 Historians finally admit that every rendition of history, however scientific, is an interpretation, and thus, dependent on the cooperation of the imagination. (return to text) 18 Sorry, but I cannot remember the source of this story. (return to text) 19 Consult John English, S.J., Spiritual Freedom (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1995), pp.135-137. (return to text) 20 Ignatius had a medieval worldview. In that culture, "three" as a number, was used frequently in expressing a series of examples. Even in our present culture when people tell each other jokes and give examples, we often do so with units of three. Note the importance that Ignatius gives to the Triple Colloquies [63], [147], [156], [159], [168]. (return to text) 21 This is adapted from an article entitled "Prayer Of Christ's Memories" by David Hassel, S.J., from Sisters Today (October 1977) where the article first appeared. It appeared later, in a very summary form, in Catholic Digest. Later again, this article appeared in David Hassel's Radical Prayer (New York: Paulist Press, 1983), p.38ff. (return to text) 22 This interpretation of the Composition -- the Second Prelude of Gospel Contemplation -- comes from the late William Peters, S.J., who introduced this in the 1960s. (return to text) 23 For years, particularly in the nineteenth and the first half of this century when the classicist worldview was present, this literal, rationalistic interpretation was in vogue. (return to text)
24 As corroborative evidence for this statement, consider how, in the Third and the Fourth Weeks, the suggestion is that a prayer guide could omit the Application of Senses for various reasons [209], [226]. Why are these directives consistent with the suggestion that the Application of Senses represents a normal outcome of Repetition?
Also note the last sentences of the directives in notation [227] which concern the Application of Senses. The instructions given are very similar to those for making a Repetition [2], [63]. (return to text)
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