Ignatian contemplation can be very helpful for those who may struggle with stilling their thoughts and calming the mind because it gives people a means of channeling of those thoughts to an image that may be helpful and it draws from a long-held tradition from Saint Ignatius and rather than a passive way of praying it's very very active because we engage in the imagination and we're not necessarily making up the Gospels but instead we're kind of filling in the details that might not be apparent and we work with the Holy Spirit in entering into these gospel stories so that they fit our unique personality and our particular challenges that we might be facing and it's not necessarily going back in time and trying to remember those details specifically we actually are just presented with a mystery and we fill in those details that are meaningful for us and we use those scenarios that situation to allow God to communicate to us in a unique way and ultimately it should be leading us towards a closer relationship with God so if you're not comfortably seated be sure that you can sit in such a way that your spine is tall so you don't fall asleep and maybe take a few breaths to sell yourself into the space and we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in this practice sometimes I just repeat the Latin phrase of any sunk they spare to come Holy Spirit so that my ego doesn't take over this prayer time find a way to ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart and guide you through this and we also pray for the following grace to know Jesus more intimately and to love him more intensely and maybe find a way to follow him a little bit more closely so we enter into this contemplation with the Gospel of Matthew and we see the visit from the Magi so let's hear the Gospel of Matthew and then we'll begin the contemplation when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod behold magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying where is the newborn king of the Jews we saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage when King Herod heard this he was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it has been written through the Prophet and you Bethlehem land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah since from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel and Herod called the Magi secretly and ascertain from them the time of the stars appearance he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the child when you have found him bring me word that I too may go and do him homage after their audience with the king they set out and behold the star that they had seen and its rising preceded them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was they were overjoyed at seeing the star and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother they prostrated themselves and did it homage then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh you so let's enter this contemplation using that particular scene so imagine you're walking with the Magi as you enter into the town of Bethlehem and you're searching for this child you St.
Ignatius tells us to smell and to taste with the senses of smell and taste the infinite gentleness and sweetness of the divinity and of the soul and of its virtues and of everything else we touch with a sense of touch embracing and kissing the places where these persons tread and sit take a few moments and imagine the sights the smells you imagine the tastes feelings you you conversation with them you you you so then you go to this place where animals are kept and you see a woman and a man and a child in a place typically reserved for feeding animals you notice this place imagine I know who this infant is do you so you continue with this imagining having the Holy Spirit guide you in your interactions do you continue having conversations with the Magi or are there other people who've come other people like you engage in this scene the way that you are led you fill in those details what do you do you notice the faces notice the actions the interactions engage all of your senses here you you so begin to conclude your imagining by maybe offering some gratitude for the people who have been with you during this time and so if you have a particular prayer that is very meaningful for you you can recite that now whether it's the our father a Hail Mary or just any sentence or offering that serves as a seal for the end of a prayer practice it might even be a spontaneous prayer that emerges from your heart and so then after the prayer it's important for us to review and this might mean keeping a journal of some sort or maybe just sit a few moments in quiet reflection reflecting on any interior movements these desires and thoughts and insights that might have emerged during your contemplation and you ask yourself you know was a particular mood what mood arose during your contemplation what were you I was prevalent there and then you maybe reflect on maybe a particular word or image or something said to you that of that has particular resonance so take a few moments and reflect on what kind of bubbled up during your prayer your contemplation and then maybe you're called to engage in this again maybe come back St.
Ignatius called it repetition because maybe there were some unfinished business if that's the case then you can return at any time to the same scene or maybe a different scene so the reflection is just as important as the contemplation and then of course we reflect on the grace that we prayed to know God more deeply to see him more clearly as you go about your day evening take care you
