The Ignatian Method of prayer places oneself in the Biblical scene where you become a part of it by way of your imagination. Try to imagine what you might see… what you might hear… and what the persons in the scene might being doing. At each point in the contemplation, try to draw some practical fruit from the reflection for your own life today. What changes and challenges does your reflection on the event furnish? Using the Four Steps of Lectio Divina select one of the Prayer Suggestion.
Remember, the Ignatian Model projects you into different scenes and experiences of the life of Jesus. The spirituality presented with the liturgical calendar of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter is a good example of this type of prayer life!
The pattern is especially appealing to the Sensing-Judging personality and can be found reflected in the Epistle of James where a sense of duty is strongly presented. He insisted that Christianity should keep faithful to the ancient traditions of the Jews. We can also see this in the Gospel of Matthew, where the evangelist emphasizes how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament hope and the continuity we have with the past in the Hebrew Scriptures.
In your devotional reading of Scripture, you may find a passage in James’ Epistle particularly helpful. Write down the reference in your Prayer Journal and look it up. Read it several times through and reflect on it. There may be several such passages that come to mind for you in the Gospel of Matthew. Write down those references and look them up during your prayer time. When the passage lends itself to an imaginative reflection, listen and discover what God is saying to you…
A deliberate, conscious effort has to be made to develop hope and trust and to look on the optimistic side of the Good News of the Gospel. Frequent meditation or reflection on the Resurrection of Jesus rather than constant recall of the Passion and Death is recommended to the Sensing-Judging personality.
