Praying with the Bible 1: Ignatian Imagination

Prepare yourself for the moment of prayer.

Choose any passage from the gospels, especially those that describe an event. I suggest, Jn 2:1-11.

Read the text slowly paying attention to the details.  You may reread the text if you have not got the whole scene in your mind.

Close your eyes. Become aware of your breathing.  Relax. Enjoy the present moment.

Now begin to relive in your imagination the scene of the Gospel text that you just read.  Step by step, in a normal speed, see the scene as if in a movie, frame by frame.

Put yourself as an eye-witness in the scene.  If Jesus is changing water into wine, for example, put yourself as an eye-witness in the crowd or one among the apostles.

As the scene unfolds in front of you pay attention to the details.  Focus on Jesus: how he appears, how he speaks, how he conducts himself, etc.  Feel free to make digressions in the scene without distracting yourself from the text. Go through all the emotions of the encounter.

At the end of the session, become aware of the feeling that the text produces in you.  You may note it down in a journal.