Resources
Prayer Exercises
If you are hungry for a deeper connection with God through prayer, consider trying a few of these prayer exercises. They have helped me experience God more deeply, and I’ve seen them work for others as well.
Meditative Prayer
Christian meditation opens us to the mind of God and to His Presence in the world. In meditative prayer, we approach Scripture or a passage with our mind.
How to pray this way:
Read a passage slowly, aloud or in your mind, letting the words wash over you, savoring them.
Stay with the words that especially catch your attention and absorb them.
Keep repeating a word or phrase, aware of the feelings that come up.
When a thought resonates with you, stay with it, allowing the fullness of it to penetrate.
Read and reread the passage lovingly, as you would reread a letter from a dear friend.
Imaginative Prayer
In imaginative prayer, we enter into a life event or story passage by way of imagination, trying to make use of all our senses. In this way of praying, our imagination helps us to be present and witness the stories presented in Scripture. The Holy Spirit enlivens the particular event we are contemplating and speaks to us through that event.
How to pray this way:
Read Scripture and enter the story as if we were there.
Watch what happens, listen to what is being said.
Become part of the story, assume the role of one of the people.
Look at each of the individuals. What does he or she experience? To whom does each one speak? What are the details of the setting, of their faces, their body language?
Then ask yourself: What difference does it make for my life, my family, for society, if I listen to and apply this message?
Especially in Gospel stories, this method of prayer can be particularly effective.
Enter into dialogue with Jesus.
Be there with him and for him.
Listen to him.
Let him be for you what he wants to be.
Respond to him.
