Ignatian Scriptural Contemplation

Choose a Gospel passage to pray. Some ideas—

 Luke 1:26-38 (annunciation, perhaps if you are wondering about a call)

Luke 1:39-45 (visitation, perhaps if you are thinking about a friendship)

Luke 2:41-51 (Jesus in the Temple, perhaps if you are thinking about a child)

Luke 4:16-30 (Jesus at the Synagogue in Nazareth, being true to yourself)

Luke 5:1-11 (Jesus calls the first disciples, when things happen differently than you expect)

…and so much more!

Steps for composition—

1. Place yourself in the presence of God, creating an inner silence within yourself. Listen for yourself being called by name.
2. Ask God to lead you in prayer, to open your heart and mind to what gifts may come.
3. Slowly read the selected passage. Notice the details of the passage: the place, the characters, what is being said, etc.
4. Now, set the scene. Imagine the place: what does it look like? Who is there? Observe what is going on.
5. What do you hear? What are the people saying? How are they saying it?
6. Allow the use of the other senses now. You may want to feel an object in the scene. Notice its
7. Enter into the scene. How do you react to the characters present?   Perhaps you can identify more with one of those characters. Perhaps you place yourself as one of them, or in conversation with them.
8. Speak to Jesus about your experience.  How you felt, what struck you, how you were challenged, etc. Or, perhaps you do not say anything at all but to allow the fruits of the scene to penetrate you.
9. End with a prayer of thanksgiving.

A Poem of Scriptural Composition— 

What next, she wonders,
with the angel disappearing, and her room
suddenly gone dark.

The loneliness of her news
possesses her. She ponders
how to tell her mother.

Still, the secret at her heart burns like
a sun rising. How to hold it in—
that which cannot be contained.

She nestles into herself, half-convinced
it was some kind of good dream,
she its visionary.

But then, part dazzled, part prescient—
she hugs her body, a pod with a seed
that will split her.

Mary Considers Her Situation Luci Shaw