SadhanaOriental Meditation and Christian Prayer
Prayer with fantasy
[15] Contemplating on a scene in the Bible led by St. Ignatius: 1B (Incarnation 2)
The method of prayer introduced here follows the previous section [14].
St. Ignatius organized daily meditation with five contemplation sessions (an hour each). The first contemplation of these is done based on the method in the previous section. St. Ignatius leads us to do the fifth contemplation in the following manner. (Based on the original text by St. Ignatius.)
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【The Fifth Contemplation】Will Be To Bring The Five Senses On The First And Second Contemplation.
After the Preparatory Prayer and the three Preludes, it is helpful to pass the five senses of the imagination through the first and second Contemplation, in the following way:
【First Point】
The first point is to see the persons with the sight of the imagination, meditating and contemplating in particular the details about them and drawing some profit from the sight. (Author’s note: Try to use internal and spiritual sense of sight in order to see the dignity of the Holy Trinity who watches people on Earth from high above and carries out salvation plans, and to see the dignity of the Virgin Mary, who fully accepts the difficult instructions from the angel Gabriel.)
【Second Point】
The second, to hear with the hearing what they are, or might be, talking about and, reflecting on oneself, to draw some profit from it. (Author’s note: Try to use internal and spiritual sense of hearing in order to hear how the Holy Trinity talks and decides on carrying out plans as we saw in the First Point, and to hear the Virgin Mary’s noble and precious words in reply to the angel.)
【Third Point】
The third, to smell and to taste with the smell and the taste the infinite fragrance and sweetness of the Divinity, of the soul, and of its virtues, and of all, according to the person who is being contemplated; reflecting on oneself and drawing profit from it. (Author’s note: Try to feel with internal and spiritual sense of smell and taste the infinite fragrance and sweetness of the Holy Trinity’s determination to love us through such sacrifice as well as the Virgin Mary’s noble and precious determination when she replies to the angel.)
【Fourth Point】
The fourth, to touch with the touch, as for instance, to embrace and kiss the places, where such persons put their feet and sit, always seeing to my drawing profit from it. (Author’s note: Try to feel with internal and spiritual sense of touch the warmth and preciousness of the place where the Virgin Mary sat.)
【Colloquy】
One has to finish with one Colloquy as in the first and second Contemplation, and with an Our father.
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As we have seen, St. Ignatius leads us to feel the divine dignity and the dignity of the Virgin Mary through our internal and spiritual senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.