One of the ways to pray this prayer is to imagine ourselves being part
of a scene from the Bible. Here, we must be passive rather than active
participants. We are not here to be a Hollywood director or an avatar in
a virtual world. Our desire is to imagine ourselves to be present at the
scene to see and note what is going on. We are with our imagination use
our fives senses in order to better appreciate what is going on in the
scenario. We are not to create characters or change the happenings.
One of my favourite uses of this prayer is imagine myself to be present
at the mountain slope when Jesus preached the beatitudes (Matthew 5).
There was a crowd at the valley. Jesus walked up the mountain slope and
sat down. His disciples came and sat with him. Then he began “Blessed
are the…”
I imagine myself near the disciples on the windy mountainside. It was
late afternoon and the sun was not too hot. While the sound of Jesus’
voice was clearly heard, I felt the warm sun on my face and felt
a slight stirring of the wind. I smelt the fresh grass and fresh
air there. I reach out and touched the grass I am sitting on. I
tasted the faint tang of my lunch of fish and bread on my tongue.
And my attention was draw to the voice of the man speaking which was
clear to my hearing, “…poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven,”
By imagining myself there with my five senses and reading Jesus’ sermon,
I felt closeness to him and also a better appreciation of his words. I
also felt that he is aware of my presence and may have even looked at me
directly. I can feel his love for me. This act of imagination and
reading of the word is prayer.
We can also use other scenes from the Bible. Some good scenes are Jesus
stilling the storm (how fearful we must felt), healing the blind, at the
cross at the time of the crucifixion and at his resurrection. Maybe even
be there when Jesus showed Thomas his wounds! Other scenes from the Old
and New Testament may be used.
By placing ourselves into Biblical scenes with our imagination while limiting ourselves only to what was written and not to introduce or change the scenarios, the prayer of imagination is a powerful experiential prayer we can use to deepen our spiritual life.
