Freedom Guide

What is it?

This is about recognising the gift of free will given us by God, and offering this gift back to Him, so that we can align our will to that of God’s will for us, and to be open to His will during our prayer.

Practice:

Praying for freedom

This prayer helps us to put ourselves at God’s disposal. Saint Ignatius describes this ‘Preparatory prayer’ as asking for ‘the grace that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the praise and service of the Divine Majesty.’ (The Spiritual Exercises, no. 46) You might try these words:

Lord, I so wish to prepare well for this time.
I so want to make all of me ready and attentive and available to you.
Please help me to clarify and purify my intentions.
I have so many contradictory desires.
I get preoccupied with things that don’t really matter or last.
I know that if I give you my heart,
whatever I do will follow my new heart.

In all that I am today, all that I try to do,
all my encounters, reflections – even the frustrations and failings
and especially in this time of prayer,
in all of this, may I place my life in your hands.
Lord, I am yours. Make of me what you will. Amen.

Consciousness Guide

What is it?

This is similar to the Examen prayer that is part of the Ignatian tradition, and involves looking back over the past 24 hours, to see where God has been working in your life. We can look at moments of both “consolation”, where we felt God’s love, grace and mercy, and also at moments of “desolation” where we may not have experienced God’s presence, or may have turned away from God and from love in some way, and fallen short. We give thanks to God for what was good, and ask God’s mercy and forgiveness for what was difficult or for where we failed.

Practice:

Introduction to the Review of Consciousness

If it is true that God is at work in every detail of our lives, how do we begin to recognise his action and our reaction?

At the end of the day, especially before going to sleep, the mind, without any conscious effort on our part, tends to play back some of the events of the day so vividly that if the day has been particularly eventful we can find it difficult to get to sleep. We may find ourselves re-enacting a quarrel, thinking of the clever and cutting things we might have said if we had been more quick-witted, and so on.

The Review of Consciousness is based on this natural tendency of the mind. It can help us to be more aware of God’s presence and action in our daily lives, and to be more sensitive to where we are cooperating with God’s grace and where we are refusing it.

How to do a Review of Consciousness

Let your mind drift over the last 24 hours, refraining from any self-judgement, whether of approval or disapproval, attending to and relishing only those moments of the day for which you are grateful. Even the most harrowing day includes some good moments, if only we take the trouble to look – it might be the sight of a raindrop falling, or the fact that I can see at all. When people attempt this exercise, they are usually surprised at the number and variety of good moments in the day which otherwise would have been quickly forgotten – obscured, perhaps, by any painful experience in the day. Having remembered the events for which you are grateful, thank and praise God for them.

After thanksgiving, the next step is to recall your inner moods and feelings, noting, if you can, what led to them, but again refraining from any self-judgement. Be with Christ as you look at these moods and beg him to show you the attitudes which underlie them. The important thing is not to analyse our experience, but to contemplate it in Christ’s presence and let him show us where we have let him be in us and where we have refused to let him be. We thank him for the times we have ‘let his glory through’ and ask forgiveness for the times we have refused him entry. He never refuses forgiveness. He knows our weakness far better than we do. All we have to do is show it to him and he can transform our weakness into strength. We can conclude with a short prayer, that also looks forward to the day to come, and asks for God’s help.

Prayer for Review of Consciousness

Lord, you know me better than I know myself. Your Spirit pervades every moment of my life. Thank you for the grace and love you shower on me. Thank you for your constant, gentle invitation to let you into my life. Forgive me for the times I have refused that invitation, and closed myself off from you. Help me in the day to come, to recognise your presence in my life, to open myself to you, to let you work in me, to your greater glory. Amen.

Scripture Guide

What is it?

This is where we read a passage of scripture, slowly and mindfully, and see what strikes us or catches our attention. How is God speaking to us through His Word? Below are some thoughts and exercises on how to do this.  

Practice:

Listening to the Word

Read over the passage, slowly, several times and see if any word or phrase stands out for you, and stay with that phrase for as long as you like before turning your attention to any other.

The process is a bit like sucking a boiled sweet (for US readers, hard candy). Do not try to analyse the phrase, just as you would not normally break up a boiled sweet and subject it to chemical analysis before tasting it.

Often a phrase will catch the attention of our subconscious mind’s needs long before our conscious mind is aware of the reason for the attraction. That is why it is good to remain with the phrase for as long as possible without trying to analyse it.

I may find all sorts of distractions running through my mind, but some thoughts, far from being distractions, can become the substance of my prayer. It is as though the phrase of Scripture is a searchlight which plays upon my stream of consciousness, thoughts, memories, reflections, daydreams, hopes, ambitions, fears, and I pray out of the mixture of God’s Word and my inner thoughts and feelings.

Scripture as a Searchlight

The opening verse of the Bible, “Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep and God’s spirit hovered over the water”, is describing a present state of affairs, not a past event, and when I pray from the Scriptures I am letting the Spirit of God hover over the chaos and darkness of my being.

When I allow the Word of God to hover over my preoccupations, then anything can happen, for he is the God of surprises. It is important that I do not hide my inner chaos from the Word of God or from myself. We are often so trained that we think it wrong to allow any negative feelings entry into our prayer, especially negative feelings about God. We have to learn to grow out of this training, expressing our feelings and thoughts freely before God and trusting that he is big enough to take our tantrums. There is no point in pretending before God, who knows us better than we know ourselves.

There is no thought, feeling or desire within you which cannot become the substance of your prayer in the light of God’s Word, when you know that God loves the chaos that is you and that his Spirit working in you can do infinitely more than you can think or imagine.

Dealing with Distractions

Trying to pray like this, it may well happen that the mind begins to fill with questions and apparent distractions. How do I know that I am not deceiving myself? How do I know these words are true, that God really does communicate himself through them? Do I really have faith in God? These are valid questions, but for now let them wait. When a child is frightened in the night, the mother goes and lifts the child and says, ‘It’s all right,’ and the child gradually quietens. But if she has a prodigy on her hands who replies, ‘But mother, what epistemological and metaphysical assumptions are you making in that statement and what empirical evidence can you adduce in support of your contention?’ then mother really has a problem in her arms. In prayer we are like that impossible child if we refuse to listen to God until he has measured up to whatever criteria we may care to lay down. We communicate with him first with our hearts. The heart is not mindless: it has reasons, deeper than we can see at first with our conscious minds.

Having left the questions aside for now, what do I do with all the other distractions which flood my mind? I may begin to wonder if I left the gas on, or remember an email I forgot to send. If it is urgent, like the gas, the safest thing is to go and check. With matters that can wait, perhaps jot them down for later. Anything else which comes to mind, far from being a distraction, can become the substance of my prayer.

Inspiration Guide

In this section we give you some thoughts and impressions on which to reflect, in order to help you dive more deeply into the scriptures, and apply them to your own life. These are the thoughts of individuals and so there may be some that speak to you and others that don’t, even some things you agree with and others you don’t. Feel free to take on board only that which you find helpful and simply let go of the rest. Sometimes a word or idea may challenge us, and we may like to bring this to prayer to see if the Lord is speaking to us in a new way, or wants us to learn or understand something new. We pray for open and receptive hearts and minds and try to leave our preconceptions behind as we enter into this “Sacred Space” with God.

Conversation Guide

What is it?

This is the part of the prayer where we talk to Jesus (or whichever Person of the Trinity we relate to most), about what we have just read in scripture or are experiencing within ourselves, just as we would talk to a dear friend. This is often called having a “heart-to-heart” with the Lord, and it can be helpful to visualise Jesus standing or sitting next to us, and picturing his face and his gaze on us. It is important to both talk to the Lord, but also to listen to what He is saying in response. This is a place to come just as we are, with no pretence – we can be totally ourselves before our God who loves us.

Practice:

Conversing with Jesus

Imagine you see Jesus sitting close to you. In doing this you are putting your imagination at the service of your faith. Jesus isn’t here in the way you are imagining him, but he certainly is here, and your imagination helps to make you aware of this. Now, speak to Jesus …. if no one is around, speak out in a soft voice …. Listen to what Jesus says to you in reply, or what you imagine him to say …. That is the difference between thinking and praying. When we think, we generally talk to ourselves. When we pray, we talk to God.

Anthony de Mello SJ, Sadhana pages 78-79

Saint Ignatius calls this conversation a ‘colloquy’, and says:

A colloquy is made, properly speaking, in the way one friend speaks to another, or a servant to one in authority – now begging a favour, now accusing oneself of some misdeed, now telling one’s concerns and asking counsel about them. …. In the colloquies we ought to converse and beg according to the subject matter; that is, in accordance with whether I find myself tempted or consoled, desire to possess one virtue or another, or to dispose myself in one way or another, or to experience sorrow or joy over the matter I am contemplating. And finally I ought to ask for what I more earnestly desire in regard to some particular matters.

The Spiritual Exercises nos 54, 199

Conclusion Guide

This is simply a moment to finish with a final thought or prayer, maybe giving thanks to God or setting an intention for yourself as you go back into the business of the day and your normal life.