Ignatian Prayer Changed My Life

Summary

Ignatian prayer is a simple, powerful way of meeting Jesus by entering a Gospel scene with your imagination and senses. After asking the Holy Spirit for help, you choose a short passage, read it slowly, and then step inside it — adding sight, sound, touch, and smell over several sittings — letting Jesus reveal his heart to you in the scene. Unlike petition, praise, or repentance, this kind of prayer is purely about intimacy and relationship with Christ.

Key Points

Why Catholics need a simple way to pray

• Many new and lifelong Catholics alike struggle with the basic question, “How do I pray?”
• There are many good ways to pray — including the pirate prayer and lectio divina — but Ignatian prayer offers something distinct.
• Named after Saint Ignatius of Loyola, this method engages the senses, the imagination, and God’s word at the same time.

The steps of Ignatian prayer

• Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. A simple, trusted prayer: “Come Holy Spirit, teach us how to pray.”
• Pick a Gospel scene. Choose one with movement and characters — for example, Jesus getting into Peter’s boat and telling him to lower his nets for a catch (Luke 5).
• Read through the scene slowly to set it in your mind.
• Pause, close your eyes, and add one sense at a time. Begin with sight: picture the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the early morning light, the wave or stillness of the water, the other fishermen, the crowd, the face of Jesus walking toward Peter.
• Let the scene unfold. Don’t rush. You can watch as a bystander, or step in as Peter, or simply be yourself among the crowd interacting with Jesus.
• Over later sittings, add more senses — sound (the birds, the lapping waves, the creaking boats, the voices), then touch (the cool morning warming up), then smell.
• Stay anchored in Scripture. Use the text as your foundation, and let the Holy Spirit guide your imagination. If the scene runs off into something absurd, gently come back to the Gospel.

What this kind of prayer actually is

• It is not intercession, praise, thanksgiving, petition, or repentance — all of which are good.
• It is intimacy. It is relationship. It is the prayer of getting to know Jesus by watching him with people in the Gospels.
• The TV series The Chosen is, in effect, Ignatian prayer put on film — but your prayer is yours, not someone else’s imagined scene.

Fruit from a thirty-day silent retreat

• As a first-year seminarian, Fr. Mike made a thirty-day Ignatian retreat, praying this way roughly five times a day.
• Two enduring graces came from it:
  • A deep, almost supernatural trust in the Lord — knowing that no matter what happens, God is good, God cares, and God can be trusted.
  • A new sense of personally knowing Jesus — being able to say “Jesus, I love you” and mean something far deeper than before.

A practical invitation

• Pick one Gospel scene and stay with it all week.
• Each day, spend ten to fifteen minutes with the same passage.
• Start with sight on day one; add sound on day two; add another sense each day.
• Each day, return to the scene, look around, interact with Jesus, and let him show you his heart.

Notable Quotes

“Lord, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing, but at thy word I will let down the net.” — Luke 5:5

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will… Give me only your love and your grace; that is enough for me.” — Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Suscipe